A Personal Analysis of the Game's Story/Lessons (Spoilers)

[maestro]

So, this is going to have spoilers in it right from the get-go. So, if you've not seen the story of the game yet, and you don't want to be spoiled, now is a good time to turn back. I won't be putting the whole thread under a spoiler tag.




That said.... I will warn you that it's going to be a long post, and I will add a tl;dr: for the beginning part as I feel that adding some background might help the reader understand where I'm coming from.






I write all of this as being a cat owner myself. I am 44 and I lived with my parents for my entire life, as is becoming more and more common these days as our economy turns to crap. My dad passed away in March '22 and my mom passed away in December '22, both of them to cancer. We owned a black male cat.

Mom would always call the shots on how the cat was to be taken care of, in fact, she was the one who called the shots on most things because dad let her. How we fed the cat, when the cat was fed, she was the only one to feed the cat, when someone should go and take care of the litterboxes (she herself didn't, she'd tell us when it needed done), etc.

A month or two before her passing, she told me that I had better "start making friends with Kitty" (yes, that's his name. She couldn't think of a name and that became his name) and when her lung cancer (from smoking) got so bad that she couldn't even walk anymore, it fell to me to take care of the cat.

Within two weeks of mom's passing, this male cat came down with FLUTD, which is a urinary disease that prevents the cat from being able to pee which is eventually fatal to the cat. A few expensive vet visits later, the vet and I were able to save the cat's life, and in the process of doing so, between the vet and my doing some research on Youtube, I learned a lot of things about how to properly care for a cat (my parents were doing so many things wrong!).

tl;dr: I'm a cat owner who had a cat suddenly thrust upon me and I had to research how to take care of a cat.

So now, I'm playing (I'm like right before the end as I write this) this game, and before I bought the game, I looked up some negative reviews and people are going on about how Olive and especially Mae are unlikeable people, how they are horrible cat parents, etc.

I think... I don't know if the developers intended this, but I think that's kinda the point of the game. Like, if you look at Olive and how she keeps her house, I am heavily reminded of my mom in that there are so many mistakes being made when it comes to being a cat parent. It almost looks like the entire game is a "here are a bunch of things you should NOT do as a cat parent and why".

First and foremost, the home is very poorly "Catified". "Catify" is a term that I picked up from watching Jackson Galaxy (highly recommend him if you want to learn about being a cat parent, look him up on Youtube), and it simply means to arrange your home in such a way, that you make it safe and good for the cat.

The biggest, most appalling thing to me about Olive's house, is the paint room. Like, seriously, open cans of paint sitting around on a narrow countertop? And she's been a cat owner for some time? Anybody who's owned a cat for two days will know why that's a bad idea. I see so many viral video clips on Youtube of people complaining about their cats and showing ridiculous stuff like this, where the cat is destroying someone's living room because they leave crap like that sitting around on narrow shelves, and they act like it's some short of shocking behavior that said stuff gets destroyed and people in comments going "this is why I'll never own a cat". In my house, items are very rarely thrown on the floor by the cat, and that's because I don't leave crap laying around where the cat is likely to destroy it by knocking it to the floor.

Also appalling to me is how Olive treats the poor cat like most people would treat a handbag. Oh, she says she "loves" the cat, and all, but when it comes down to it, she was willing to drive the cat to a remote location and drop it off. Horrible, disgusting behavior, especially for an adult cat that she got from the shelter. If an adult cat is in the shelter, it's a rehome cat, which means its previous owner gave the cat up for one reason or another, and the game's dialogue even emphasizes this. Taking on a cat, is a huge responsibility, and this is even emphasized at the beginning, where Olive even states that she agrees to give the cat a home, and that the cat is a part of her family and it's even lampshaded as these lines are repeated when she drops the cat off. The developers are very much aware this is horrible behavior, and no, we are not supposed to condone it, or hand-wave it, etc. The developer included this part in the game, because it's disgusting behavior. It's more of a "Please don't ever do this" type of lesson to the player.

Mae's behavior towards the cat I feel is aimed at people who don't really like cats. It's okay to not be comfortable around cats, it's okay to visit someone's house, see a cat, and feel disgust or repulsion. It is not, however, okay to bully, abuse, or otherwise mistreat someone's cat. They have feelings, too! And the people who own cats, own their cats for a reason. Cats are very loving and affectionate critters if you give them the proper care and love. There's a reason why lonely people will oftentimes own one. Have a little empathy towards the cat, and the cat's owner. Don't be like Mae. Again, I feel this is the developer going "Please don't ever do this." aimed at people who are not fans of cats.

And to be honest... I'm fairly sure that Mae is meant to be a villain (obviously from the cat's POV) and Olive is... well, the cat comes to love Olive, and we might not understand as we might see Olive's behavior as disgusting, but you see the cat doesn't understand a lot of what's going on, and that's yet another lesson the developer is trying to teach here: a cat is not going to understand everything you do and why you do it. You might do something for a cat out of love for the cat or concern for its wellbeing, but the cat is going to make its own assumptions.

You might keep a certain door closed in your house because you don't want the cat in the room. The cat sees this as you blocking off parts of its territory and won't particularly enjoy it, and find it annoying even if you are doing it because that room's dangerous to the cat's health. The game does a pretty good job of "between-the-lines" showing you this, as a lot of the cat's inner thoughts make it clear that the cat is making the wrong assumptions about what is going on, certain things Olive does for "good" reasons (in Olive's mind) that the cat does not understand and comes to the wrong (and quite understandable) conclusion about. I feel this is another lesson from the developers aimed towards helping people better empathize with their cats, to try and see the world from the cat's eyes.

I don't know if this is what was intended with the game's story, but that's something I got out of it, and I think a lot of people leaving negative reviews are completely missing the point of the game's story.

[smilingangel1115]

Thank you for sharing you story! I agree with you that many people missed the points made in the game. I too am a cat owner. In fact I had not had a cat since I left home in my early 20s. I had dogs off and on until 2014 when both passed of the old age of 16. It took me until 2022 before I got a pet of any kind. That is when our cat came to us when we most needed him. He has bought great joy and much happiness and most of all love to our home. He is my 'cat's meow' and watches over me in many ways.

I hoped you watched the the game til the very end of the credits because there is a wonderful surprise. (It will cull many complainers about the ending if everyone watches). Sorry no spoilers here!

And any human who throws out or abandons a pet or animal, needs the same thing done to them. It would be a hard lesson they would learn about being unloved and not wanted!

[Patola [Linux]]

I think in the end the game is not about the cats. The cats are just naïve, innocent victims of all that is happening around them. The game is about us. Many people are upset with the ending because they wanted retribution on the human characters for what they did. That was the point: can you forgive people for their imperfections? Can you still see Mae as deserving a decent life after the deceived her mother twice and even considered euthanising her? Can you forgive Olive for being selfish and capricious with the cats? I for one was more than willing to forgive, since it led to a better ending for all, and maybe that's why I found closure in the ending and was not annoyed by it like other people in these forums.