The Cat Lady

yes

this game borders on unplayable with the amount of crashes im getting, but it's just so beautiful, from the story, the beautiful art and soundtrack, the atmosphere down to the message itself. the moment the prologue started i was hit with this wave of longing and unrest, it's just an instant favorite. shes literally me btw + i love the retro aesthetic

The cat lady is an incredible game with a dark, emotional story.
The black-and-white style, with touches of color, makes everything surreal and adds to the unsettling atmosphere, while the music and sound effects fit perfectly.
Playing as Susan Ashworth was an intense experience, I especially loved getting revenge on the awful people who hurt innocent victims, I liked bringing justice in such a brutal way ))
Instead of using cheap jumpscares, the game builds fear through its deep story and disturbing moments.
The only small downside is that it sometimes crashes when alt-tabbing, but that doesn't ruin the experience.
The cat Lady is a whole journey, it is one of my favorite games. And I love how in the end, Susan realizes life is beautiful and worth living. (It also has different endings !!)

A hidden gem.. Not too many games touch on depression/ mental illness in such a blunt way like this game. 8/10 in my book I recommend if youre into darker games.

Beneath a bleak and twisted journey hides a deeply realistic psychological horror...

The Cat Lady portrays depression and anxiety with striking realism. This isn’t some romanticized, 'sad-aesthetic-pinterest-bu♥♥♥♥♥it' take on depression... but the raw, silent struggle behind closed doors. The fight against your own mind, your own demons, where eeven the smallest failure can send everything crashing down

The game also dives into heavy themes like abuse, social anxiety, and the exploitation of authority. In a world where people are increasingly left to deal with their hardships alone, the game doesn’t sugarcoat or exaggerate these issues, it presents them in a way that feels disturbingly real. It forces you to experience the weight of the main character’s isolation and desperation, showing how easily one can become trapped in their own mind with no way out... at least, not the one Susan thought would free her....

Enjoyed this game thoroughly. I got lucky as I didn't remember that there was no autosave so I played until Chapter 3 and finally saved before I crashed (of my own fault, left the game window too quick). Great story, great main characters, great puzzles, everything is stellar. Highly recommend it to any that enjoy dark, horror games. Would just recommend to be in the right head space when playing it.

i cant describe how much i love this game ever since i first watched youtube videos about it years ago

Great game. Though for some reason, I want to watch Puss in Boots 2 now...

imagery and soundtrack were incredible, the story is a little overly praised but still good and the gameplay was alright. The voice acting was hit and miss, the portrayal of depression was shallow and the ending was kinda annoying. Overall 7/10 worth playing

⢠⠊⣉⠒⠤⢀⡀          ⡐⢁⠴⢜⢄
 ⡎⢸  ⠉⠐⠢⢌⠑⢄    ⡸  ⡆    ⠣⠱⡀
 ⡇⢸        ⣀⠗  ⠉⠉⠁  ⠙⠢⠤⡀⢃⢱
 ⡇⠘⣄⢀⠔⠉                    ⠈⠁⠘⡄
 ⢇    ⠁                              ⠘⡄
 ⢸            ⢀⣀⣀⡀        ⢀⣀⣀⡀  ⢣
 ⡸        ⢴⣾⡿⠿⠽⠇        ⠘⠛⠛⠛  ⠈⢄
⠰⡁              ⢠⠒⠢⡀⠈⠒⠊  ❤ ⡠⢄  ⡘
 ⠱⣀          ⢀⠜    ⠇        ⢀⠔⠁  ⡏
     ⠑⠤⢄⣀⠔⠁    ⡜        ⠊⠁  ⢀⠜

Fireeee, one of my new favorite psychological horror games. the art style and story is a chef kiss.

Just play this game before GTA 6 bruh

The narration, voice acting and music are excellent, the story is very good too. I hope the next 2 parts are good too, highly recommended.

I love women

some disturbing pieces but really good storyline game

A game with a lot of depth in mental problems, for my taste it seemed to me the game art :3 super recommended for people who like dark games and with a good plot !!

wow. this was one of the best games i´ve ever played :)

Holy sh*t.... What an amazing game.

