1. Introduction
2. Overall plot
3. The game side
4. The visual side
5. The novel side
6. The music side
7. Closing thoughts

# Intro

https://nivrad00.itch.io/purrgatory

Link to the game is above. I highly recommend playing it!

Hi, I’m Vye, and I have recently finished playing a very cute and serendipitous visual novel. It’s called Purrgatory, which was written and published by Niv for a game jam called “I can’t draw but I want to make a game”. From Purrgatory’s itch.io description, it won that game jame and was even featured in a museum in Seattle! Which is great to hear, cuz I really love this game and was floored by how well everything fits together, from the music and art style to the writing and game structure. So, what is it about Purrgatory that I like?

First things first, let me cover the general plot, then go over the game mechanics. From there, I would also cover the visuals, the writing, and the music.

Spoilers, obviously

# Plot Summary

You awaken in a rather drab looking lobby with little to no memory of your life. Before you is a receptionist looking turtle lady and portal to somewhere to her left. You speak with her, and find out you're destined for Purrgatory--you just need to walk through the conveniently placed portal. She mentions that Purrgatory is now overcrowded with you being the newest resident, but things should be fine. Just need to notify the manager and things would smooth over. You then sign a couple forms before entering the portal into the illustrious Purrgatory.
Once you step through, you would find a mildly whimsical world to explore. The walls are sort of dirty.  Some sections of the ceiling have fallen down. There's a milk river. Heck, there's a Meowseum and a library! 

Such wonderful sights aside, you would also meet some cool people:
- Kyungsoon, a lazy hyena of the blunt variety
- Oliver, a studious rat who tends the library
- Numa, a somewhat neurotic slug who adores gardening
- Elijah, a gentle and poetic armadillo (or pangolin now that I think of it)
- Sean, a fun loving snake who likes music
- Natalie, a creative and introverted moth
- Tori, an owl of the girlboss variety

This next portion is dependent on what you choose to do while playing. I'm going to assume that you have thoroughly explored Purrgatory and helped everyone before calling Lucifur.

As you explore and befriend everyone,  you begin to learn more about yourself via interactive flashbacks. You help each person with their own problems and become the glue that keeps everyone together. After an indeterminate amount of time has passed, your chain of good deeds leads up to an Everything Slam. All 7, well 6 excluding Kyungsoon, characters would show off their interests and help detail what and why they like their hobbies. Karate, gardening, poems, music, paintings, and a small seminar are the major, and only, headlines at this jamboree.

Once the event is over, you finally decide to call Lucifur. He appears and then gives an interview to all people currently in Purrgatory. You go in last and recount your life to him. He makes a couple remarks about you, then calls everyone together for a final announcement. Everyone can go to heaven... except you!

Unfortunately for the kitty, your friends refuse Heaven so that you don't have to pay penance for any earthly sin you have done all by yourself for an unknown amount of time. After a back and forth with the Lucifur himself, he decides to let you all go to Heaven.
There, you all bask in the color and warmth of Heaven. Well, the enterance anyways. You talk with your friends and wonder what the future would hold. Once that's done, you steel yourself and walk through Heaven's Door.

The end

# The Gameplay

I admit, I wasn't expecting a point and click adventure tied to the visual novel. I don't mind the genre, as these kinds of games can be entertaining even if they do get boring after a while.  However, the exploration part of this game was vastly improved by the soft world building and artwork. Each bit that you could click on had something snarky to say, or at least was entertaining. If you had admitted to Oliver that you like puns, item descriptions change to reflect this choice. It's nice and helps build up some character for the MC.

Unfortunately, the way you explore Purrgatory can be a bit confusing. I wasn't aware that Natalie's house had a kitchen, for instance. I never bothered hovering my mouse to the edge of the right screen cuz the artwork didn't imply an extra room would be there. I only found out after looking at the guide on the itch.io page. Then there's the amount of backtracking that you must do as you're looking for things or talking with the characters. Exploring the areas for the first time is fun, but clicking through the park, the Meowseum, the commons, and Natalie's house gets repetitive. Having a map to go through these areas would make exploration a lot more enjoyable.

Then there's the fact that read dialogue options don't disappear. Not major, but I know some people won't like this little feature.
The "what's up" choice for each character is my favorite, simply cuz they all have something interesting to say.

# The Visuals

The art is very soft and cute. I can just eat it. The character designs are very simple yet effective. They give a lot of personality and the color choices really make them feel more lively. Having a black and white background be broken up by the colorful silhouettes of each character was a bold choice, and one I'm glad they did. Makes them pop out and shows what each characters personality is like. Color theory and what not.

