I recently discovered that R. Michalski (the founder of Harvester Games) has released three games, not only “The Cat Lady”, and is in the process of making a new one.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Harvester Games is an indie games house which focuses on creating story-driven games in the horror and psychological categories.
I discovered HG with “The Cat Lady”, the first chapter of the series.
I was immediately captured by the story, even though I had never played a game with such a style.
May it be the cure in creating the perfect atmosphere, may it be the constant feeling of wanting to know what would happen next, I devoured the game in a single bite.
In a mostly noir fashion, the art is almost all black and white, with important elements, or scenes or (strangely) only backgrounds being coloured. The eye is really drawn to every little detail and even the smallest of the corners is finely cured.
Shadows play a particular role in mixing it all together.
While the visuals alone are as artistic as it could get, the sounds, voiceover and music are brilliant as well.
After discovering there was a second and a third game I played the next in line, “Downfall: Redux”, which is a remake of downfall released in 2009, the first ever game from Harvester.
The sequel is just as good as the cat lady and the stories interwine harmoniously with each other, even though it may not be clear from the start.
The care in each detail, the eerie atmosphere is again present in the title, stronger as ever, and I’m sure the last one, Lorelai, is even more curated, judging by the trailer.
I won’t go over the stories as I don’t want to spoil anything.
These are the trailers for the three chapters, they do a really better job at describing the games than I may ever do.
I wholeheartedly recommend these games to anyone, even to people that may be easily scared.
You might be frightened, some scenes are a little bit splatter, yes, but the narration digs so deep into themes which are relevant to struggling individuals that may be beside us every day and leaves us plenty of time to emphatise with them, get in their shoes, and feel some of the horror that by sheer luck may have never touched our lives before (I really hope so).
You may change the way you see the typical lonely, depressed cat lady that stares at the sky outside the window.
After all, who knows what poisons her thoughts?