The Open House is a short exploration horror game with a strange, but interesting, mix of both lighthearted and sinister tones. The player has been tasked with testing out a technology similar to that of Zillow’s virtual tours, which will allow a potential buyer to view entire homes electronically. While exploring the assigned house, though, you’ll quickly become aware that something isn’t right - in fact, something very bad happened with the previous owners.
The game opens by immediately showing its sense of humor; a stock image realtor greets you to explain the program’s premise and basic controls, while a jaunty tune plays in the background. You’ll move simply by clicking on the left or right of the screen to turn, then in front of you to go forward where possible. There’s even a built-in UI with sensible buttons for buyers, including “Overview” for general info on the house, “Detail” for talking points on each room from the realtor, “Live Chat”, and “Make Offer” (those last two are disabled in the tester’s alpha build of the program.) These aren’t all that useful to the player in the grand scheme of things, but it adds a sense of realism to the ordeal and participates in some of the best moments of the game later on.
There are four big clues lying around that relate to the house’s sinister past, with the atmosphere becoming more and more unsettling after each discovery. There’s even some smaller details included just for the player to notice (for example, a seemingly random shovel in view of the backyard door.) [SPOILERS] After finding everything you’re required to, the tone quickly shifts to full-on horror. A program crash reloads an earlier version of the house that reveals exactly what took place. You’ll soon find out that this wasn’t just a simple crime, but one influenced by the supernatural. This part includes my favorite bit of the whole game - upon moving for the first time during this reload state, the UI detaches from your screen and stays in place, just floating in the hallway.
[SPOILERS] The program shortly resets again and things go from bad to worse as the demonic presence somehow traps you within. You can walk freely from this point on using the arrow keys; I really liked this movement switch, as it makes it feel like you go from a passive observer to a direct participant in these disturbing events. [SPOILER END]
Unfortunately, though, the overall story only gets worse from here on out. It relies much more heavily on cheesy tropes when the premise was already very basic. The only thing that bolstered it in the first half was the unique presentation as a Zillow-adjacent experience; the second half just feels like your average Unity asset flip. I do, at the very least, appreciate how the game never relies on jumpscares, making room for slightly more creative moments of tension. However, that doesn’t mean any of it is particularly fresh or memorable.
Speaking of other people’s assets, that’s not an exaggeration or a guess. Pretty much everything in The Open House is something the creator paid for - including the house itself, which is a slightly modified version of an asset from the Unity Store. This house is actually used pretty frequently in low-budget games (especially horror), such as House Party, Exposure, and Mortem. You can already guess, then, that the graphics are incredibly simple. There’s really no art direction that can shine through either, since all of the visual content is just other people’s works smushed together. It definitely looks passable, but it’s incredibly boring.
The same goes for the sound design - it’s all basic clips that you could probably find by typing in ‘scary sound effects free download’ to Google. The only thing that stuck out to me was the pretty piano piece that plays during the less scary first half, though it’s still very simple and not really anything special. I’m just a sucker for piano if I’m being honest.
In fact, nothing about this The Open House is that special. The evil force is barely present or explained. The previous tenants are important figures in the story but we know almost nothing about them. The player is just… the player. There’s no gameplay to speak of, either, aside from walking around and finding some very obvious clues; although I do appreciate the switch-ups in movement and UI to make the experience more meta, like it’s a real computer program gone rogue from a supernatural force. I wish they’d leaned into that idea more, rather than taking the easy way out with basic scares and a cliche story.
In the end, the only things I particularly enjoyed about The Open House were the mixing of lighthearted and creepy tones, the handful of smaller details sprinkled throughout, and the funny after-credits ending. There were even a few solid story moments (such as the program crashes), but everything else is just painfully dull or outright bad. I would say this one is an easy skip, unless you’re looking for a middling horror game that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Visuals: 2/5
Sound: 2/5
Story: 2.5/5
Gameplay: 1/5
Worldbuilding: 2.5/5
Overall Game Score: 2/5

Six Cats Under is a short point-and-click puzzle game made as a game jam. You play as an elderly lady who’s just met an untimely demise, and must now use her limited ghost abilities to help her cats escape the apartment. Despite this slightly morbid tone, though, the game shines with a lighthearted sense of humor and a very cute presentation.
Your entire goal is to figure out which items you can or can’t interact with. You must then use them to gain your cats’ attention and influence their actions, causing a chain of events that will ultimately lead to the opening of the front door. The entire apartment, and the kitties themselves, essentially serve as one big puzzle.
This puzzle is much more difficult and intricate than I’d expected, too; I honestly had a tough time figuring out a few of these interactions. I definitely appreciate the creativity and complexity of the gameplay, but I do wish these parts were a bit easier so that the entire game didn’t drag itself out as much. I think it would help a lot even just to have a clearer way to tell what you can and can’t use. Over half of the items in the apartment serve no purpose, but you won’t actually know which ones matter until you’ve clicked through all of them. Sometimes it feels like you’re stumbling around blindly trying to figure out the next step. I was especially lost at the beginning.
Despite these flaws, the gameplay still has a really neat idea behind it and mostly satisfactory execution. It’s very rewarding to see the cats interact with their surroundings and the amazing animations that come along with that. And I still enjoyed most of the answers, anyways - it was just a select few that I took issue with. So I still think the creators did a good job!
As for the story, it doesn’t really extend beyond your singular goal. The game is about 15-20 minutes long, most of which is dedicated to figuring out the puzzle. It’s understandable, since again, this was made for a game jam - but it unfortunately still means that there wasn’t enough time for things like worldbuilding or plot progression. All you can really discover is a bit of information about each car by clicking on them. The apartment is a studio, so there’s not much room to fit items that would give more personality to our protagonist or her pets, either. There are definitely a few nice details - portraits of loved ones hanging on the walls, a yarn basket - but it’s pretty limited. One of the best details though is the main menu, which shows a framed picture of the elderly lady holding one of her cats.
Really, what makes everything work for me with Six Cats Under is the presentation. Even though it’s a simple setting, the apartment is still very visually pleasing. The pixel art is just so beautifully done and detailed. Its main color scheme is composed of warm browns and yellows that are accented by dark green, creating a very cozy atmosphere. Plus the kitties are, of course, particularly adorable!
As for the audio, it’s also quite well-done. The looped song is both cheerful and relaxing, and thankfully just long enough that it doesn’t become annoying. Besides that, there are cute little sound effects to accompany you or the cat’s actions (my favorite of which are easily the meows.) It’s all perfect compliment to the adorable pixel art.
Overall, I definitely think Six Cats Under is worth playing. It’s fun and endearing, and has a very strong vision for what it wants to accomplish. I honestly did feel bad about having to scare virtual cats in order to manipulate them, then allowing them to wander out of your apartment aimlessly - [SPOILERS] not to mention boiling your pet goldfish in the process [END SPOILERS]. But if you don’t think about it too hard, it’s a really delightful experience.