On the other hand, the black and white nature of the backgrounds does pose problems with the point-and-click part of the game. The way  scenes imply that there are rooms to the left, right, or behind you is done well--a good example is the hallway that leads to the Meowseum with the elevator and the ladder to Natalie's house--and other times it makes it difficult to orient oneself. The hallway after unlocking the door in the commons is viewed from the side, and the hallway to the Meowseum is viewed from another angle all together. The perspective changes sometimes don't make sense.

In spite of these complaints, the art is serviceable and has a lot of charm. The simple shapes and lack of color adds a lot to the general atmosphere of Purrgatory. Not to mention that a couple of the rooms are a joy to look at, namely the Meowseum or the Park. Then there is the pit that you descend into, that one's cool. The lead up of the normal hallway into a cavern that leads to what appears to be an endless pit is cool. The station part of Purrgatory has cool dynamic perspectives that break up the monotony of the other rooms.
The UI that the game employs is simple, and does it's job . I wish that the "to do" and "items" button was in a more accessible place cuz I forgot they existed shortly after I saw them.

# The Writing

I don't think I've ever been more tickled by a visual novel's dialogue and character writing until this one. The jokes, the pacing, the emoticons written in sentences... It has a very online feel that I don't see employed by other visual novel's I've read. Socially Awkward, another VN, has a similar writing style when it comes to how to the main character talks and thinks, but Socially Awkward has a lot more in terms of narration and internal monologues.

Speaking of internal monologues, Purrgatory uses this method of story writing sparingly. It honestly makes the whole visual novel feel more airy and dreamy. Not a bad thing! Just interesting and adds to the whole vibe that Purrgatory has. The closest we can see of a character in the MC is in a few descriptions of a couple of items in the game. Honestly, while I enjoy visual novels that have a developed MC (i.e Chase from Echo, Grey from Burrows), this one I can make an exception for simply due to the stellar choice in making the background partially customizable.

As stated in the Plot Summary section, you have the ability to create a back story for the MC a la the beginning of Night in the Woods. You can choose who you looked up to, where you lived, what your biggest regret was... This building adds some anticipation cuz what happens once you've remembered these things? Why are you remembering these things after helping these people?  While never explained why your memories return like this, it does make the ending a lot more enjoyable.

Now, what about the 7 other characters you meet and talk with? What makes them memorable, makes them tick? Their back stories are either told to you from asking them, or indirectly through one-off lines and idle chatter. You learn about Kyungsoon being trans from her talking with Numa, how Sean and Oliver have done the deed together from a line during Lucifur's interview... I enjoy this form of emergent characterization a lot.

# The Music

Oh how I adore this OST. Quirky, fun, and it does it's job as a background piece very wonderfully. From the hectic and fast paced "oh shit" and "frantic flowers" to the more mellow "furever's not so bad", there's a lot to like in this album. Each song has had a lot of care that went into them to sound eccentric and playful.

I don't have much technical knowledge of music, but it does feel like some of these songs do blend in together despite having distinct differences between each other. "welcome to purrgatory", "the warehouse", "the meowseum", and "main menu" all have the same vibe. Nearly similar patterns and instrumentation made exploration feel repetitive. These songs don't have as much as an impact as "lucifur", "lights out", "the interview" and "furever's not so bad", which I guess makes sense cuz these songs play during fantastical moments of the story.

You might have noticed, but I didn't mention anything about "purrgatory blues". It's cuz I was saving the best for last. Both versions are, in my opinion, the emotional core of the entire game. The build up to Sean performing this is fantastic, and hearing "purrgatory blues (meow version)" play as I help Elijah find his poem is amazing. Then the credits roll and I was blasted with the vocal version of the song. I have never been so chuffed to hear a song during the credits. In fact, I bought the OST simply because of these two songs. They are perfect, no notes.

# Closing Thoughts

This is a great game. I might replay it sometime in the future, which is a rarity for me. The music and dialogue really carry this visual novel for me, cuz the narration is nearly nonexistent and while I enjoy the art style, it pales in comparison to the music and writing. The point-and-click was not my favorite part simply cuz I dislike the genre, but the various minigames that you stumble across is fun. There also isn't a lot to guide the player, which is fine cuz I liked how the story progresses and wanted to see how each characters arc ended. Seeing a characters portrait also light up when I was done with their story really tickled my completionist brain.

Overall, Purrgatory is a nice and neat 9/10, needs more milk and less backtracking.