Here's a beautifully animated 2D cat platformer

What is a boss that a house cat might face? If you guessed vacuum cleaner, you are correct.

Such is the journey players will find in Stars in the Trash, a hand-drawn indie platformer from developer Valhalla Cats that's coming in the vague future, but has a demo you can play right now.

Visually designed to evoke the feel of older hand-animated movies, Stars in the Trash is a "narrative-driven platformer that combines action, exploration and puzzles." It'll star Moka, a spoiled housecat that decides to run away in search of adventure.

Over the course of the adventure Moka will have to avoid the kennelman, who of course wants to capture him, and learn how to survive the streets. Naturally, that means coming to appreciate "what he left behind." Meanwhile, you'll be appreciating detailed cat animations and beautifully drawn watercolor backgrounds.

You can find Stars in the Trash on Steam. It has a pre-release demo running that you can also get from Steam, but its release date is yet to be announced.

Nothing bad better happen to these pets. This is triggering some kind of deep-seated childhood fear that bad things will happen to the cat and dog. I watched The Brave Little Toaster too young and it messed me up real good.

Anyway, I expect this one will be an exciting hit for many. After all, cat game Stray was a smash success earlier this year.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.