The cat lady is a remarkably well written interactive visual novel with a story unlike any other game I've played. This game is a narrative experience unlike most other games out there. If you are willing to deal with its oddities you will likely enjoy this game, but it has quirks that can be to its detriment.

Pros:
-Amazingly well written dark story
- A unique art style that you don't find anymore
-Fully narrated story with solid voice acting

cons:
-There is no dialogue skip option. This means that this game is hours of voice lines each run. I would recommend following the guide for all achievements and save every chapter to save on needless backtracking for achievements.
-While the graphics are unique, this title would be a great candidate for a remaster to make it run at higher refresh rates and to smooth out some of the pixel animation oddities

This is not just a game but a piece of art...

Jeff Buckley yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey

LUV THIS GAMEE ITS RLLY GR8

If video games could be a cult classic, this is exactly what The Cat Lady would be. I found the game through a playthrough many years ago, and I would watch it over and over again whenever I got low, and I would not feel so alone. Great soundtrack, great messages, great atmosphere, and great characters. This will always be my favorite game.

This game is short, and definitely not sweet! However, life is hard and full of tough choices. Buy the ticket, take the ride, and, as Jigsaw might say, make your choice!

Exhibit number one for why we need more middle aged girlbosses as protagonists

This game is pretty much an insight into what depression is and how it can affect someone, so much, that they change physically.

You play as Susan Ashworth, a 40 years old lady who is extremely lonely and reclused. You start the game with her death and navigate through this Silent Hill esque type of world until you realize that you gained the power of resurrection. With this power, granted by the Queen of Maggots, you're set to comply with her request, if you wanna keep your new power.

It was a really intense, touching story. Is it rough? VERY. You could tell that the voice actors were clearly recording in different booths and sometimes they lines sounded either straight up weird or had technical issues (like one line sounding super low and the other lines sounding normal).

I was able to put all those issues aside because the story is just GOOD.

Also the puzzles aren't hard at all, you just need to think for a moment and figure out what to do. It's highly recommended that you play this!

Played this 12 years ago at the right time

BEST GAME EVER

⣿⣿⡻⠿⣳⠸⢿⡇⢇⣿⡧⢹⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⡐⣯⠁ ⠄⠄
⠟⣛⣽⡳⠼⠄⠈⣷⡾⣥⣱⠃⠣⣿⣿⣿⣯⣭⠽⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⢢⠏⠄ ⠄
⢠⡿⠶⣮⣝⣿⠄⠄⠈⡥⢭⣥⠅⢌⣽⣿⣻⢶⣭⡿⠿⠜⢿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠄⠄
⠄⣼⣧⠤⢌⣭⡇⠄⠄⠄⠭⠭⠭⠯⠴⣚⣉⣛⡢⠭⠵⢶⣾⣦⡍⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄
⠄⣿⣷⣯⣭⡷⠄⠄⢀⣀⠩⠍⢉⣛⣛⠫⢏⣈⣭⣥⣶⣶⣦⣭⣛⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄
⢀⣿⣿⣿⡿⠃⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣎⢩⠌⣡⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠄⠄⠄
⢸⡿⢟⣽⠎⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠄⠄
⣰⠯⣾⢅⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠄
⢰⣄⡉⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄
⢯⣌⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄
⢸⣇⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄
⢸⣟⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄
⠈⢹⡧⣿⣸⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠗⣈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠄
⠄⠘⢷⡳⣾⣷⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⢀⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄
⠄⠄⠈⣵⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄⠄
⠄⠄⠄⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠘⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄⠄

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣠⠤⠶⠒⠚⠛⠓⢲⣶⡤
⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⡴⠚⠁⠁⠁⠁⣁⠵⠛⠉⠁
⠀⠀⢀⣴⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⢁⡞⠁
⠀⢠⡞⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⢁⠏⠀⠀
⢀⡾⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⢁⡏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣠⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⢠
⣼⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⣹⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⣿⣿⣶⡄⣰⣿
⣿⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠏
⣿⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⢻⡄⠀⠀⠀⣴⠿⢿⣆⠀⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃
⢻⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠉⣷⡀⠀⠀⣿⠀⠾⠏⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟
⠈⢧⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠉⠷⣄⠀⠹⡄⠀⠀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇
⠀⠘⢆⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠉⠳⣄⠹⣦⡀⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇
⠀⠀⠈⢳⡁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠉⠙⠶⡿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠷
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠳⣅⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⠁⣁⡥⠛⠁
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠓⠳⢧⣥⣥⣥⡥⠥⠵⠛⠋⠁