Visuals: 4.5/5
Sound: 3.5/5
Story: 3/5
Gameplay: 3.5/5
Worldbuilding: 2.5/5
Overall Game Score: 3.5/5 [3.4/5]

Sudocats is a charming Sudoku game with the unique premise that the numbers are replaced with drawings of cats. It’s a simple but well-executed idea, one that does exactly what it promises to do. There’s a high chance that you’ll enjoy your time with it if you particularly like brain teasers and/or kitties.
A big reason that I think Sudocats succeeds is its heart. It’s obvious that the devs enjoyed developing the game, and even more-so that they have a real passion for cats; it’s the complete antithesis to the soulless (albeit free) hidden object schlock such as 100 Asian Cats that I’ve covered in the past. Even if it’s not exactly an original concept, they took the time to make their product fun for players and full of love for felines.
In fact, Sudocats’ eponymous cats are largely based on the team’s own pets! This is definitely my favorite part of the entire game, as it made the atmosphere feel all the more cozy and lovingly-crafted. Best of all, after completing a set of three levels, you’ll unlock a picture and a small blurb about one of them that includes their name, age, breed, and personality. It’s honestly a great incentive to play through the entire game, at least for cat lovers like me.
The general art style is very cute, too! The menus are presented as an adorable notebook covered in cat-related stickers, along with an “adopt don’t shop” bookmark. The cats remind me of Neko Atsume a bit, with their round shape language, bold line art, and bright colors. They each have unique poses (and even facial expressions), which creates a great deal of variety amongst them - an important detail so that you can easily differentiate between them on the board.
Aside from the cats themselves, my favorite visual feature of Sudocats is definitely the player’s ability to customize their in-game look. There are a variety of board colors and patterned, textured, or solid backgrounds to mix and match. I only wish that your choices carried over between levels, so that you wouldn’t have to change it back every time if you found a particular combination you liked (I largely preferred the darker palettes as it’s easier on the eyes.)
Along with this visual freedom, there’s also an in-game option to easily switch between the three music tracks. The first serves as the main menu’s theme as well; it’s a jaunty piano tune that, while definitely a cheerful introduction to the game, is ultimately my least favorite of the three. The other two tracks are similarly led by piano, yet they’re much more low-key and relaxing - a style that I feel suits Sudocats’ cozy atmosphere much better. Each of them are licensed music instead of original content, but I think the team at least did a decent job with their selections.
As for the gameplay, well… if you know how to play Sudoku then you’ve already got it! There are three different stages of puzzles, each with nine levels - 4x4, 6x6, and 9x9. I found the 4x4s and 6x6s painfully easy, as I’m sure most people with any Sudoku experience would. Still, these simpler levels serve as a good introduction if you’re unfamiliar with the puzzle format. Another thing to note is that you actually have every single level unlocked from the very beginning (there’s even a ‘random level’ button), so you could entirely skip the easy ones if you wanted to! The 9x9s are definitely the most fun and challenging, but I don’t begrudge the others for being here. I could especially see a child engaging with and learning from them.
Aside from the cat blurbs I mentioned earlier, you actually unlock one other thing while you progress. This time, it’s an instructional guide on how to introduce a new cat into your home when you already have resident cat(s). You’ll unlock each step over the course of the first ten levels you complete. This obviously won’t be as fun of a reward for a lot of people, but I think it’s really cool that the team went out of their way to teach pet owners something beneficial for their current and future kitties.
Of course, there’s only so much enjoyment you can get out of Sudoku at the end of the day. Fans of brain teasers will surely play it more often - doubly so if they’re a cat person - so it really just depends on each player’s taste. Either way, the inclusion of daily and randomly-generated levels means you’re always guaranteed a new puzzle, giving you infinite value from this two-dollar game! That’s a big point in its favor.
It’s just so nice to have a casual, cute, and well-made puzzle game like this on my Steam, waiting there for whenever I feel like picking it back up. It’s free from the pesky ads plaguing similar phone apps, and even has its own unique little gimmick - better yet, a gimmick based on something I personally love!
So, even though it may not have the most original concepts, Sudocats builds upon its foundation in some very charming ways. I’m sure I’ll boot it up every once and a while to play a few levels. It’s easily worth the price, and if it sounds interesting to you, I’d definitely recommend checking it out. I have no doubt you’ll enjoy it!

Visuals: 3.5/5
Sound: 3.5/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Replayability: 3.5/5
Overall Game Score: 3.5/5 [3.6/5]

Assemble With Care is one of the most relaxing games I’ve played in a long time. It’s got satisfying gameplay, stunning visuals, and wonderful voice acting. Everything about it oozes with charm, in a way where I can just see how much love went into its development. For only being an hour and a half long, it definitely leaves a lasting impression.
We play as a traveling repairwoman named Maria, whose most recent stop has taken her to a European city named Bellariva for their annual food festival. While there, she finds repair jobs to make pocket money - and she ends up meeting a cast of lovable characters, each with their own sentimental items that need fixing.
A big part of Assemble With Care’s story focuses on that exact sentimentality toward beloved items, and the personal stories we attach to them. The very first job Maria takes on is making the tape player owned by a girl named Izzy play again; we learn afterwards that it holds a recording of Izzy’s deceased mother singing her a lullaby. Each and every item we work on throughout the game is similarly important to its respective owner, for one reason or another.
Little Izzy is the first of our side characters, followed by her father Joseph, Bellariva’s mayor. They have your classic “busy dad” arc; he throws himself into his work because of the sadness over losing his wife, but his relationship with his own daughter is suffering because of it.
The second half of the story is made up of Carmen and Helena, a pair of sisters struggling to maintain their long distance relationship during financial difficulties. Carmen is warm and a bit absentminded, while Helena is the aloof and responsible older sister. Carmen owns a humble Bellarivan cafe that’s, unfortunately, not making any money. She calls Helena hoping to borrow the entry fee for the food festival (and by extension, the contest held during to be declared the best food in the city.) However, this isn’t the first time she’s asked for money, and Helena decides to visit from the big city to discuss things in person.
Assemble With Care’s overarching theme focuses on the reparations of these familial relationships as much as the items themselves; in fact, Maria must learn to address her emotional distance from her own parents after having left to travel. But this pinpoint focus on blood family is, unfortunately, the weakest part of the whole game for me. Not because it’s badly written, although I do feel the last few acts are a bit rushed and could’ve used one or two more levels. It’s because, as a queer person, I simply don’t believe that blood relatives inherently deserve to be called family and receive your unconditional love and support.
Izzy and Joseph, Carmen and Helena, both pairs truly love each other and work through their differences - but that’s not always how it is in real life. I find plots that hammer home how important family should always be just don’t resonate with me. Sometimes it’s genuinely better to not have those people around.
Another gripe I have on the story side of things is Maria herself. She’s a likable character, but she rarely feels like more than an observer who just happens to witness the healing of these relationships. We’re not even present when either pair finally make amends - we just hear about it later. I would’ve liked for her to be a more active participant in not just the gameplay, but the world unfolding around her.
All of that being said, I still do like the cast in Assemble With Care, and I think a big reason for that is the voice acting. Each character not only has a distinct and memorable voice, but the VAs do a great job of conveying emotion in their performances. Where the story is a bit generic and predictable, the VAs still manage to inject life into it; they’re what really make everything feel believable.
Just as good, if not better, is the music. In fact, I think this is one of my favorite soundtracks I’ve heard in a while! It beautifully captures the coziness of small town vibes, and maintains the perfect relaxing atmosphere throughout the entire story. Many pieces are led by keyboard, and there’s occasionally an acoustic guitar; in fact, a lot of them sound like what you might hear played at a coffee shop somewhere just like Bellariva.
The art is also absolutely amazing, presenting the narrative through a unique, storybook-like lens. ‘Cutscenes’ that play before and after a repair are actually a series of ‘pages’; each ‘page’ shows off a piece that truly feels like you’re looking at a real-life painted canvas. The color palettes are warm and full of life, especially against the standard stark white background of the ‘page’. The presentation makes Bellariva feel like a real place you’d dream of visiting one day.
That’s not to mention the stunning character art! Each cast member has an exceptional design, with bold shape language and amazing color combinations - the latter of which connect them directly to their respective family member. Joseph and Izzy’s clothing share a rusty red and sky blue, while both of their neck accessories (a tie/headphones respectively) are pale yellow. On the other hand, Carmen wears bright yellow and warm shades of blue, while Helena wears more cool, chic blues and chartreuse; these similar-but-different tones perfectly convey their familial closeness yet totally opposite personalities. Carmen also has a striped towel over her shoulder that matches Helena’s shirt closely!
The repair sections are possibly even better-looking, bringing motion to the game’s beautiful art style. Each level has a unique background that matches whichever setting Maria is in, from tiled floors to a tablecloth covered in Izzy’s doodles. The colors are, of course, as consistently wonderful as ever - and another specific standout here is the detailed lighting. In scenes taking place outside, the entire screen is well-lit, with only a few shadows casted here and there. If she’s inside, she’ll work in the light from each setting’s unique window. You can clearly make out the shadows left by not only these windows, but by nearby plants as well. It all adds so much to the atmosphere.
Even Assemble With Care’s pause menu is aesthetically considered, taking the form of a clickable coffee cup in the corner (or a half-eaten cookie in the epilogue!) But my favorite part is easily the texture work. The objects look as if they’ve been painted with a brush; their textures move back and forth slightly to bring life to them. You can clearly tell plastic from painted metal, and painted metal from unpainted.
The gameplay itself is simple, but very effective. It’s always clear what your next step is for a repair; the satisfaction instead comes from how tactile it feels to actually do all of it. Unscrewing screws, removing parts, connecting wires - it feels as if you really are Maria, with her practiced ability to make things tick again. Personally, I preferred this method to a more puzzle-heavy alternative. I was worried before playing that potentially complex mechanics based around a real-life skill (which I don’t possess) would be too difficult for me to engage with.
The best part, though, are the little interactions you or the other characters may have with an object while finishing up a job. It feels so rewarding to get these moments of flavor and character building. After you repair Izzy’s tape player, you get to hear her mother’s lullaby. While putting together a neon sign for Carmen’s restaurant, you can choose between three foods to add to it (a pizza slice, an ice cream cone, and a margarita.) You even get to play a quick and easy little minigame on a GameBoy equivalent after fixing it. There’s even more, but you get the picture, I don’t want to spoil all of them!
I also really appreciate the wide range of objects and types of repairs you’re doing. Some jobs are for antiques or family heirlooms, while others are for electronics. There are even fake brand names given to each object, displayed at the top of the screen after finishing a job.
There’s a surprising amount of good worldbuilding moments in Assemble With Care - even if it’s not very intricate. For example, the game almost never discusses money directly. All we know is that Maria needs some to attend the food festival, that Joseph will pay Maria for her work, and that Carmen’s business is failing. Yet, we never see Maria charge a client on-screen. These interactions are simply left out. This omission of the finance talk makes the game feel all the more cozier; you just don’t have to think about capitalism more than needed for the sake of the story.
To wrap up, Assemble With Care may not be a perfect game, but it has many strengths. It’s fun, it’s relaxing, it’s heartfelt, and it’s unique. The presentation is immaculate, and the gameplay is close to perfectly executed. I came here for a casual, calm experience, and that’s exactly what I got.
Its only real blind spot is a slightly bland story that doesn’t personally connect with me - still, it very well could you. It’s worth playing either way in my opinion, though, as its pros heavily outweigh any cons. This is simply one of the most charming games I’ve played in a long time.

