Game: Warrior Cats: Clans of the Forest
Developer: Bamtang Games
Publisher: Trailmark Games
Genre: Action-Adventure RPG · Turn-Based Combat
Released: October 23, 2026
Price: $29.99 · Feral Edition $39.58
Platform: PC (Steam)
Rating: ESRB E10+
🐾 How we reviewed it: we played Warrior Cats: Clans of the Forest on PC. Our take also draws on the experiences of other players since launch. Its Steam rating is currently Mixed, from more than 900 reviews in its first two days.
4Clan Stories
75Combat Moves
3v3Turn-Based Battles
9Cats From the Books
6Iconic Locations
🎮 Know this first: play with a controller. The developers recommend one, and players agree that the keyboard and mouse controls are rough at launch: there’s no mouse camera control and no key rebinding. The good news is that the developers have already promised an update to improve mouse and keyboard support “in the next few days”. It’s also aimed at a younger audience (rated E10+), which explains a lot of the design choices below.
🌲 Twenty Years in the Making (for the Fans)
For a generation who grew up on Erin Hunter’s Warrior Cats books, an official game is something fans have waited a long time for: 20 years, as one player puts it. One player read the books at 13 and settled for forum-based roleplay because nothing else existed. Now you can create your own Warrior Cat and journey through the Lake Territories.
Hunt, explore, battle rival Clans, uncover prophecies, and shape your legacy across ThunderClan’s dense forests, RiverClan’s marshlands, ShadowClan’s dark pine swamps, WindClan’s open moors, and the sacred Moonpool and Island.
Hunt. Patrol. Fight. Rise through the ranks.
Developed by Bamtang Games and published by Trailmark Games, Clans of the Forest is an action-adventure RPG with an original story, a cat creator, and turn-based battles. It’s had a divisive launch. Plenty of longtime fans are delighted simply to have an official game, while others, who grew up with the books and are now adults, wanted something deeper. Several players feel the backlash is a little harsh, and having played it ourselves, we understand both sides.
Our verdict: “If you’ve dreamed of living as a Warrior Cat, this immersive RPG delivers exactly that experience with compelling clan battles and meaningful choices.”
Living the Clan Life
🗺️ A Big World to Roam
Climb trees, pounce through undergrowth, track scents, and explore the territories you’ve only read about.
🏕️ Your Camp & Clanmates
Build bonds with your Clan, craft items in your den, and keep an eye on your fresh-kill pile.
🐭 Hunting & Foraging
Track birds, rabbits, squirrels and more, and gather materials for crafting.
🌐 Async Online
Battle other players’ cats in Skirmish Mode, visit friends’ camps, and gift them resources.
For a lot of players, simply being there is the main draw. One thoughtful reviewer loves how extensive the map is, and getting to visit the Warrior Cats world themselves rather than just reading about it. They also enjoy the home camp and its characters, and the meows and environmental sounds that bring it to life (another player simply highlights the “cute cat sounds”). One fan compares the feel to WolfQuest, and another enjoys the crafting and the fresh-kill pile stats.
Three Ways to Play
📜 Prophecy Mode
- Four original stories about the trials and tribulations of Clan life
- Procedurally generated characters, quests and stories
- Climb the ranks and shape your legacy with your choices
⚔️ Defender & Skirmish
- Defender: survive as long as you can against the game’s fiercest enemies in a single run
- Skirmish: battle other players’ cats online, asynchronously
- Foes include badgers, foxes, Dobermanns and rival Clan cats
🐈 Pokémon-Style Cat Fights
Combat is turn-based, with up to 3v3 battles and 75 combat moves to unlock. Two players compare it to Pokémon (one adds Honkai: Star Rail). Whether that’s for you is a matter of taste. Right now, though, fights feel fairly straightforward: one player hopes for more complexity, and another for more moves as they progress.
Where It Stumbles
⚠️ Not Quite StarClan-Worthy Yet
1. Rough PC controls. There’s no mouse support for the camera and no key rebinding yet. Several players found the keyboard controls bad, though manageable with time, and those on a controller had zero issues. A fix is on the way.
2. Limited cat creator and names. The cat creator is a big draw, but several players wanted more freedom. They’d like more coat colours, and appearance that isn’t tied to personality and stats. Names are chosen from preset options only. One fan points out that this fits the books (your leader names you), but others would love a text box with a filter.