The Cat Lady： 精巧的个人悲伤

支持语言：英语。大都是日常对话，用词比较简单，六级水平足矣。

内容警告：jump scare，血腥、裸露场面，强烈的语言。

内容简述：独居的猫女士决定去死，但她的自杀没有成功。一个老妇人赐她不死的生命，把她送回了原来的世界。她将以不死之身遇见五个人，有些人会杀死她，有些人则会拯救她。

通关tcl是在2022年11月28号的凌晨一点。从第一次打开这个游戏开始算，四年时间已经过去。战线拖得这么长并不是因为游戏不好玩或者我对它失去了兴趣，而是因为纯纯的技术因素：我无法存档。

买下这款游戏后，我至少有三到四次从零开始打到第四章，甚至有一次想着直接开着它一口气打通，但这个狗游戏总是会在你放松警惕的时候来个闪退，闪退完了之后就是熟悉的0存档。一个刚刚取得对一台游戏本的控制权的大学生懂什么呢，那时候我的朋友女菩萨fend也还没写出那篇debug指南（https://www.douban.com/group/topic/250054902/?_i=69707289865d9f8&dt_dapp=1，贼有用，有问题的都去看），我不知道看steam社区也没有问的地方，我只能去百度，但众所周知人一百度会死，游戏一百度要换电脑配置，我们穷逼没有金银却有钢铁般的意志，于是我选择死磕。那段时间我的播放器里总是循环播放着那首《从头再来》，直到第三次我在高铁上打开它玩到第四章闪退之后，我在美丽的夕阳里陷入了久违的平静。

然后我打开控制面板把它给卸载了。

多年后，我还是对那打过的几章念念不忘（可见这个游戏剧情真的顶），我又把它下了回来。此时我已经是有一定debug经验的玩家了。我猜测存不上档是因为我存游戏的盘是中文而游戏无法识别，于是我把D盘名称从“我觉得我要搞堕落”改成了“duoluo”。

然后我摩拳擦掌地打开了游戏，满怀信心地点击save，胸有成竹地输入存档名称，游戏提示the saving is successful——哈哈！人生小菜一碟！我势在必得地点开load——啥都没有。

妈的。

我去社区寻找答案，输入save后发现大家的存档问题简直是百花齐放各不相同，找了半天找到一个跟我一样“提示成功但是点进去就没有存档咋回事儿啊”的讨论，开心地点进去，结果发现开发者没有回复。

好吧，那就看看别人的问题，在一个帖子里有一位玩家提到了游戏存档的位置，我惊讶地发现这狗游戏会把档存到C盘的用户名文件夹里——真真牛啊！我的用户名是中文（一个教训，电脑用户名千万别用中文啊！）而且C盘用户名文件夹是只读状态，也就是说无法写入文件！这么惊才绝艳的不让玩家存档的方法是怎么想到的！

了解了原因，那就得去改用户名文件夹了，但问题是，哪怕把电脑的登录用户名改了，用户名文件夹的名称还是改不了。我百度了各种方法，发现这些方法基本是用的新建文件夹然后映射到原文件夹，有失败的风险。我干脆新建了一个电脑账户，把所有游戏都下到这个账户里。在等待游戏下好的时间里，我又打开了这个用户名文件夹的“属性”栏确认它不是只读状态。然后我开启游戏，屏住呼吸点击存档——成功，从存档点进入，正常。

好吧，我们终于可以开始了。

进入游戏，我的耳朵先于眼睛感受到猫女士。我叫苏珊·阿什沃兹，她用一种很平静的调子念起自己的遗书，我吃下了几十片安眠药，现在正躺在沙发上等待死亡。我已经准备好了。信的最后，她说，Thanks for nothing。