Visuals: 5/5
Sound: 5/5
Story: 3/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Worldbuilding: 3.5/5
Overall Game Score: 4/5 [4.2/5]

Do you love cats? Do you want to “collect” them virtually without the added worry of virtual pet care? Then Neko Atsume is the mobile game for you!
Most have heard of this iconic game already - in fact, it turns nine years old this year. But I think it’s definitely still worth paying attention to, even today. For starters, I prefer mobile games that are completely casual and not too time consuming, given that I can become far too invested in them otherwise. Neko Atsume strikes the perfect balance of keeping your interest and respecting your time.
The gameplay here revolves around filling up food bowls to attract kitties to your yard. There are a few different foods available for purchase, having better attraction powers the more expensive they are. And once you put the food out, you must leave the app to wait real-time for your visitors to show up! You can then snap pictures of them to keep in their individual photo albums. Once one leaves, they’ll give you a gift of in-game currency.
More interesting than the food in the shop are the furniture selections, the main thing you’ll need to save up for. There are all kinds of beds, toys, scratchers, and other goodies to buy and place in your yard. You’re then rewarded for their purchase by getting to watch and photograph your kitties using them during their visits! Something to keep in mind is that only certain kitties will interact with certain objects.
There are over 60 cats to “collect” - including rare ones that only show up under certain circumstances. There’s also a ‘catbook’ that keeps track of who you’ve already discovered, with their page becoming fully available once you spot them yourself during a visit. Aside from being able to rename them here, there are stats for their personality, power level, coat color, number of visits, and the top three goodies they’ve used. You can also set each cat’s profile picture to anything from their personal photo album!
Every cat also has a unique memento which they’ll eventually present to the player! These are earned by feeding them enough to become good friends, after which the item will be displayed on that kitty’s profile. It’s an extremely simple - almost rudimentary - collecting mechanic, yet it matches perfectly with the casual style of Neko Atsume as a whole. There’s just a bit more flavor to the gameplay because of them, giving you one more reason to stick with the loop for longer.
However, while the casual approach is well-suited for this type of app, the big downside is that it will eventually become dull. The relaxed nature and immediate gratification of adorable kitties make it super easy to come back to - but you’ll probably fall out of doing so eventually, because there’s just not much to actually do. Don’t get me wrong, I love having something as peaceful as Neko Atsume available at any time, especially when I need a pick-me-up. Yet I can’t deny that the game would’ve been even better if there was at least a petting mechanic (this was rectified in the VR version, at least.)
Despite having flawed gameplay, Neko Atsume still stands out from many other mobile games; and a big reason for that is its wonderful visual presentation. The cartoony style may seem simple at first glance, but it’s genuinely charming and perfectly executed. I especially love the bold colors and thick lineart.
Of course, the best part is easily the kitties themselves! Each one is unique in appearance, with all sorts of natural coat colors (white, brown, black, gray, or orange) and patterns (solid, striped, spotted, or a mix of the latter two.) My personal favorite is Peaches, who possesses a yellow-ish coat with light brown spots - one of which on their side resembles a heart!
Contrary to the others, the rare kitties are a bit more outlandish, usually possessing a silly costume or some otherwise unique trait. The most famous character from the entire game is easily Tubbs, a rare cat who’s much larger and fatter than the others; he shows up and eats your entire food bowl before leaving a huge tip. Another example would be Guy Furry, a black and gray feline dressed in a chef’s clothes and hat.
The kitties aren’t the only amazing thing about the art, though! Another element that I really love are the many interactions that the kitties have with their furniture and toys. There are a variety of poses and simple animations, sometimes multiple for a single item; a cat could be laying in their bed either curled up and fast asleep, or awake with their head up and alert. This is why purchasing new goodies is so rewarding (aside from the innate satisfaction of decorating), because you’re always excited to see how the cats use them. Rare cats even have unique interactions, like Guy Furry, who can make pizza on top of an oven or a sundae in a vase!
The sound design isn’t quite as noteworthy or fleshed out as the visual side of Neko Atsume, yet what’s there still manages to be effective. Even though there’s only one background song, it's very cute and catchy; the leading instruments in it are a keyboard and xylophone. Meanwhile, UI selections make satisfying ‘pop’ and ‘click’ noises, with a few ‘meow’s for good measure.
In conclusion, despite not being flawless, I think Neko Atsume still holds up even nine years later. It’s a great casual mobile game with lots of cute cats and furniture selections (plus no ads!) You may not stick with it forever, but it’ll likely keep you entertained for a good long while - and it’s effortless to jump back in whenever you’re ready to. I highly recommend Neko Atsume, especially to fellow cat lovers!



