Get Pawhold: Idle Desktop Cat Space Game for PC

Pawhold: Idle Desktop Cat Space Game is an idle squad shooter that runs along the bottom of your screen while you work. Four pixel cat commandos fight an endless herd of robots and critters for bounty on their own; you can glance down and click to help, but your squad keeps fighting without you. An AI somewhere is generating worlds and enemies to conquer mankind, and the cats are on the task.

The cat commandos

ROOK fires when you click and then shoots automatically. ECHO’s laser pierces every critter in a line, TORCH performs best at close range, and BRICK uses rockets against walls and bosses. The four cats each have their own gun and upgrades. A fifth cat, LOOP, is waiting to be rescued farther down the Line, and squad members sometimes check in with you.

Click for bounty

Each click fires ROOK’s rifle, and defeated enemies pay out bounty. When the tally sack is full, you bring in the dropship and file your claim at the ship. You can then refit the crew room by room and drop back in where you left off.

Worlds along the Line

The Line has 14 stretches, including neon junctions, silent steelworks, a frozen ice plate and a salt flat. Each has its own herd and robots, with a gate boss at the end. The game uses pixel art inspired by 90s arcade run-and-guns.

Desktop play

The game sits above your taskbar beside your other work and does not take focus. You keep typing while the cats fight; it never reads your keyboard and uses only the mouse. A click hides it to a small tab, and arrows move it to another monitor. It reads your screen’s size, not your windows or other programs, requires no admin rights or account, and connects only to Steam.