3. A thin, rushed story. Several players found the story basic, dry or rushed, with oddly condensed pacing. One adds that the four clan stories don’t feel very different from each other, so it gets repetitive.
4. A confusing map. The map is huge, but a couple of players found paths and jumpable areas hard to read, with no custom map markers and “StarClan guidance” that doesn’t always point you the right way. One player also wishes fewer areas were restricted, and that you could swim.
5. Launch bugs and crashes. One player’s PC crashed three times, even on low settings. Another hit teleporting, collisions with other cats, a leader with the wrong name suffix, and framerate drops to 15 fps. They add that it’s still less buggy than many day-one releases.
6. The price. Several players feel $29.99 is a little high for the current content, and a couple suggest waiting for a sale.
⚠️ Mild story-structure spoilers: tap to reveal
• You rise fast. One player was made deputy within hours, and a later time skip covers months of you as leader.
• Some Clan traditions are skipped, like a mentor ceremony when you take your own apprentice.
• To beat the game, you play through each Clan’s story, and one player found them quite similar.
🎮 Performance & Platforms
The stylised graphics are simple but nice, and they run well even on lower-end devices. Valve rates it Steam Deck Playable, and one player happily plays it on Deck over their gaming desktop. Recommended specs list an RTX 3070, though, and the minimum is a GTX 1060. The game has also been announced for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. Bought the Feral Edition? The developers have posted instructions on Steam for accessing your Prophecy Pack content, which may help if, like one player, you haven’t found your bonus yet.
The Community Wishlist
One dedicated fan, who’d spent around six hours on RiverClan’s story alone, wrote a long list of things they’d love to see added. Here are some highlights:
💭 What Fans Want Next
• A medicine cat route, and the option to have mates and kits
• Sharing tongues, grooming, and bedding-change quests for kits and elders
• Patrols with real clanmates, mentors who walk with you as an apprentice, and border scent-marking that fades over time
• The option to talk to enemy cats before fighting, and rival territory that feels dangerous
• Carrying prey in your mouth, gifting prey to bond with clanmates, and a first-person camera
• Clearer dialogue tone, better map readability, and accessory previews before buying
If It Doesn’t Scratch the Itch
Cattails
Cat colony life
Recommended by one player for cat-focused colony life and exploration, and held up as the gold standard by another.
Cattails: Wildwood Story
The follow-up
Another pick for fans who want more cozy cat adventuring.
WolfQuest
Animal-life sim
One fan says Clans of the Forest plays a lot like it, so it’s worth a look if you enjoy one.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
| The Good |
The Bad |
The Ugly |
| Living the FantasyFinally explore the Lake Territories as your own cat. |
Rough PC ControlsNo mouse camera or rebinding (a fix is coming). |
Crashes & FPS DropsA few players hit serious stability issues. |
| A Big MapPlenty of territory to roam. |
Thin StoryBasic, rushed pacing, and repetitive across clans. |
— |
| Camp & ClanmatesBonds, crafting and fresh-kill piles give it life. |
Limited CustomizationFew coat options and preset names only. |
— |
| Charming AudioMeows and nature sounds do a lot of heavy lifting. |
Confusing MapNo markers and unclear paths. |
— |
| Kid- & Deck-FriendlySimple to pick up and plays well on low-end hardware. |
Price$29.99 feels steep for the content right now. |
— |
The Verdict
Warrior Cats: Clans of the Forest gives fans something they’ve wanted for two decades: the chance to create their own cat, join a Clan, and live in the Lake Territories. The world, the camp life and the little details like the meows make it genuinely charming, and for younger players or fans who just want to be a Warrior Cat, it delivers.
But it’s held back by rough PC controls, a thin and repetitive story, a limited cat creator and a confusing map, and its $29.99 price raises expectations it doesn’t quite meet yet. Many of these issues are fixable, though, and the developers are already responding to feedback.
The honest read: if you’re a Warrior Cats fan, or buying for a younger fan, grab a controller and enjoy it for what it is. If you were hoping for a deep, mature RPG adaptation, wait for a few updates and a sale.
For more game reviews, check out our full reviews section.
Score Breakdown
Warrior Cats Fantasy & Fan Service8.5/10
Exploration & World7.5/10
Camp Life & Clanmates7.5/10
Visuals & Performance7.0/10
Final Score
6.7/10
Warrior Cats: Clans of the Forest — Bamtang Games
A purr-fectly charming dream come true for fans, with plenty of room left to grow.
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