Visuals: 5/5
Sound: 3.5/5
Gameplay: 3/5
Worldbuilding: 4/5
Replayability: 3.5/5
Overall Game Score: 4/5 [3.8/5]

Coming off of A God Who Lives In Your Head, I was really excited for some more ‘weird art’. This time it came in the form of ZeroNorth ZeroWest, a game released in 2018 that’s heavily inspired by LSD: Dream Emulator.
If you don’t know what LSD is, then let’s start there. The player explores abstract environments, where if you touch any object, it warps you to a completely new world. There are strange events you may encounter strewn throughout. It’s a fascinating concept - even more-so because it was released on the Playstation 2 in 1998. It never got a US release, unfortunately, but it has become a cult classic all over the globe. I would love to play it myself one day.
Over time, I’ve found a few indie games that clearly have LSD’s DNA baked in. You explore abstract worlds endlessly, no way to win or lose. ZeroNorth ZeroWest is one of these games. And while I doubt this is the best form of the mind-bending genre, it’s a decent little project with some cool ideas.
0N0W opens with an interesting live action short from the POV of our protagonist. The nondescript man wakes up, prepares for his day, packs, and gets into his car to go on a long road trip. We pass all sorts of varying landscapes - some which, I swear as a Georgian, look eerily familiar to me - before it rather seamlessly transitions into the actual game. The man pulls into a small town’s gas station and steps out of the car, handing control over to the player.
From here, you’ll briefly visit the game’s only actual location; this town block sitting amidst an otherwise desolate countryside, the only open building being a local theater. Once you enter, you’re teleported into the alternate dimensions that will make up the bulk of your experience.
If you’re lucky, you’ll start your new foray into a world inside of a small living space - one of the only shreds of real humanity present during your exploration. Some persistent themes throughout these houses (or, sometimes, apartments) are a clock and a TV, the latter of which will display trippy static effects if you interact with it. Otherwise, the interior is altered slightly for whatever world you’re currently in. You may not even get the quick comfort of a house, though. Sometimes you’ll just open smack-dab in the middle of a strange forest, or on floating platforms.
You’ll immediately notice that the ‘visual shine’, for lack of a better term, is altered between many worlds - neon, black and white, a cloudy blur. 0N0W is slathered in these loud aesthetics. Meanwhile, the core art style relies on geometric shapes to convey the world around you. They may take the form of a huge, bustling city, with tall skyscrapers and streaks of light in the pits representing never-ending traffic; or you may encounter a barren desert, the horizon dotted with strange monuments to run towards. Everything feels alien yet slightly familiar.
Additionally, there are unique worlds in which you traverse trippy, kaleidoscopic landscapes void of… well, literally anything except for the player. There’s barely even a sense of direction as you wander around without a ground or sky. The game’s usual color palettes can already be hard on the eyes, but these often feel nearly impossible to look at. It’s a really harsh aesthetic. That’s not to mention that these kaleidoscope worlds are paired with even more basic gameplay and player engagement than the regular ones. Still, I enjoyed them for what they were. I particularly liked how, instead of traditional loading screens between maps, you’re flung through the same kind of scenery. You can even look around during!
Many of the worlds are, in fact, copies of each other with a different ‘shine’ and a handful of smaller changes. Their most interesting features are usually the details specific to each individual world - moments of humanity buried beneath. In a city, I came across neon graffiti. There are TVs hidden in some corners, as well as doors that will lead you to your next world. I discovered that the desert maps house a huge building with the roof caved in; my favorite version had tables with chairs, a corner filled with shelves of books, and even a car.
Many strange ‘creatures’ roam around, although they don’t acknowledge the player in any way. Examples of their physical forms include smooth blobs, spiky blobs, or bug-like swarms. These also harbor a sound design bit I really liked; if you approach, a noise - ranging from computer beeps to machine whirring - will emanate from them and gradually become louder.
In fact, the sound design as a whole is probably my favorite part of 0N0W. Serene ambience makes up the ‘soundtrack’; and it’s occasionally intertwined with sound effects such as crickets chirping or radio crackles. Most of these effects are, similarly to the creatures’ noises, directional hearing tied to certain places or things in the environment. You’ll naturally encounter them as you explore, allowing you to have a personal hand in the relaxing soundscape. It’s nothing new or groundbreaking, but it’s very enjoyable.
Contrarily, even though the visuals are quite striking, they still ended up feeling empty after a while. This is largely due to the absence of nearly any direct input from the player; though the audio transforms slightly during the player’s journey through an area, there’s no meaningful way for them to participate in the visual side of things. I genuinely enjoy the hand-made quality each world has in 0N0W... but the game is just tedious to play after 20 minutes, during which nothing new is introduced except some aesthetics. It also doesn’t help that, across my own playthroughs, I kept running into a frustrating issue where I’d loop through the same few worlds over and over again (though the specific worlds would change each time.)
I did eventually realize that there’s a useful menu binded to ‘M’ that makes navigation much easier. It’s really my own fault for not trying the button sooner, since the controls are displayed each time you boot up. Anyways, aside from the expected volume control and main menu return, this has a few other useful options. The most useful of these takes you to the ‘world selection menu’ that’s unlocked after playing for the first time; even though the're all named discreetly using code here, you can at least guarantee you’ll be seeing new things. There’s also one that takes you to a ‘door room’, a black void with a few doors that lead to different places. This adds a bit more of the intended randomness back into the mix.
Having more control over my 0N0W experience like this definitely improved my enjoyment of it! Still, I can’t help but dislike the fact that I had to use a menu to get a good selection of what the game had to offer; I would’ve hoped that it could do that on its own. The original intention was to journey through a random selection of worlds seamlessly, and I felt like my experience was constantly disrupted because I had to use the menu so much.
Either way, there’s unfortunately only so much entertainment to get out of 0N0W. Once you’ve visited all of the worlds - which may take an hour or two, depending on how much time you spend in each - there’s really nothing else to it. I’ve been enjoying booting it up now and then while I write this review, but only ever for a few minutes at a time. I recently discovered that there are a few secret worlds thanks to a guide… but I honestly would’ve preferred for them to be as accessible as the rest, just to round out the content a bit more.
The last thing I want to discuss before wrapping up is the VR version of 0N0W, a free DLC included with the base game. This is definitely the most immersive way to experience the atmosphere. Only five of the maps are available in this mode - most easily accessible through keybindings - but I had fun just roaming around and taking in the sights. The only big issue is that there’s a 50/50 chance your corneas will be assaulted with nauseatingly bright visuals.
At the end of the day, 0N0W is more of an interactive art piece than anything - an abstract, inscrutable experience that forces you to draw your own conclusions. I definitely appreciate its style, and I think it has a certain charm; but I’m not sure I’d necessarily recommend the game as a whole (especially at its five dollar price tag.) It can get dull quickly, I suspect especially so for players without the patience or interest required for this type of game.


