My Confounding Cat is Criminally Cute!

[H1] My Confounding Cat is Criminally Cute! [/h1][hr][/hr] 3-5+ hours to complete, My Confounding Cat is a light-hearted LGBTQ+ Kinetic Novel with no choices or branching paths. Follow Aster, a gifted but lonely wizard who has spent the last five years living on the outskirts of the town Auxelle. His quiet life is usually only broken by the string of customers ordering potions, and more recently, a feline taking a tumble down his chimney. Presented with the opportunity to gain a familiar, Aster reluctantly adopts the trouble magnet – only to discover he’s no ordinary stray! When the clock strikes 12 at midnight, the cat transforms into a young man named Blaise, who was cursed by a witch to become a fluffball during the day. What began as a chance to gain a companion turns into a week-long journey to break Blaise’s curse, and perhaps, Aster’s own isolation. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3574285453 After finishing My Confounding Cat Is Criminally Cute, I can really only say one positive thing about it – The art style is really charming. Unfortunately, the narrative doesn’t hold up, which is the point of a Kinetic Novel. The storyline is thin enough that the town of Auxelle feels completely empty, as you barely learn anything about it or the world these characters exist in. The plot is so padded with fluff that you can skip through 30 minutes of text and miss nothing significant, and none of the characters, including the protagonist, get a meaningful backstory. After Aster is introduced as the top of his class and a graduate of Oleander Academy as a brilliant but anti-social potion making genius, the KN shows him inexplicably failing to make a basic, routine potion order for a customer and waiting four entire days to work on a potion to break Blaise’s curse – which has a time limit of a week – forcing a last-minute crisis. Not only does this feel like a cheap way to create drama, it undermines his entire backstory and his supposed competence at being a wizard. Aster also falls in love within two days, which feels less like plot development and more like a lazy shortcut to speed the novel up. While not every story can be a detailed novel, My Confounding Cat is the equivalent of a shallow storybook, and there are better novels to spend your finite time on. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3574285569 [code]If you liked this review and want to read about similar games or just support me on my journey of playing my entire Steam backlog, you can join my curator group, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/39675075/] Rune's Reviews![/url] Have a nice day! [/code]

[i]My Confounding Cat is Criminally Cute![/i] is a yaoi, kinetic novel about an antisocial wizard who just wants to live in peace to craft his potions but life is never that simple. [h2][u]The Story & Gameplay[/u][/h2] Aster is a wizard who earns a living crafting potions for others, but if he did not have to deal with customers he’d love to just be left alone to work on his craft in peace. Life is pretty predictable and maybe a bit humdrum until one day a cute cat falls down his chimney. And not just any cat, but a cursed man who needs your help breaking said curse. Their initial meeting, when Aster first meets Blaise in non-cat form is pretty comical. The achievements are very easy to get by just reading the novel as there are no choices made by the reader. 🌶️ Spice Level - a bit more than mild. There is kissing and any intimacy is described in text, nothing is shown. It is not graphic or lewd and the kisses between Aster and Blaise are loving. [h2][u]Settings & Features [/u][/h2] Settings & features include; display options, transition options, text skip & speed options, and audio controls. There are plenty of save files and a locked section that unlocks during gameplay. The text is very easy to read and you can hide the hud for taking screencaps. [h2][u]The Visuals & Audio[/u][/h2] Like the majority of novels by [i]ebi-hime[/i] the artwork is a highlight. In this novel the art is more of an anime, cartoon style. The cat is cute too, in cat form and human form! There is no voice work but there are ambient sounds like a door opening or birds chirping, that are well implemented. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3509788914 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3509787974 [h2][u]Overall Experience[/u][/h2] The story in this novel is so heartfelt and warm. Aster and Blaise have an up and down relationship that ultimately leads to them caring for one another. Also the banter between the two can be comical at times. I enjoyed the artwork quite a bit too. A shout out to ekkoberry (the artist) for making such delightful artwork. At the end of the story you will unlock some goodies such as a cg gallery, music tracks and a special note from the developer. 💗 [hr][/hr] [quote]Please follow our curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/4680120/]Otome Lovers[/url], if you'd like to see more reviews like this one! [/quote]

