The Cat Lady

I'm a huge fan of point-and-click adventure games, so I went into this wary of the control system (it's not point-and-click, but it is fundamentally the same as one). I literally couldn't put it down, I actually looked forward to getting home to play this, the story grabbed me from the first scene and I genuinely cared for Mrs Ashworth and Mitzi. All I can say is, do not overlook this. Buy it and set yourself a weekend aside to play through it, large screen, curtains closed, headphones on. You won't be disappointed.

There's a Stephen King reference at some point during the game, which helps explain the serious attempt at making a slasher horror game with a deep topic. Playing it in 2022 left me with positive, yet mixed feelings about it: it has not aged well, both technically and in terms of writing, and yet it is charming, sometimes even powerful. I'm not sure the theme was bound to work anyway - depression and slasher aesthetics are kind of opposites in many ways, and the slow-burn horror of the earlier only very clumsily fits into the extreme, gory and exaggerated horror of the latter. The best part of this game is arguably a conversation between the two main characters about their pasts, which goes to show you how the fit doesn't work; horror here is not really a device for thinking, but a device to shock. Slasher aesthetics win out overall, pushing whatever meaningful message the game has about depression to a weird, uneven place that barely makes sense as the story moves through scenes set up around clichéd slasher killers. They're cannibals, torturers, senseless killers - barely human figures that, against the full humanity of the protagonists, seem vacuous and silly. These clichés are really showing their age now (particularly at the game's end). It is in this extreme where the message is muddled - depression is an illness, yes, but the mental illnesses of the antagonists are portrayed stereotypically (they're slashers, after all), stripping them of all possible humanity, and that just doesn't really work as a constructive comment on mental health at all. And yet, there are moments of brilliance here, which is why I give it 4 stars. The dialogues between protagonists are great, as is the dialogue between the main protagonist and the supernatural being she's tied to. The limbo/hell sequences are surreal enough, and show you parts of the protagonist she doesn't show herself. That's good, but still, don't go into this game expecting something truly meaningful.

Fans of the genre would do themselves a terrible disservice in bypassing this fantastic sidescrolling horror adventure. Keyboard-only controls are simple and work great. Mixed media graphics are expertly assembled, portraying a world thoroughly drenched with blood and acid tears. Voicework is pro level; you believe that what's said, is what's felt. Great writing! The story is all about overcoming crippling depression whilst killing the hell out of a set of truly vile human monsters at the behest of a parasitic demon. Big plus in that the supernatural elements are REALLY supernatural, not just more "it's all just a figment of your broken mind" cop-out crap. My fellow crazy cat-lovers might also be glad to know that there are no scenes of violence against kitties in this one, though a couple of your victims have hurt some in the past. The main guy behind this, R. Michalski, also has a game out called "Downfall," set in the same world and featuring Joe and Ivy from Susan's building.

If You are borred with typical story, and sweet graphics try THIS. You will not regreat.

One of the best horror point and click of all times!