Chill Reviews : Do not take this cat home or the fear of being alone (spoiler-free version)
TW : this game has heavy topics that may not are suitable for everyone ! The content warnings of the dev are literally longer than my future. If you're uncomfortable and get triggered about abusive relationships, all forms of violence, heavy horror elements, animal cruelty, mental health related subjects or certain phobias please consider not playing this game. There's also flashing lights, imags and loud noises. Stay safe people, and take care of yourself <3
But if you're still curious, the dev put the entire list of warnings on the downloads, so you can take a peak yourself.
Soooooo, that an heavy one. Today I'm talking about a game that was quite a strange experience, Do not take this cat home. It's an horror visual novel created by Pixeliminal in 2023, it starts with a very simple premice : you (yes, you the player) is walking home on a rainy day, and you find a cute cat in a dark alley. Poor little thing is alone in a cardboard. After this, you have the choice to take it home... Or not.
Isn't that little fella cute ?
Why would you leave it outside ?
I'm not making a classic review with the qualities and the flaws, but more of an essay in fact. This is the type of game that feel more like a unique experiment more than actual gameplay when you turn your brain off and just enjoy. This post is spoiler-free, but the next won't be. If you want to read the second part anyway, I invite you to play or watch the game before.
---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
The graphics seems to be hand-made, it gives a unique look and atmosphere to the game. It's a simple style, cute and looking absolutely innocent. Like the cat is veeeery cute and I personnally want to hug and play with for days. It's a personal opinion but I rather so much 2D games over 3D realist games. The game can't really be dated and that's what it's so charming. It's unique and won't burn your eyes after a few years :3
---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☑ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
I don't have much to say about it. It's a visual novel, you just have to click dialogue options. You have different choices of dialogue or actions and it'll have a direct impact on the ending you'll get. Just a quick surprise at the last ending, your choices are timed.
---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
Dialogues aren't dubbed and the soundtrack is not that remarkable, but it's not bad to listen. In fact, the music perfectly blended with the atmosphere, I mostly keep impressions of cute musics mixed with creepy melodies which stressed me a bit.
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma
Like said above, the game's subjects are a bit tough to handle depending of your past experiences, your fears or your triggers. The horror is there, mostly psychological or body horror. Some endings gave me the itches because of that.
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☑ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☑ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☑ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
My advice is take an evening or an afternoon when you're fully into into it, the game can me completed in 3-4 hours.
---{ Price }---
☑ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
I would even say it's cheaper than free x)
---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☑ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10
---{ Author }---
☑ https://vojtastruhar.github.io/steam-review-template
Detailed and spoiler-free opinion : Do not take this cat home is an entertaining game at first, but the first impression of cuteness quickly gives his place to an eerie atmosphere. Strange events were happening to the MC and I was mixed between affection for the cat and curiosity for what were happening to our character. Then let's just say my opinion on my new fluffy friend changed after a few runs. If you're looking for an new whole horror experience, without jumpscares, the game may be for you. I find it excellent and it's definitely a 'must play' in the genre of horror free games.