苏珊的声音能在第一秒就把你拖进游戏氛围并且让你安静下来听她说话，也难怪有玩家说喜欢在后台开着苏珊的独白工作或睡觉。也许是考虑到她的抑郁症背景，相对其他角色而言，苏珊的情感浓度明显要淡一些，她从不歇斯底里地大叫，但悲伤与愤怒都斩钉截铁。和主角一样，游戏中出现的所有角色只要有台词都有很高水平的配音，每个角色都有不同的口音和口癖（英音爱好者狂喜）。

此外，制作者对音效和背景音乐的使用也堪称巅峰造极。印象最深刻的是第一章，猫女士走进旷野中的小屋，在一片静寂中打开开关，音乐骤然响起。她在灰白的世界里踉跄奔走，唯一充满色彩的地方只有墙上破洞中透出的天空，与此同时Jesse Gunn（Warmer）的《inside》嘶吼在耳边。

好的声音技术的确能够弥补小成本美术的缺点，除了具体的曲目，这部作品的音效除了能烘托气氛和情绪之外，还明显是内容表达的一部分。在人物与道具互动时，因为美术实在是过于小成本了，有时候玩家难以识别道具的具体情况，制作组在此总会通过恰当的音效对此进行描述。比较明显的例子是，当苏珊每次需要对手头的道具做比较大的改动时，制作组都画不出来（笑死），他们会选择黑屏，然后用一段器具碰撞的音效来完成这个内容，非常逼真和日常。夜里躺在床上，这个细节突然点醒了我：我们以往的游戏是否过于注重视觉上的呈现，下意识认为其他的非视觉因素都是配菜，而这其实忽略了非视觉因素能在媒介表达中起到的作用和重要性？比如，为视障者制作的非视觉类游戏也有一套完备的信息传递系统，其逻辑与视觉游戏的逻辑截然不同，但我们经常把前者视为特殊状态。

声音的巧妙插入只是这个游戏演出的一小部分，tcl的演出和结构都有相当明显的影视剧风格，看着某些场景我甚至可以脑补出分镜，其叙事之流畅，结构之精巧较某些纯靠平铺直叙+关键物触发片段闪回的rpg大作而言不知道高到哪里去了。

首先需要知道的是，tcl故事非常简单且短小，只有一条主线，即猫女士得到不死之身后的遭遇见闻。为了防止平铺直叙带来的心理和视觉疲劳，除了需要直白给出信息交代背景的第一章，制作组最常使用的方法便是打乱时间顺序，在叙述中插入和补足故事片段，但为了防止结构过于松散，还有调节游戏的节奏感，又始终捏住同一质感的主要场景，并以此为线索串联整个章节。以结构最精巧的第二章和第三章为例：

第二章是明显的倒叙开场。昏黄的灯光下，苏珊与医生交谈，音乐和氛围都很柔和，这便是串起整个章节的关键场景。把所有的场景列出来：

办公室与医生交谈——病房见闻——办公室与医生交谈——医院解谜——办公室与医生交谈——插叙回忆——剧情

按照故事时间排序，则是（事件发生越早数字越小，越晚数字越大）：

办公室与医生交谈（2）——病房见闻（1）——办公室与医生交谈（2.5）——医院解谜（3）——办公室与医生交谈（5）——插叙回忆（4）——办公室剧情（5.5）

我们可以看到，办公室的场景均匀地分布在章节各段，避免了叙述中过长的平铺直叙并作为调整时间的工具（引出之前或向后发展），但它的作用不止于此。在与医生交谈时（第一次聊爱好，第二次聊童年，第三次 医生要杀她 ），紧张感逐渐升起，氛围也逐渐压抑。再让我们看看它们串联起来的剧情：病房里你碰到了可爱的自来熟Liz，你们聊了天；解谜时氛围开始病态，尤其是 你需要去厕所看信息找办法绕开护工离开医院 的时候，虽然知道游戏会静候我完成任务，但就是紧张；最后是剧情的高潮。由此可见，作为串联的场景节奏跟引出剧情的气质是相契的，或者说，作为引子，办公室的剧情就是先导，章节在办公室场景的引导下踮一下，进两步（像不像一支探戈舞曲？）。