Visuals: 4/5
Sound: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 1/5
Worldbuilding: 3/5
Replayability: 2.5/5
Overall Game Score: 3/5

Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk, made entirely by Nikita Kryukov, is a short visual novel with horror elements. It focuses on a mentally ill girl struggling with agoraphobia as she walks to the store to buy milk. Milk inside of a bag’s narrative breaks down the fourth wall completely, acknowledging its player as a figment of the girl’s imagination - someone she’s created to help her complete this seemingly small task. Someone to perform for in her mind, to try to keep her thoughts in check and focused.
It’s a small, neat story about the difficulties of interacting with the outside world when you’re not doing well. The girl’s perception of reality is heavily skewed; she views the people around her as monsters that are, in her words, ‘probably more scared of her than she is of them’. She speaks often of the endless stream of medications she’s taken in both the past and present to try to help her conditions. The very first time we meet her, she’s rehearsing her script for buying milk for nearly the twentieth time. The girl even exhibits symptoms of OCD; for example, counting her footsteps, getting upset when she walks ‘incorrectly’, and taking a dislike to the letter ‘O’ because of the intrusive thoughts it gives her.
Throughout the game, the player will be given the chance to comment on the girl’s train of thought or outward actions. Sometimes, there’s only one option, simply serving as a way to keep the dialogue flowing. Other times, you’re given two (or more) options - usually to either direct the girl’s thought process and actions, or to senselessly degrade her. However, if you choose to be mean too often, you’ll earn a ‘game over’ accompanied by a small jumpscare where the girl asserts that you’re not helpful to her. You may then restart (and choose to be nicer this time!)
Milk provides a very interesting take on having both a mental illness-focused narrative and an unreliable narrator. It may not be saying anything particularly new or groundbreaking, but the lens through which its story and main character are expressed is enough to make it feel fresh. A huge part of this is because you never once take direct control of the girl herself, instead acting as nothing but a voice in her head the entire game - the player to her visual novel protagonist, as she puts it (a role you’re also filling literally.) The way the girl perceives the world is captivatingly surreal and uncanny, including her largely self-contained interactions.
But Milk’s charm is not only due to good writing, but also beautiful art (and sound direction.) The top half of the screen serves as your view into the girl’s world. Its pixel art is intentionally minimalist, to the point of being near-obfuscated; its color palette is made up entirely of dark red, bright purple, and black. The environments depicted are mundane in their normalcy - a street, a light stop, a store - yet they feel so strange under this presentation. They’re the half-skewed world of someone struggling to separate their mind from reality.
Peppered throughout this seemingly rather normal town are fascinating horror elements which lean much further into the unknown. While at the store, the girl interacts with a few monsters who challenge the bravery she’s drummed up to go out and interact with the world. Yet, easily the most disturbing parts are the imagery revolving around her own home and family during the latter half of the game. But I won’t reveal more than that.
Just like how these visuals merge reality and delusion, the sound design does the same. A detail I found interesting is how Nikita chooses to apply the classic audio ‘babble’ to only select portions of the girl’s inner monologue. Lines meant primarily to describe the girl’s surroundings and actions may also be interspersed with her thoughts on what she’s observing; yet she clearly stays silent while doing so. Conversely, during the meager amount of dialogue she has with characters outside of the player, she’s accompanied by a chiptune ‘babble’. What’s notable is that this ‘babble’, along with quotation marks, are also applied to certain thoughts of hers - but only the ones directly addressed to the player. AKA, the voice in her head. This implies she may be speaking to herself out loud, a common symptom of the sort of hallucinatory mental illness the girl exhibits.
Most environments are accompanied by their own unique music, but the overarching style is droning and repetitive in a uniquely unsettling way. The tracks evolve over the course of the game, drowning out and coming back into focus between scenes. Eventually, when the girl’s medication starts to wear off, the noise is replaced altogether with wind. In stark contrast from the rest of the game, the last few minutes are completely silent.
As you can see, there’s no shortage of thought put into all of Milk’s small details. It manages to tell a captivating story in the span of only 20 minutes, filled to the brim with character and intrigue. There’s a perfect balance of half-explained story threads and vagueness to really engage the player, who can come to their own conclusions about many parts of the narrative. This is one of my favorite flavors of horror worldbuilding - abstract, strange, compelling you to fill in the blanks yourself.
Milk is absolutely worth a play for me. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys psychological horror - and possibly also to those who want to try out some new kinds of visual novels. The jumpscares are light and manageable, yet the atmosphere remains consistently thick and creepy. Good writing, great visuals, and equally great sound design combine into a disturbing, unique experience that I loved.


Visuals: 4.5/5
Sound: 4.5/5
Story: 4/5
Gameplay: 2.5/5
Worldbuilding: 4.5/5
Overall Game Score: 4/5

