Stars In The Trash Review (Switch)
Summary: Stars In The Trash is a short, hand-drawn adventure that puts you in the paws of a curious house cat experiencing the world beyond home for the first time. Through simple platforming and playful interactions, it captures both the wonder and danger of that journey with surprising emotional depth. It’s a compact, heartfelt experience that values mood and storytelling over complexity, and it leaves a lasting impression despite its brief runtime.
4.1
Tender Tale
Sometimes the smallest adventures leave the biggest paw prints. Stars In The Trash is a 2D, hand-drawn adventure platformer developed by Valhalla Cats and published by Valhalla Cats alongside IndieArk. The game first launched on PC via Steam on December 9, 2024, before making its way to Nintendo Switch on December 11, 2025. Stars In The Trash is a compact, narrative-driven experience that puts you in the paws of a curious house cat, blending light platforming, environmental interaction, and gentle puzzles into a short but emotionally resonant journey. It’s a game that doesn’t aim for scale or complexity, but instead focuses on mood, animation, and the quiet magic of seeing the world through an animal’s eyes, and it largely succeeds because of that restraint.
The story centers on Moka, a pampered indoor cat living in a warm, loving home alongside a disabled dog companion who relies on a wheelchair. One day, boredom and curiosity get the better of Moka, and what begins as harmless exploration quickly turns into a venture out into the wider world. From busy streets and unfamiliar faces to sudden loud noises and genuine danger, Moka’s journey is filled with moments of wonder and fear that mirror how small and overwhelming the world can feel to an animal. There’s no spoken dialogue or traditional narration, but the game leans heavily on expressive animation and visual storytelling to communicate emotion. While the narrative is heartfelt, it can also feel somewhat fragmented. Scenes occasionally begin or end abruptly, and transitions between story beats can feel a bit jarring, giving the adventure a loosely strung-together quality rather than a tightly paced arc. Still, despite its rough edges, the emotional throughline holds strong, and the overall journey from beginning to end remains deeply satisfying.
Gameplay is intentionally simple, but thoughtfully tuned to support the fantasy of being a cat. Moka can walk, jump, crouch, roll, scratch to attack, and interact with a wide variety of objects scattered throughout the environment. Many of these interactions are optional and purely playful like batting around squeaky balls, chewing on grass, shredding cardboard, or curling up on blankets for a quick nap. Not everything has a mechanical purpose, and that’s very much by design. There’s no checklist or completion tracker pushing you to “do everything,” which helps the game feel more experiential and less like a collectathon. While a chapter-based tally system might have added replay value for completionists, its absence reinforces the game’s relaxed tone and emotional focus, encouraging organic exploration rather than optimization.
Most of Stars In The Trash is built around side-scrolling platforming, with light environmental puzzles and occasional stealth-like moments. The game does a nice job of introducing variety without overwhelming you, including standout sequences such as climbing the side of a cathedral in a surprisingly cinematic, almost Uncharted-like fashion. Danger is also a consistent presence, whether in the form of electrified puddles or the looming threat of an animal control officer who periodically stalks the streets. These elements add tension and reinforce the game’s themes of vulnerability and survival. That said, not every mechanic feels fully realized. The rolling ability, for instance, never quite finds a meaningful use, despite feeling like it’s building toward a larger gameplay purpose that never arrives. More broadly, the game’s biggest shortcoming is its length. At roughly one to three hours, it ends just as the world and mechanics feel fully established, leaving you wishing for an extra chapter or two to deepen the experience.
Visually, Stars in the Trash is exceptional. The hand-drawn watercolor art style is both delicate and richly detailed, striking a balance between simplicity and depth. Backgrounds are dense with color and texture, while character animations are fluid and packed with personality. Even small touches like Moka’s idle animations or the way the cat reacts to new stimuli add to the sense of life in the world. A special mention has to go to the dedicated “meow” button, which never gets old thanks to how charmingly animated and expressive it is. The audio design complements the visuals beautifully. The score swells and recedes at just the right moments, enhancing emotional beats without ever feeling manipulative. Music and sound effects work in tandem to create moments of warmth, sadness, and awe, often doing much of the storytelling heavy lifting. While some of the narrative’s choppier moments could have benefited from more gameplay or connective tissue, the presentation does an impressive job of smoothing over those gaps.
Final Thoughts?
Stars In The Trash is a small but heartfelt game. It’s not mechanically ambitious, nor is it particularly challenging, but it delivers a sincere, visually stunning experience that lingers well beyond its brief runtime. The game’s flaws, its short length, occasional narrative awkwardness, and a few underused mechanics, are noticeable, but they never overshadow its strengths. Following its release, Valhalla Cats expanded the universe with Kimchi: A Stars In The Trash Story, a free, bite-sized companion experience on PC, as well as a digital artbook that offers valuable insight into the creative process behind the game. With an overall experience that feels carefully crafted and emotionally grounded, Stars in the Trash earns a strong recommendation, especially for anyone looking for something gentle, artistic, and sincere. It’s a lovely reminder that sometimes a short, focused adventure can leave just as strong an impression as something far bigger.
About the Author
Nay Clark Gaming holds a special place in my heart and I never stop talking about video games. I really love all types of games and have an interest in games that have complicated stories and lore because I enjoy untangling the mystery of it all. When I'm not gaming, I unsuccessfully try to control three amazing and incredibly bright kids.
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