My MMO time has been limited recently, and probably will be for some time to come.   There are a number of reasons for this, but foremost is my cat’s habit of sitting in front of the screen and pressing buttons on the keyboard.   It doesn’t mesh well with games that don’t have a save/load buttons.  I still pop into GW2, but have been using some of my limited gaming time to explore some cat-owner-friendly single player games. 

I stumbled across The Cat Lady, played the demo, and was intrigued enough to buy the full game.    It seemed appropriate, given that my own cat was altering my gaming style!   A big draw for me was the main character, so different from most protaganists in video games.   You play a 40 year old reclusive, depressed woman called Susan Ashworth, known to neighbours as “The Cat Lady”, because you feed the local stray cats.   It was interesting to play such a non-typical character, and I hope we see more of this in games. 

I expected it to be a scary game.  I’ve talked here before about being scared in games, particularly in the first Thief game, and I expected to have to play this one during the day time, with all the lights on.   The sound should have been scary.  As you’re exploring rooms, you’re constantly aware of sounds around you, creaks and taps, possibly made by people who want to kill you.   There are some disturbing, Silence-of-the-Lambs-esque characters, and the game is fairly graphic in its depiction of their horrific crimes.    There are also several “jump” moments.   However, I wasn’t scared!  I’m not sure why.  Perhaps it was the simple, scrolling 3rd person view, and the knowledge that Susan was immortal.  What was the worst that could happen?  At first I thought that being immortal still allowed for pain and maiming, but in fact, each “death” was a fresh start, with a healthy Susan.   Sometimes “dying” was a useful strategy. 

Instead of feeling fear, I became drawn into feeling for the character.   Near the beginning of the game, there is a conversation with a psychiatrist which gives you the chance to make decisions about Susan’s background and motivation.   I don’t know how these decisions affect the game, but they do have the effect of bringing you closer to Susan.   It’s only as the game progresses that you understand why Susan is the way she is.  In fact, for me, the game became more like an interactive story about this character.   Some moments were truly moving.

Susan’s voice acting was great.  Initially, it sounded flat and unexpressive, but those very features helped to convey her depression.   Unfortunately, some of the other voice acting wasn’t so good, and I felt the actors were reading from a script while doing a funny voice.  There was good use of music in the game.

I enjoyed the game play.  It was like a point and click adventure game, but all keyboard controlled (you have a hand free all the time!) and no pixel-hunting.   Things that you can interact with are clearly shown as you walk past them.  This made the game pretty easy to play, and you won’t need to be searching for walkthroughs.   It might be too easy for some, but I didn’t mind as I was caught up in the story and didn’t want to get stuck with the puzzles.

I bought this game while it was on sale at Desura, but I think it’s worth the full price.    It’s on the Steam Greenlight list. 

Now, I would just love to play a female protaganist who is even older than 40!