I bought Peggle Deluxe expecting your average time-sink - an unexceptional product bolstered by satisfying mechanics. Yet I was quickly surprised by the comprehensive quality of this silly game, not just in its pachinko-like gameplay, but in the overall presentation and amount of quality content it includes. In fact, this has to be one of the most fun time-sinks that I’ve ever played!
In Peggle, you must destroy each stages’ pegs by aiming and shooting ten balls from the top of the screen. The twenty-five orange pegs randomly scattered throughout the level serve as your main target; blue pegs simply count towards your total score. There’s a bucket that travels back and forth at the bottom of the screen, and if your ball falls into it, you get to reuse it.
You also earn a score multiplier based on how many orange pegs you’ve already cleared from the board. Once you’ve destroyed all of them, the bottom of the screen becomes a series of buckets worth varying amounts of points. Finally, you’ll get extra points for every unused ball you have.
What really makes this game fun are the endless opportunities for combos. Each turn, there will be one randomly assigned purple peg that, if hit, gives a huge amount of points and multiplies the score for that ball. It’s half skill and half luck, as you try to predict how your ball will bounce - and it’s extremely satisfying when it works out well. If you make a particularly impressive shot, there’s an easily accessible feature to watch a replay and download it.
Before anything else, you’ll need to complete Adventure Mode, where you’re introduced to ten Peggle Masters over the course of eleven stages. This cast of silly characters - from a unicorn to a pumpkin head - not only teach you the game’s core mechanics, but also provide their own special ability when selected. After beating the final stage, you’ll graduate from the ‘Peggle Institute’, and a special trophy will be displayed on the main menu.
Each Adventure stage consists of five levels; the first ten stages are dedicated to one Master each, and the last stage tests the skills you’ve gained so far. Every level has two-randomly selected green pegs that will activate the Master ability when hit. After finishing the tenth stage, you’ll be able to choose which ability to equip before starting a level. This is easily one of the most fun parts of the game, mixing and matching the abilities with your current obstacle. It can entirely change your playstyle!
Take, for example, Warren Rabbit. His ability spins a wheel that can provide either his Magic Hat (which lights up pegs near your ball, even if they don’t directly touch), an extra ball, a random Master ability, or triple the score for two turns. You’d usually select Rabbit when you’re going for high scores. Conversely, there’s Tula Sunflower, who lights up 20% of your remaining orange pegs; a good choice if you’re having trouble clearing a level. There are a few abilities that aren’t practical to choose very often - like Kat Tut and Claude Lobster - but most of them have at least some use case.
There are three other modes to explore outside of Adventure. The first is Quick Play, where you can replay any level you’ve already beaten and try for a better high score. There’s also a Duel Mode, unlocked after finishing stage one of Adventure; this acts as a local multiplayer option in which you can play against either a local friend or the computer.
Lastly is the Challenge Mode, my personal favorite out of all of them. This one’s only unlocked after you completely finish Adventure. It boasts 75 challenge levels, each with special requirements - for example, there may be an increased number of orange pegs, or you may have to reach a specific high score.
Although there’s no actual story in Peggle, there is some dialogue during Adventure. The Masters offer tips at the beginning of each level, usually to explain their ability and the best ways to use it. I definitely appreciated the effort to integrate these characters into the gameplay further, and their advice can be useful. However, the writing constantly tries to be clever and humorous, and it unfortunately almost always fails. Here are a few examples of some particularly bad lines, so that you can gauge the quality for yourself.
“I think it's really important to be environmentally aware. That's why I'll only drive a car made of imaginary magical bricks!”
“I've got a fever, and the only cure is Extreme Fever! Ha Ha! Get it? It's ironic because the cure for my fever is actually more fever.”
“I don't have any tips or advice for you this time! I just hope you're having fun!”
Even just the way some characters speak is terrible. The lobster has an annoyingly thick French accent. The alien says a weird word at the beginning of every line, like “greep” and “gloop”. The skateboarding gopher uses outdated skater jargon in nearly every sentence, like extreme and super wicked. He even calls his multiball ability multiballular action. Kill me.
The one thing I actually did like about the writing was the inclusion of new, more creative lines that replace the tips in a NG+ Adventure. It’s still far from the best dialogue ever, but I’ll admit it got a few smiles out of me. The Masters will simply pop in every once and a while to talk about themselves or the game; this scarcity makes them feel much more charming, rather than the usual hamfistedness you deal with in a first playthrough.
As for the Masters’ physical designs, well… they’re probably my least favorite part of the game’s entire presentation. The skateboarding gopher, the cat plastered with outdated Egyptian stereotypes, all of their dead eyes staring into my soul - they’re mediocre at best, and off-putting at worst. The only one I think is halfway decent is Lord Cinderbottom, and that’s only because he’s your run-of-the-mill, standard dragon.
Aside from the Masters’, the game’s overall aesthetic is mostly really nice. An easy positive is that each level has its own unique background art; no two are the same. It’s awesome to see the effort put into this aspect of it, but still… I unfortunately just don’t like most of the pieces. While they aren’t terrible, I’m not a fan of Pop Cap’s aesthetic. It’s a weird, overly-smooth mix of cartoony and realistic that doesn’t look great to me. I especially don’t like all of the flowers and snails with human-like faces; and while I am more partial to the landscape pieces, they’re still not my favorite.
What I did love about the visuals were the way they utilized the pegs to effectively ‘trace’ each drawing, which adds a bit of a 3D effect. This makes the game feel much more unified and engaging than, say, if they’d gone with simpler backgrounds so as not to account for them while designing levels. The devs could’ve easily copped out and gone with solid colors or simple patterns - instead, they fully committed.
Another thing I really appreciated visually was the UI. The menus are effortless to navigate, and the in-game layout is nice and legible, with your ball counter taking up the left and your score multiplier on the right. Something I didn’t notice at first, but loved once I did, was that the layout’s color and corner decor changes based on the current theme of the stage! For example, the space levels are purple with planets and stars, while the water levels are blue with fish and waves. Even the ball shooter changes color to match!
The soundtrack is very fun, too, probably the best part of the presentation. Peggle opens with a small section of ‘Morning Mood’ by Peer Gynt, as the sun peeks over the horizon. And - as many are at least superficially aware, due to the Peggle 2 meme - ‘Ode to Joy’ by Beethoven serves as a crucial part of the Peggle experience. When you destroy a level’s last orange peg, rainbows and fireworks shoot across the screen as this triumphant track plays. It’s a great adrenaline rush every time, and feels like a real celebration for your completion.
The rest of the music, made to accompany gameplay, is all original material. It uses a lot of keyboard, bass, and drums to lead the beat, creating a funky vibe that can lean into either jazz or electronic roots at the turn of a dime. They’re nearly all over four minutes long, too; this ensures that you’ll be accompanied by an entire unique track during a level, instead of an annoying looping soundbite.
The choice of in-game song is selected randomly, instead of each being assigned to certain levels or stages. Surprisingly, I actually like this method. Since they didn’t create tracks focusing on each stage’s theme (ocean, space, Egypt, etc.) - which is what I would’ve ultimately preferred - it’s fun to just see what you get.
The game’s overall sound design is very tight in general! The ping when you hit a peg, that increases in pitch the more you hit in one shot, is very satisfying. Each Master also has a signature sound effect that plays when you select them on the menu or use their ability, which I thought was a nice touch.
Lastly, I want to touch on Peggle’s replayability. I think this is one of the most replayable games I’ve come across in a while. It’s so easy to boot it up for a few quick levels, since one only takes a few minutes at most. There are multiple game modes to check out; its multiplayer option (that even offers a computer opponent) is a great inclusion, and I love the unique obstacles presented in Adventure. Even just replaying levels in Quick Mode, you can work to beat your own high scores.
I had so much fun exploring all of this gameplay that Peggle Deluxe had to offer. I thought of the series as nothing but a funny joke before actually trying it. Now I genuinely understand why that guy was so excited to announce Peggle 2! I can’t wait to play the rest of the series and see how they expand the groundwork laid here. I highly recommend this first entry, as it holds up as a genuinely fun and stylish experience even seventeen years later.

Visuals: 3.5/5
Sound: 4.5/5
Story: 2/5
Gameplay: 5/5
Replayability: 4.5/5
Overall Game Score: 4/5 [3.9/5]

