Interview: Peachy Keen Discusses the Importance of Representation in Calico

After its initial release in 2020, Calico is, as porting studio Whitethorn Games put it, “out meow” on PlayStation 4 and 5, letting players on Sony’s systems finally get a table at the game’s cozy magical girl cat cafe. Calico’s 2020 launch on PC, Xbox, and Switch came as a surprise that drew comparisons to then-recently released Animal Crossing: New Horizons thanks to a focus on a pastel-bright slice-of-life experience where players befriended animals and design and decorate to their hearts’ content. It focused on designing a cafe and completing quests for NPCs like finding lost pets.