Cateau is the first and only game released by Lemon Curd Games on Steam at time and writing and I can honestly say it is one of the best examples of how a short visual novel should be done.

The story of Cateau is a small tale of a writer in Paris and his housemate Roselle, it becomes quickly apparent that Roselle is having problems with her university course and possibly depression. While walking the streets of Paris the protagonist comes across a stray cat and with the intention of sending a picture to his friend to cheer her up begins his own unexpected journey towards understand these animals hes never really interacted with before.

As a visual novel there are three main areas of focus to engage your audience, visuals, audio and most importantly narrative, each of these have been done extremely well in my option.

The visual style of the game is very consistent and has a clear crisp look, this doesn't mean there is a lack of detail in the various backgrounds more that the artist has avoided the common mistake of too much detail that would clutter the scene.
This means that various little details that are included stand out far more and makes it quite enjoyable when noticed, also I need to mention the excellent use of body language in Roselle and the various cats you encounter. It really helps bring characters to life and help the narrative especially in the case of Roselle, showing that there is something troubling her even though the game never states it directly.

Audio is appropriate with the soundtrack been an example of a good use of a stereotype as well as setting the mood while never feeling out of place.

Finally for the narrative the story is well paced and the dialogue sounds refreshingly authentic rather than melodramatic, forced or artificial like many Visual Novels. The story also feels seated in realism with nothing pushing the readers suspension of disbelief too far and is overall a sweet little story with the good ending at least. Refreshingly there were also no grammar issues or typos I noticed in my playthrough.

Been a visual novel game play mechanics are limited but I can commend the various "Quality of life" improvements that the game possesses over most visual novels, it has decent resolution options, scaling slider bar (though this doesn't affect the intro and credits that did deafen me), a very clean UI with an tutorial screen (which surprised me), finally the correct choice indicator and the the ability to reset to the start of the scene remove some of the frustration with the trial and error options that appear in the story.

• Nice art direction with clear simple designs with hidden areas of detail especially in characters.
  
• Visually attractive and clear in design for menus and most mechanics.
  
• Great Concept, a refreshing change from the many horror or love stories in VNs.
  
• Well told story that is charming as well as no grammar issues or typos.
  
• Multiple Endings.
  
• Correct choice indicator and the the ability to reset to the start of the scene.
  
• 30 minutes to an hour gameplay per run depending on reading speed and resets.
  
• Completely Free.

• No saving, loading or scene selection though acceptable due to short length.
  
• Volume options do not affect intro or credits.
  
• Some options purely trial and error, though ability to reset scene mitigates issue.

I really recommend giving it a go though if you curious here is my own play through below:

https://youtu.be/ooZKH3maH34