Coughing up a hairball.
In 2003, Victoria Holmes, alongside writers Kate Cary and Cherith Baldry, created and wrote Warriors, which also became to be known as the Warrior Cat novels. The series would operate under the pen name, Erin Hunter, with several authors contributing to well over 40 books and several other volumes, an official manga, and now, its first published videogame.
Despite the books being a cultural phenomenon, little has been done to expand past its written works. While an official Roblox game exists, a live action movie was ultimately scrapped, and while there is an animated series in the works, we are still around two years until it is expected to air.
Warrior Cats is also a series I wasn't even remotely familiar with. I knew of the books from their eye-catching covers, but other than those glances at my local Chapters bookstore, I knew nothing of them. While I can see longtime fans of the books being satisfied with Clans of the Forest, at least to a point, I can't help but feel that a beloved series such as this simply deserved better.
Warrior Cats: Clans of the Forest takes place shortly after the Prophecy Arc in the books while never actually adapting any book in particular. However, despite the game being penned by the Erin Hunter team, it isn't listed as canon, as spin-off media isn't considered to be canon to the core storyline of the books. Considering you are making your own Warrior Cat, rising through the ranks, this was to be expected.
Before writing this review, I've been reading the thoughts of fans surrounding their time with the game through avenues like Reddit or Facebook. Some feel it is a suitable addition to the series, living out their Warrior Cat dreams, playing alongside notable names in their favorite clans. Some; however, feel the game failed to live up to the books, feeling a bit lacking in the storytelling, and disappointing as a game in itself. I even read a review about how the writer's six year old daughter, who was a massive fan of the books, wasn't thrilled by what Bamtang Games has built here. As kids are usually satisfied with very little, especially at that age, that is pretty telling.
Now, I'm no stranger to Bamtang Games. This is the team behind the Nickelodeon Kart Racing series, DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing, as well as several other GameMill Entertainment games I've reviewed. Each release has wavered in quality given their relatively quick development time. While Warrior Cats is certainly a different genre for them, given their past catalog, it also feels remarkably shallow and a more experienced team could have delivered the game fans of the series have been craving for all these years.
Warrior Cats: Clans of the Forest tells the stories of four different clans who each hold land in the Lake Territories. This includes the Thunderclan, Riverclan, Shadowclan, and the Windclan. Each story is centered around each of the clans, as you, a fresh apprentice, works their way up the ranks. From being the right paw as a Deputy to the Clan leader themself, it’s a concept that fans of the series were likely looking forward to.
However, working your way up the ranks is oddly simple, with nothing more than a dozen mundane quests between you and your destiny. These quests are usually what you'd find in a MMO when it trains you on the various systems and mechanics. From gathering food for the clan or materials to craft healing items, to patrolling the borders of your territory and dealing with trespassers and other vermin. I kept waiting for the more important quests to cement my place at the top of the clan, but it never came. Nothing feels any more important than the odd quest to go kill a bird or a rabbit.
This is also comparable to the different clans, who feel far too similar here when compared to their respective traits detailed by the books. The Thunderclan is known for their strict adherence to the Warrior Code, but each clan is given this talk at the start of their own stories. Shadowclan is known for hunting at night, but here you're always exploring during the day. Each clan is known for hunting certain prey, but each region of the lake territories is plentiful with the same critters and animals. Hell, the Windclan is supposedly the fastest of the clans, but has the same run speed as the others.
Before you undertake your quick rise to being the leader of your clan, you'll first have to make your own Warrior Cat. This is through a variety of traits that change attributes and stats as you select their height, weight, or build. These determine if your cat is graceful or powerful, efficient or resilient, swift or steady, subtle or perceptive, sensitive or reserved, and finally, tenacious or gentle, all of which have sliders with multiple options to be a blend of both, or going all in on one.
Each trait then affects your physical appearance, such as Efficiency and Resilience affecting your cat’s underbelly fur, and Swift or Steady affecting your cat’s tail size. Other traits affect your eyes, whiskers, ears, and more. So, while you can model your cat after your own kitty in real-life, certain looks are locked behind certain stats and can put you at a disadvantage for choosing them. However, certain traits didn't really seem to change much in the way of conversation or combat, so some of this is likely smoke and mirrors to fake depth in its character creator.
Additional details come via patterns and markings, with a good assortment here. You can also adjust the colors, and whether both eyes are the same tone. It has a decent variety of settings and options, I just wish the cats were modeled far better, as they have models that feel like they would be at home on the Xbox 360. I don't usually expect much from licensed games, but I would assume this team could have rendered better cats.
The last option here is to pick your initial name. This is composed of two words. Your apprentice name is the second option, which will change when you become a Deputy, and then a final change for when you become the clan leader. While the narrator is the only voice acting present in the game, your name is never spoken.