[i]My Confounding Cat is Criminally Cute![/i] is a REALLY really fun title from ebi-hime :) I was particularly excited for this one when it was coming up (I've been a cat person ever since I was a kid, and I've been a fan of the artist Ekkoberry's work for several years) and it absolutely did not disappoint! All of the art assets in this VN, including the sprites, CGs, backgrounds, and UI, were done by the aforementioned artist! I don't think this necessarily has to be a standard for VNs - they're different artistic skillsets, and not every artist has all of them - but I do think that Ekkoberry's unique style and talent really lend this VN a cohesive look ^^ and the cute style fits the lighthearted tone of the story perfectly! Aster as a character is a bit rough around the edges; he's polite and businesslike with clients and with strangers, but he's got this slightly ♥♥♥♥♥♥ inner monologue that's a lot of fun to read in contrast to the image that he projects, hahaha. Of course that standoffishness comes from experiences in his younger years that led him to be mistrustful of growing close to people in general, and though he won't admit as much, he's very lonely! But his aloofness cannot withstand the power of the cute kitty that worms its way into his life ;w; and if said cute kitty turns out to be a hot guy, well.... all the better hehe. I really enjoyed seeing how Blaise was able to soften Aster up just by virtue of hanging around him long enough. Despite how outgoing he is by contrast, Blaise is pretty lonely, too, so they're suited to each other despite all of their differences!! It's very cute to see a big tall guy like Blaise cowering behind a guy as short as Aster (he's a powerful magician after all!) and by the same token I loved seeing Blaise draw out some more emotional moments for Aster. Though there's some tense plot beats here and there, like the looming threat of Blaise's curse and the occasional plant monster attack, the overall tone is very light and that's underscored by the cutesy art, so it's a pretty chill read all the way through. Definitely a VN I can recommend as something to relax and wind down to :) (Tiny aside but I loved the meow sound effects throughout hehe ;w; wouldn't be a game about a cat without 'em!)

me when me when me when me when me when me when me when me when me when me when me when me when me when me when me when me when me when me when

while i appreciate lgbt rep as a queer man myself, this storyline felt pretty juvenile? the romance felt rushed (they know each other for a week) with a rather cliche twist, characters are practically one-dimensional (with barely any believable growth as well), and it's padded way too much with fluff. seriously, i don't mean that last point lightly. these men would often reiterate the same things they've already said to each other in about 50 different ways or drag out their explanations for no reason other than to increase the word count. after about 10mins of reading those specific sections i got fed up n just spam clicked thru them until they were finally on a different topic. if you like a LOT of words of affirmation n very basic storytelling, then this is fine, i guess. i wasn't really into it though. there's def better content out there involving queer men imo

I usually leave reviews once I finish the game, but I feel like this is appropriate. This is a very cute VN, but the protagonist isn't that likeable and the dialogue sometimes drag on. The art style heavily carries the game. This isn't bad, but it's an alright, cute, and linear VN

I haven't played many VNs, but I'd like to leave some thoughts on this game. This is a nice and short VN that will take you around maybe around 8 hours to read. I find that the music is okay. Nothing that's particularly special, but it's pleasant and sets a good tone with the setting. The characters were given enough room for you to make out what their personalities and deal is. I didn't feel like any character was written in a bad way. They were pleasant and I thought their personalities were very cute and sweet. I suppose the main 2 things are the art and the story. The art in this is really really good. There is a lot of nice backgrounds and the characters look very cute in this style. There's a very pleasant look to it all and I really appreciate the thought put into how everything has been drawn. The writing for this is pretty fun and engaging. I don't think you'll find it as gripping and as heart wrenching as some other stories. But it still managed to leave a very strong impression at the start and build up the protagonist and what was happening around him. The end part of the game felt a bit dragged out in the prologue, but it was short enough where it wasn't too much of a problem. I think the romance is sweet, though it could've probably had a bit more time to build up. It felt like at the "final day" for one of the characters, things kinda happened very quickly. Still, it wasn't a bad experience. Overall I think this is a nice little story that you can spend a few days going through.

My favorite part was the cat. As in the cat form itself. Anytime he was on screen: he was the best everything. I liked the cuteness/sweetness. The bitterness resonated with me to the core. But unlike the MC, I will never be swayed with pretty words. I really disliked the [spoiler]maids. I don't like either of them. Librarian was okay. Good thing they had barely any screen time.[/spoiler] All the cats have my gratitude. Thanks for writing and sharing.

This game is so cute! I loved the story and characters a lot -- and of course, the lovely art! It's a fun, light-hearted, relatively short visual novel. Aster and Blaise are absolutely adorable and I loved seeing their story and relationship develop. I also enjoyed the "twist" of [spoiler] the curse not being time-sensitive at all LOL, Charmaine just wanted to create a real-life romance novel. [/spoiler]. I'm also happy it's kinetic as I often get visual novel-related choice paralysis... especially for such a low price, I definitely recommend this game to BL fans :D

cat