serious business, with industry leaders investing hundreds of millions of dollars to push the limits of both realism and fantasy in their titles. Yet some of the, a parody that allows players to toot along incompetently to classic hits, using their computer mouse as the slide. Even a bigger-budget game, like Blue-Twelve Studio's , keeps things simple. Players inhabit a feline protagonist and solve puzzles in ways that only a cat would: tipping paint cans, curling up in boxes and buckets, and, of course, clawing stuff. “We've been isolated the last few years, and there's this desire to connect through funny content and relatable memes—they make for shareable hooks,” says Scott Friedman, cofounder and executive creative director of Wildlife, a digital creative agency that makes ads for video games. In group chats and on TikTok, gamers trade lighthearted and oddball ideas as much as the latest trailer of a jaw-dropping game. The whole point, after all, is fun.
