“The Cat Lady” (Harvester Games) [Video Game Review]

(Author’s Note: As a courtesy, please note that this game is profoundly drab, and as such, this review discusses what may, for some, be troubling content.)

The Cat Lady, by Harvester Games and designed by Remigiusz Michalski, was released on December 1st, 2012, by publisher Screen 7. It is a psychological horror adventure game.

Susan Ashworth, the protagonist, is a middle-aged woman who takes her own life and awakens in a Limbo-like world where she meets a mysterious woman known only as “The Queen of Maggots.” She brings Susan back to life to hunt down five psychopaths – referred to by the Queen of Maggots as “The Parasites.” She grants Susan immortality in return for this. Susan agrees to this task and awakens in hospital, whence her violent journey begins.

Chapter 1: Fine Art:

Her first victim, while an initially normal-seeming member of hospital staff, is eventually discovered to be murdering women in the hospital basement and arranging their bodies behind picture frames so as to appear as spitting-images of classic paintings, such as ‘The Mona Lisa’ or ‘The Girl with the Pearl Earring,’ complete with makeup.

This provides the setting for the first proper level of the game, wherein she ultimately tracks down the serial killer responsible – a woman – and confronts her on a rooftop. The serial killer ultimately leaps off as Susan attempts to prevent this. Susan eventually returns to her apartment, where a neighbour complains about both the cats present there and the loud piano to which they were attracted. He threatens Susan with a call to Pest Control.

After hearing a knock at the door later on, Susan answers and meets Mitzi, the woman who saved Susan’s life. Mitzi’s backstory continues the subplot of the game for its remainder. Following this delicate scene, Susan is kidnapped and held by the Pest Control man and his wife – we eventually discover that both are cannibals. They are also the second and third Parasites of the game, respectively. After killing both of them and escaping, she once again returns to her flat, where she begins to ask Mitzi more about her past and the reason she wanted to come specifically to Susan’s building.

“The Cat Lady” video game still

After learning of Mitzi’s plight and a malefactor known as “The Eye of Adam,” Susan agrees to help track him down within the building. And after either searching most of the apartments or discovering concretely that the residents of a few of them are not The Eye of Adam, Susan discovers The Eye of Adam, and it is left to the player to decide his fate. While the main protagonists are Susan and later Mitzi, the antagonists are the five “Parasites,” the character I will call the “Artistic Parasite,” the Pest Control man and his wife, Susan’s “Admirer” – about whom I did not speak – and ultimately “The Eye of Adam.”

Chapter 2: Melancholic Atmosphere, Minimalist Controls, Brilliant Voice Acting, and Beautiful Art Design:

Along with the music, artwork, and other important aspects of the game. I adore the art style. It’s hand-drawn, full of charm, and the commonly monochromatic colouring scheme helps develop and support the generally melancholic, existential atmosphere of the game. There are scenes either done in full colour or with only one or two objects coloured in, however. Sometimes, though, the addition of a little colour helps add to the creepiness of a specific scene. While the scenario at nearly any given point during the game, along with the dialogue and excellent voice acting, builds the atmosphere’s foundation, the artwork and music help to reinforce it and flesh it out quite a bit.

“The Cat Lady” video game still

I liked the cinematics of this game, as they were done very well and helped build upon the atmosphere that the game was trying to convey. They utilized the art style in a way that helped the player feel more enthralled with what was going on and, most of the time, to engage with the player’s emotions. The music was contributed by Warmer, 5iah, Tears of Mars, and Michal Michalski, with other tracks composed by Richard Henley and Pal Hjornevik. It is very helpful for the game in that it adds to the atmospheric depth; not only that, but it adds a further degree of uniqueness and character to the game.

The controls of the game are quite simple; they consist merely of the arrow keys and the Enter key. The simple controls are particularly nice in the context of this game, as the story is all the more enthralling because of it; by which I mean the player isn’t distracted by millions of controls at the expense of immersion. The gameplay of The Cat Lady is smooth and intuitive; it involves moving left or right, interacting with objects, and selecting dialogue options.

The voice acting in The Cat Lady is certainly an example of great voice acting for a game; the characters’ emotions were portrayed very well, and the writing had all the characters using unique character voices. That said, the occasional effects left the voice acting a little too distorted at times.

“The Cat Lady” video game still

Overall, The Cat Lady is more of an interactive story than a game; it is quite fun if you are interested in interactive narrative or interactive art, and can get somewhat hypnotic if it can entice you to keep going to see where it goes. Length can be anywhere between six to eight hours. The game also has a decent replayability factor since the player can make decisions, some of which affect the ending of the game. Clearly, it’s not for the overtly sensitive or faint-of-heart, but it’s highly recommended if you’re interested in psychological horror stories.

Chapter 3: The Verdict:

Setting aside the very minor aspects of the game which fall short, The Cat Lady is an enjoyable psychological horror game with a nicely developed story, unique characters, minimalistic controls, and a beautifully fleshed-out atmosphere that is sure to be a fun storytelling experience even for some non-gamers.