Ylem's Cat is the viral indie where your giant rideable cat fights alongside you

Ylem's Cat, the debut game from a small indie studio out of Guangzhou, China, went viral after its reveal at gamescom this year — and the premise alone explains why. You play as a girl named Molly who shares a heartbeat with a cat called Mio, and that cat can grow large enough to ride into battle.

The game is an action-adventure built around the bond between Molly and Mio. After a mysterious disaster, Mio saves Molly's life and the two become linked — same heartbeat, shared fate. Robotic enemies called Sentinels are hunting Mio, so combat and survival are baked into the relationship from the start. In fights, Mio joins in directly, bopping enemies and scaling up in size as needed. During exploration, the cat has its own curiosity-driven behavior — the Steam page hints that following Mio's instincts can matter more than players might expect. You can even use your bow's reflection to play with Mio like a laser pointer, which is exactly the kind of detail that sends cat owners over the edge. The official Steam description frames the journey as Molly crossing a dying planet to find her missing mother, uncovering the truth buried inside ancient giants along the way. No release date is confirmed yet, but the studio is reportedly targeting a 2028 launch.

The comparisons landing most often in the comments are to Trico from The Last Guardian — the ICO and Shadow of the Colossus studio's 2016 PS4 game built around a boy and a giant feathered creature, praised for its eerily believable animal AI. Ylem's Cat seems to be chasing that same emotional register: a companion that feels genuinely alive rather than a glorified ability button. The game also arrives in the slipstream of Stray Dog: nobody cares, another pet-focused action game that went viral earlier this month, suggesting there's a real appetite right now for games where the animal companion is the whole point.

Community reaction has been immediate and loud. "Bro, take my money now" is basically the consensus. Players are already joking about the chaos a giant cat with zoomies would cause, and at least one person noted that their own cat's mood swings would make a giant version a genuine threat to their survival. The trailer apparently includes a moment where Mio ends up in mortal peril, which is already stressing people out — 2028 cannot come soon enough for a certain corner of the internet.