My feelings on Cattails were initially a bit mixed, though leaning towards positive. There were many good qualities to enjoy from the game, but I also felt like some key aspects were lacking. Still, I couldn’t help but keep coming back to its fun, colorful world; and I eventually realized that the joy Cattails brings me trumps its flaws tenfold.
I do need to mention right off the bat that I’m a huge cat lover, as anyone who knows me personally can attest. I named myself Leo for a reason, after all. I’m absolutely the kind of person who would play a game solely because it has cats; in fact, my Steam Year In Review lists ‘cats’ as one of my most-played genres. Needless to say, I was very excited to find a game like Cattails - a survival experience centered around free-roaming felines!
Even though I actually spent much of my time reading as a kid, I never got into the Warriors series; still, even I picked up on the immediate similarities between those books and Cattails. There are clans fighting over wild territory, but they all gather seasonally for peaceful festivals. There are medicine cats, shopkeepers, guards, and appointed leaders. You specifically play as a cat recently abandoned by their owners, who’s shepherded into a clan of your choosing and begins a quest to restore balance to the forest.
Those similarities aren’t a coincidence, or even just taking inspiration. See, before Cattails became a standalone game, it was actually a free Warriors fangame called Warrior Cats Untold Tales! The team behind these games, Falcon Development, is a husband-and-wife duo, which I just wanted to mention because I think it’s really cute. They eventually decided to make their fan project into a full fledged independent title, and thus, Cattails was born.
The game opens with its one and only ‘cutscene’, a series of drawings that depict our cat’s past. A young girl and her mother visit a pet shop, passing by the kittens; the girl picks our cat out of the litter. She enjoys the kitten’s company at home and cares for them attentively. Unfortunately, her mother randomly bursts into their room while angry one day, as they’re about to play with a ball in the house (at least, this is the only reason I could think of for her to be upset with the context given.) She drives them to a patch of countryside, leaving the cat alone and forcing the daughter to witness the cruel abandonment. So, to recap, this mother bought a cat unethically then left it by the side of the road for no reason, all while giving her daughter childhood trauma over the event. Wow.
As you can tell, this isn’t the most inventive or well-written backstory for a nonhuman character - hell, Toy Story did the same thing but better. It’s also not a backstory that holds much weight past the opening moments, as it’s rarely brought up again after. Cattails generally opts for this vague, light storytelling throughout the runtime; something that was surely rooted in its beginnings as a fangame. I wasn’t expecting to be dazzled by complex characters or a nuanced plot, but I was still disappointed by exactly how unimportant the narrative felt… I’ll get into that more in a bit.
For now, we skip to our feline sleeping alone in the rain. They are approached by Coco, a cat who is uniquely unaffiliated with the clans. This new friend decides to teach the player the basics of survival through a tutorial, during which you’ll learn how to hunt, forage, fight, and use active skills - all important mechanics you’ll be engaging with regularly. Coco then herds you to your chosen clan.
What immediately impressed me during the tutorial was the variety of things to do, even in regards to these basic, core mechanics. The hunting is delightfully challenging, requiring you to successfully stalk and kill prey without alerting them. Each prey has their own invisible range of vision, too, adding another level of nuance to one of your most frequent activities. Additionally, there are bugs flying around that you can swipe at and pick up for selling, gifting, or even decorating. A rare prey animal or bug may show up occasionally, so keep your eyes peeled!
Foraging acts as your source for healing items, as well as a secondary way of finding food. This action merely requires clicking on the plants you pass by; still, the visuals of a world populated with all sorts of berries and herbs is more than enough to make up for the simplicity of the mechanic. Plus, it gives you one more helpful thing to look out for on your adventures.
The combat is also surprisingly fun, even though it mostly relies on basic timing. You simply swipe at an enemy while they’re approaching, then run away before they can swipe back. The nuance comes in the form of active skills, which largely focus on attacking - some examples include an AOE attack, a bleed, and even a heal for nearby allies. There are a select few non-combat skills as well, such as temporarily making prey’s range of vision visible or summoning a large amount of bugs. You can improve these skills - as well as your stats of hunting, fishing, fighting, and swimming - with experience that you’ll earn from all sorts of activities.
There are the basics of Cattails that you’re taught during the tutorial, but I quickly discovered that there were still lots of activities to uncover! In fact, one of my favorite things about the game is its relationship system. Although your protagonist never speaks directly, there are many cats populating each colony who are more than happy to talk to you. You may gift them any item, and your relationship will increase or decrease based on their personal preferences (for a maximum of five hearts.) You’ll gradually unlock new dialogue from your friend that reveals more about their personality and backstory; and once you reach four hearts, your friend will give you gifts back.
If you particularly like a cat, you may give them a rose to ask for a romantic relationship. This allows you to max out your relationship a second time, upon which you may ask for their paw in marriage. After a while, you can even have a litter of kittens together!
You form relationships with your children just like all of the others - by giving them their favorite things. Once they reach a certain age, one kitten at a time may accompany you on your adventures, helping to hunt, forage, and fight. There are a few different personalities each kitten could be born with; this affects not only what gifts they prefer, but it may also make them better at certain tasks.
Want to befriend or date cats from other clans? No worries! Although you’re not allowed in the other villages at first, you can easily increase your reputation with the outside clans by giving each one daily gifts. After proving your kindness, you’ll be allowed past the guard to hang out with the other cats; and, eventually, you’ll even be able to use their shop and doctor.
Speaking of shops, no sim game is complete without an economy, and Cattails is no exception. In fact, it has four different currencies to earn! The most common of these are ‘mews’, which are spent at the standard clan shops to buy food, healing items, and more. You’ll primarily earn mews by selling things to those shops or completing the two daily battles for territory.
Secondly, there’s a task board in your village that will provide a new quest daily. These can challenge you to hunt, forage, explore, visit other clans, and more! You’ll have until midnight to turn it in; once you do, you’ll earn a random item, as well as 1-3 ‘task tokens’ to spend at the board’s shop.
Next is the mining mechanic - or Cattails’ version of dungeon crawling. There are a few different mines to explore across the map, all of them offering 100 levels to descend. These caves are filled to the brim with rocks that may reward ores or gemstones when swiped at. Be careful, though, as there’s many hazards to look out for too; your hunger drains faster from destroying boulders, and there are bats waiting to attack you. Fortunately, you may return to the surface at any time with the treasures you’ve collected so far. You then trade them to the mole running each mine in exchange for their ‘mole cash’, used to - yep, you guessed it! - buy from the moles’ shops.
And last, but certainly not least, are the ‘festival tokens’. As previously mentioned, the three clans will gather occasionally to hold a festival and play games together. Each season has its own unique minigame (and shop), and you’re awarded tokens based on how well you do. This is something I always looked forward to while playing; it’s a great way to transition into a new season. I only wish you were able to gift the cats while they’re all gathered in one place.
Aside from all of these shops offering the obvious items (such as food and healing herbs), there are also many accessories and coats available for purchase as well! There are so many cool choices that I found myself switching up my appearance at least once every time I played. You have the obvious inclusions, of course, such as tabbies, calicos, and bell collars; but there are also a number of delightfully unexpected options, such as a coat that changes color, a winter sweater, and a plague doctor mask.
There’s a surprising amount of freedom when it comes decorating, too - and not just inside your den, but nearly any part of the world you can imagine. This is because you can actually drop any item you want, anywhere you want! Healing herbs surrounding the doctor, roses around your bed, walls lined with brightly-colored ladybugs, or fireflies lighting dim rooms - it may not be the traditional kind of decorating system, but the creativity it prods from the player makes it so uniquely fun.
There are only a handful of furniture-like decorations to purchase, such as a cat tower or a rug, and you cannot decide the location of these; instead, you simply toggle them on/off. You may also eventually pay to expand your den, as well, obtaining a few storage rooms, a garden, and a kitten nursery.
As you can see, there’s a surprisingly large amount of content in Cattails to keep players occupied - and the list still isn’t quite finished, because more content unlocks once you complete the main story! Before I get ahead of myself, though, let’s discuss all of the mechanics I’ve already mentioned.
The amazing variety in gameplay is undoubtedly one of the reasons I found it so easy to sink hours into Cattails at a time. Each in-game morning, I’d make a plan for the day, and each night I felt a sense of accomplishment for working on my own to-do list. I might spend that time preparing for and executing a mining trip, visiting the other colonies and their cats, focusing on the task board and daily battles, or simply gathering as many resources as I can. There’s a tremendous amount of player freedom.
That’s not to say it’s all sunshine and rainbows, though. Many of the mechanics are undeniably simple - even shallow - and there are a lot of improvements that could be made. The mining is particularly repetitive, and it can take quite a while to do if you want to maximize your profit. And as I’ve already pointed out, the combat is exceedingly uncomplicated; once you understand the timing trick, there’s nothing else to really learn or master. Plus, the active skills make things feel a bit unbalanced, since none of your enemies have anything comparable. Even just running around the map can get annoying, especially in the early game when you don’t have access to any of the skills that teleport you to specific spots.
Still, even if you end up annoyed by one gameplay element, there’s bound to be something else you can find to do to take your mind off of it. For example, let’s say you just don’t feel like walking across the map at all that day. You could instead spend your time around the village, just talking to neighbors and decorating; you may even visit the adjacent areas to hunt and forage. Eventually, the annoyance will start to dissipate and you can resume your previous activities.
Actually, the mechanics are such a huge part of Cattails that they even play a direct role in the story. Your new friend Coco brings you to the temple where they live, and explains that The Forest Guardian, their friend and mentor, has gone missing. To restore balance to the forest, you must bring a number of pre-selected prey and berries to each of the temple’s six pillars. Then, once a pillar has been completed, it will unlock a puzzle somewhere on the map that must be completed as well.
This is… essentially, the bulk of Cattails’ plot. Once you’ve gathered all of the items and beaten all of the puzzles, you’ll finish your quest and bring The Forest Guardian back. And then, it’s over. There’s no explanation for where The Guardian went or what happened to them in the first place. There are never even any outward signs of the forest being ‘unbalanced’ - no other cats aside from Coco acknowledge anything being different or wrong. It’s a completely stakeless narrative.
I can only assume that this lackluster story is what suffered most from Cattails’ roots as a fangame. You’d eventually have to completely rewrite the history of your world and its characters, while still keeping many of the same ideas intact. Unfortunately, I think that what’s been done here is completely insufficient. The only good that comes from finishing it is what you unlock after speaking to The Forest Guardian - the choice to create and maintain your own custom colony.
This is easily one of the most exciting features in Cattails. Coco (and your family, if you’ve already started one) will move with you, and you’ll get to decide the new clan’s name, village location, and even its emblem from a pre-made list. You also gain the ability to purchase buildings and walls from Coco, which can be placed in the area however you like; and with each new building purchased, a brand new feline friend (and, in many cases, a potential marriage partner as well) will move in and join your clan!
I only wish that this custom colony mechanic was introduced earlier in the story; unfortunately, it’s instead hidden behind many hours of mandatory gameplay, and there’s little-to-no hint toward its existence until the moment it’s unlocked. I feel like Cattails has stumbles such as this too often when it comes to interconnecting its lore and worldbuilding. In this case, it would’ve made perfect sense that the forest’s supposed lack of balance played into the disappearance or breakdown of a fourth clan - especially when Warriors originally has four clans, and that’s what many players would likely be expecting to see carried over here.
Yet, nothing like this is ever suggested. You’re simply given the choice by The Forest Guardian to become a clan leader after successfully finishing Coco’s quest. There’s so few ways to have an impact on the Cattails world that isn’t a simple, surface-level change; the best the game can do are your eventual custom colony, and the (fortunately pretty great) relationship elements. Still… strangely enough, I felt like Cattails succeeded in building an interesting and animated world. It just did so through alternative means! Mainly, its plethora of mechanics and the wonderful cast of characters.
Another major part of Cattails’ success here are the four rotating seasons, which play a major role in the game. Your environment will physically change based on the time of year - cherry blossoms blooming in Spring, or leaves drifting around in Autumn. Not only that, but each season has its own selection of prey, bugs, and plants to bring that environment to life. There are so many details like these sewn in, like the rivers and ponds freezing over during winter, and that you can gain so much momentum on this ice that you’ll start spinning; or the downtick in prey beginning in Autumn.
Actually, wintertime itself is an integral part of the gameplay, too, because it feels like a real threat! There’s almost no prey or foliage to be found during this period, so you must prepare beforehand with proper planning and stocking. This part of the game was a great way to make the world feel that much more alive and real, as the cold months obviously are something that greatly affect wild animals and nature.
Without a doubt, though, the greatest part of Cattails are the cats themselves. There’s an endless supply of adorable felines to meet, all with their own unique appearance and personality. My personal favorite - the one I ended up marrying! - is Arthur, an orange tom who perceives himself as a knight and speaks as such. He became my trusted companion, and many others became treasured favorites of mine as I grew closer to them! Take, for example, the Mystic Colony’s mischievous doctor Krampy, who wears a plague mask and likes to scare kittens; or Lyrus of the Forest Colony, who lives by himself outside the village walls and writes poetry.
These are the reasons why exploring this world is so fun and relaxing, despite its flaws; it has an amazing attention to detail when it comes to functionality and character design. Another major reason for Cattails’ charm that I haven’t discussed yet is the colorful pixel art - a perfect compliment to the game’s lively world! It may not be my favorite version of the style, as it can be a bit simple at some points, but I largely thought that Cattails had a very enjoyable aesthetic. I particularly appreciated the attention paid to the cats themselves, and the forest’s physical changes during each season.
However, there was one part of the visual presentation that I did find notably disappointing, and that was the complete lack of creativity when it came to the puzzle areas’ interiors. My biggest example is the abandoned house standing in the woods, something I passed by constantly, wondering if I’d ever get to explore it; but when I finally did get inside, it was dishearteningly empty except for its barren puzzle.
Compare this to a game such as Chicory: A Colorful Tale, which also has interiors designed specifically around puzzle mechanics. However, unlike Cattails, these Chicory locations have interesting visuals that are on par with the rest of its world. There's also some scattered worldbuilding, and even the occasional joke.
There is an area where Cattails doesn’t make any mistakes, though - and that is its wonderful soundtrack. The music is very reminiscent of Animal Crossing, both employing a laid-back and lighthearted ‘coffee table jazz’ style. It’s the perfect selection when you want music that will stay in the background and boost the atmosphere without taking it over; but every single track in Cattails is just as great when actively listened to!
The main theme, which greets you on the title screen, is a soothing piano and clarinet-heavy introduction to the game; the clarinet is employed often to lead pieces in Cattails, which I think is a lovely choice. Other instruments they use often are - to my best guess - conga drums, acoustic guitar, mandolin, saxophone, and tuba.
All of the seasons have two unique themes (except for Autumn, which actually has three!), most of which maintain a relaxing, slower pace. There are a select few upbeat tracks during Summer and Spring to reflect the active energy of these seasons; meanwhile, Autumn and Winter stayed completely slowed down. Winter’s pieces channel classic Christmas music to set the mood, a detail I really loved.
They even went so far as to give each four festivals their own theme, which is a great inclusion. The mines, daily battles, and festival minigames also have a unique track, as well as a handful of key moments (such as getting married!)
So, in the end, there really are a lot of reasons to love Cattails. It may not be a perfect game, but I can tell that so much heart and hard work went into its creation. I really enjoyed my time with it - from befriending charming felines, to decorating the world around me, to checking self-made tasks off my mental to-do list. If you love cats like I do, there’s no doubt that you’ll enjoy Cattails. Even if you’re just looking for a survival game that doesn’t get too tense, this is a great one to try out. I can’t wait to play Wildwood Story!