After you've made your Warrior Cat and chosen your clan, you'll then work through those quests to become the leader of the clan. When I joined Shadowclan, I had something of a rival, but this narrative didn't really seem to go anywhere. Also, while the first few quests will see you venturing out solo, you'll eventually have two clanmates join up, providing you with three cats that each have different abilities. However, it is worth pointing out that you do not make these cats, they are just assigned to you.
Exploration in each of these zones isn't terribly well handled. These regions each feel like mazes with several dead ends and obstacles that prevent easy access to return to each of your home bases. Despite a cat's natural agility and movement, controlling your Warrior Cat feels stiff and unrewarding. There are occasionally trees to climb or ivy to scale, but only certain trees and specific selections of ivy, despite other visually identical examples not allowing you to climb.
You do have a cat sense that can guide you, indicating the path you need to take, making navigating a bit easier, as well as set fast travel locations that help you get across the map. However, the jump often doesn't carry over or quickly gain momentum, making some jumps look like those cat videos where they try to jump across a gap but perform that tiny bunny-hop and then fall down. It's so bizarre how un-cat you feel in your movement and how each environment doesn't play to the strength of the animal.
Combat itself is similar to the rock paper scissors approach of Monster Hunter Stories, where different stances are better than others. Defensive Stance is effective against Offensive Stance, and Offensive Stance is effective against Trick Stance, and then loop. There is also Reckless and Sneaky Stance, which are power moves that either do more damage or double damage, but have a high chance to miss.
This system is more or less fine, but isn't clearly shown which stance is which. If you choose the right counter stance, you'll do “amazing” damage, whereas the stance that isn't directly its weakness will get you “good” damage instead of “poor”.
Your combat arsenal consists of being able to equip any four attacks, but you'll want skills that complement each stance. These are swapped at the trainer in your hub, and oddly not just in your moves menu. Some attacks are gained as you proceed through the story, while some are granted to you based on your relationship with other clanmates, a system that is based on dialogue choices during key conversations.
When it comes to attacking, your core attacks use stamina, and is easily refilled by resting during your turn. Weaker attacks use less stamina, and harder hitting attacks use more. You can also use items to refill your stamina or use items that do so for the whole team, and the same is with healing. Other items can boost your defense or offense, but I never saw a need, given combat is relatively simple, provided you are not in high level territory.
Combat encounters can be handled one of two ways. You can simply run into an enemy and engage them right away, or get in a sneak attack by being stealthy. Enemies will have colored icons based on how difficult they are, ranging from green, yellow, and red, with blue indicating a stealth attack will simply end the battle before it begins. Basically, they are far lower level than you, and this reduces the grind of needing to combat tedious encounters every time.
What is interesting; however, is that a few times throughout the game, you'll have to make judgment calls during some battles. Each choice will then physically scar you in some way. One choice chopped off a piece of my left ear, while another cost me an eye. This is actually a very cool mechanic, and I wish more interesting ideas like this were more present across the game. These choices had weight, I just wish the quests were as interesting.
As you explore, you'll find materials. These help you craft healing items or accessories you can wear to be a bit more fashionable. From bracelets to crowns or eye patches, you can also decorate your den with a selection of items and a nice cushy bed. These items replenish very frequently, and are everywhere. It is sort of odd that some are obtained by running into them while others have you pressing a button to obtain them. I do like that some have you digging up or cat-scratching them from trees or rocks. It's one of the few moments you feel like a cat.
Bamtang Games hasn't really had a history of delivering visually stunning games, and that streak isn't broken here. I don't think Warrior Cats looks bad, it does have some appealing moments to it, but I do wish the cats simply had better models and more emotive faces. While not a major criticism, each of the four regions has a lot of the same visual language and repeated assets to block off areas just simply in their design. It's by no means a compelling world, despite the lore attached to it.
There is some environmental storytelling in what happened to humans as certain regions have abandoned camping gear, or other remnants of humanity, but this is more or less in passing than anything the game provides. There is talk of the “two-legs” but it's never really used to a degree where it feels important.
Warrior Cats: Clans of Forest is a very by-the-numbers experience that looks to bring the beloved books to life like never before. As a licensed game, it does the bare minimum to present the property in a pleasant manner and does ultimately succeed in adapting the source material. However, as a videogame detached from that, it's surprisingly basic and lacks polish in even the most basic things. From stiff movement to shallow combat, poor visuals and an abundance of mundane quests, the overall experience is an extremely bland affair. Fans of the books may look past these issues, given the world and lore they love has been recreated here, but as a game, this beloved series has spent all its nine lives in one go.
Developer - Bamtang Games.
Publisher - Trailmark Games.
Released - October 23rd, 2026.
Available On - PlayStation 5, PC, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X/S.
Rated - (E 10+) - Fantasy Violence.
Platform Reviewed - PC.
Review Access - A review code for Warrior Cats: Clans of the Forest was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.