Game Thoughts - Purrgatory by Niv

Note: This is a repost from our WordPress, which we don't update anymore.

Hehe, we almost forgot we finished this game when we first wrote this review. But I managed to do it! - Akkun

What's It All About?

It starts with you finding yourself in a weird office with a portal. You don’t remember anything, but the office lady tells you that you’re going to Purrgatory.

“You must mean Purgatory,” you say, but no…

It’s Purrgatory, a Purgatory with a cat.

Writing

Purrgatory can look like a mess, and it sometimes seems like nonsense with the different areas that don’t seem to match. But I guess that’s Purrgatory for you, you know, in between heaven and hell, and kind of both and kind of none of them. And I think the order that’s there when you arrive, it’s partly because the other people there have started to try improving it by instinct and because of boredom.

The characters are all pretty interesting. They’re also kind of larger than life to some degree, but they also feel like people when you talk to them, which is nice. It can feel a bit exhausting to talk to a “character” rather than a person.

I think the exaggeration is because they each kind of represent one of the seven sins? Ahaha!

When it comes to the story... It can be as short or as long as you want it to be, depending on how much you talk to and help the other characters, cause only then will the story really reveal itself. So, in a way, it really is character-driven, because otherwise, it's just about you saving yourself, and by chance, too!

Art

The art is very simple. It’s kind of doodly, even, but it looks nice. For one, it doesn’t look like someone just drew halfheartedly. I mean, the library part looks like it took a lot of effort because it had a lot of bookshelves and books.

Almost everything is black and white, or rather, everything is drawn in thin black lines over a white background. I say almost, because the characters have color, but there is only one flat color per character.

The colors are important, since in a certain screen, it also tells you if you’ve managed to help out characters with their problems.

Also.... part of the reason why it's really doodly is it was part of the "I Can't Draw" game jam, so it's meant to look that way meow meow.

Music

Everything’s chill, so it makes even going through the different rooms and areas pleasant. It’s still possible to have more music pieces, but I guess if it isn’t broken, it doesn’t need to be fixed.

What I like more are the sounds that play when you click on certain things, like the cat, the bell, and the phone. I really liked clicking on the cat, cause it’s cute.

Gameplay

The game is a point-and-click when it comes to exploring, and it's also kind of a visual novel when you talk to the people. How things work is simple, and you can easily get to the inventory since it shows up on the top of the screen.

I like that the main character can comment on a lot of things in their surroundings, and even the smallest mark on the wall can be clicked on. You can kind of click a lot on some things too.

The only real bad thing about it is that exploring can get kind of confusing, since sometimes where you exit doesn't match up with where you are in the next area. And it doesn't help that it's in the first-person view. The dev has admitted it, and they connect it to poor game planning.

Still, the story doesn't really suffer too much from that, so you're okay.

Overall

It’s a nice and chill game that’s very focused on the characters in it, and there’s a lot of story because of it. And what's even nicer is that it's free to play.

I got a bad ending, though, since I didn’t get to know anyone that well to save them along with me. It looks like I went through the game too fast. I haven’t tried it again yet, but I really would like to.

If you wanna play it too, you can get it on Itch.io and Steam.