Visuals: 4/5
Sound: 4.5/5
Story: 2/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Worldbuilding: 4/5
Overall Game Score: 3.5/5 [3.7/5]

It’s almost impossible to avoid the regurgitated tropes stuffed into horror games nowadays. This especially applies to the indie scene, where soulless projects can be thrown together in no time to make a quick buck. There’s a serious lack of originality or innovation in the genre; I suppose it’s just easier for devs to lean into cheap scare tactics and dime-a-dozen ghost stories.
September 1999, on the other hand, is a free horror game with a surprisingly interesting and well-told story - one that’s neatly wrapped up in the span of five minutes. While I won’t spoil much, I will say that I really enjoy the narrative that this game chose to tackle, and I think it was done well. There are clear comparisons to make to American Psycho; and obviously September 1999 isn’t nearly as complex or innovative, but it’s a refreshing idea to bring to horror games in particular. This isn’t any old dime-a-dozen haunted building simulator with a Samara ripoff.
You take the role of a man living alone in a small house. The first-person view is overlaid with VHS grain - even the time and date are stamped in the corner, a useful tool for tracking the chronology of September 1999’s events. The game doesn’t solely rely on this VHS gimmick, though; its entire visual style is actually quite amazing. Perfect realism is far from my favorite aesthetic, but it worked very well here I think. I almost felt like I was looking at real video footage sometimes! The only thing that struck me as a strange (and quite funny) choice was the protagonist’s apparent obsession with framed pictures of budgies.
There are a handful of little details to notice, too, such as the tape placed on one of the closed doors (if you’re not aware, this is done when someone wants to ensure that the person inside the taped room can’t leave without their knowing.) I’d even overlooked a few things my first time around that I only noticed on a second playthrough. An impressive amount of worldbuilding was done here, and in such a minuscule span of time!
There are some delightfully creepy audio cues scattered throughout the game, too. September 1999 plays with volume in very interesting ways; certain noises are so subtle that you might think it’s in your head at first, while others viscerally destroy the stillness of the house. Nearly all of the frightening moments are in large part thanks to this sound design.
In fact, September 1999 never once relies on anything like garbage jumpscares to make its point. Instead it utilizes visual storytelling and atmosphere! There’s not even any dialogue - something I think is really neat, as it means that anyone can experience the game fully without language hindrance.
Of course, there’s not really any ‘gameplay’ to be found in September 1999. You simply observe the story as it takes place around you. Actually, it can sometimes take a bit too long for the game to transition itself into the next scene; this can easily turn into a nuisance when you’ve already seen everything you need to, and you’re stuck waiting for things to automatically progress.
Still, that small annoyance didn’t hamper my overall enjoyment of September 1999. This isn’t a life-changing or genre-defining piece of work, but it’s something I really appreciate for what it is. It commits completely to story and quality over reusing tired old tropes. I definitely recommend checking this out, especially since it’s free and very short!


Visuals: 4/5
Sound: 4/5
Story: 3.5/5
Gameplay: 0.5/5
Worldbuilding: 4/5
Overall Game Score: 3/5 [3.2/5]