第三章《River》虽然短小却更精巧，其压抑感较前后关卡都要弱，但情绪密度不减反增。剧情十分简单：经历了一系列事情后，苏珊回到家休整。和其他章节不一样，第三章出现了两个能量槽，分别代表焦虑值和舒适值，苏珊的一举一动都可能影响这两个数值。此章节双线平行（就像一种隐喻），苏珊在家中做着日常工作时脑中不断闪回着一首四段的诗歌，从诗的内容来看，这也许是她的过往，也许是她心中的情感。随着诗歌的推进，苏珊的精神经历过突如其来的小段悒郁，逐渐平定下来，最终，和小猫道别、跟邻居交涉后，她回房陷入沉睡，《Good lor knows I’m greedy》缓缓响起，在河边，她的声音吟诵出诗歌的最后一小节，而后陷入黑暗。

这一章节非常感人，也是这个游戏中很难得的温柔轻松的部分。它出现在整个游戏的中段，在玩家因此放缓呼吸之时，也预示着更加爆裂的剧情将要来临。可以看到，不论是章节中还是章节间，制作者都牢牢把控着叙事的节奏，这一个简单的故事也因为如此丰富的叙述手段而散发出不一样的色彩。

在情感细节上，tcl也非常到位。我们可以知道她 曾有一个孩子，却因她和丈夫的疏忽死去，为此她充满抑郁。在重生后她遇见了许多人，大多都是想要杀死她，但她最终在与一个女孩的相处中理解了生命的意义，两人互相拯救 ，经历了长长的旅程，经历 死亡威胁、从屠夫家逃离、互相救助 ，最后，屏幕上出现了 按任意按键活下去 ，我如释重负，仿佛经历了一个人漫长的一生。

I like this game. It's a fun, short interactive psychological story, about 10 hours only, and the puzzles aren't hard. I'd play it again to see what happens if I choose other options.

Great game! Whoever loves psychological with slow melody should try this! It's such an old but gold! I have heard of it for a long time ago but gotta go back and try it myself!

This is a game that you really have to be prepared for emotionally due to the subject matter, but man is it an amazing experience. Susan Ashworth is still one of my favorite female characters in gaming and fiction, and Mitzi isn't far behind. I get the urge to revisit The Cat Lady every 5 years or so and I think I appreciate it a little more with each new viewing/replay.

tldr; went in based on the title and cat imagery, ended up getting a really hard-hitting and genuine story about depression and opening oneself up to happiness and new relationships after suffering tremendous loss

ÇOKKÜSELLLLL

good

Made me cry. A masterpiece about mental health.

no jump scares so far but only a mind bending horror

a vast improvement over the first game in the trilogy, and a game that seems to toy with much more realistic issues (suicide, depression, etc) instead of the hackneyed "Me and Wife are sad" trope that the first game revolved around. The gameplay remains largely the same as the first game, but the story keeps you hooked and engaged to see things through.

I grew up watching the game play and for a very long time, I've always wanted to play the game myself.
I know it's been a old-ish game but it remain in my mind since 2016.

Can I just say how amazing the voice acting is?
The lines, how the characters speak and what type of person they are really shines through the voice actors' work.
The puzzles are challenging but not impossible to solve.
Some moments I think how gutsy Susan is. I like that about her.

Dr. X is scary in a way that I wonder if criminals like him actually exist?
Anyway, another masterpiece I've played.
I hope to play more games like this!
Beautiful drawings and music too

Played the whole trilogy back to back and this is still probably the best in the series. The pacing is good. Each chapter has it's own build-up and climax. The not so smooth animations actually adds to the creepy and disturbing vibe. Not many other games tackle themes of depression and suicide as well as this game.

A beautiful and morose story about a woman learning to live again.

im holding space for teacup :)

Such a unique game. Did't even think such an aesthetic existed until stumbled upon this. Yes, it's low-budget but you really feel the soul in this one. Terrifying and depressing, this game changed me.

Please add sex with Big Tiddy Goth Chicks

I played this game when i had a really bad time. I was a lot of thinking about commiting suicide,but when i played this game it helped me understend that even if you have the worst day in your life next day can be much better. Now i won't commit it. And if you having a bad day just try to have your cup of tea...

i love this game even though the voice acting sounds like they picked up people off the street (it kinda adds to the ambience so it works)

she's jst like me fr

Campy, eerie, disturbing, loved every second of it

Absolutely insane game. I adored it! 10/10 would recommend!!!!