izigame.me

The game's ending has writing decisions so baffling and infuriating that it's hard to give it a positive review after it. I nearly cried a second time at this point because I was so upset that THIS is where they were going with the story.
Let's start with the gameplay stuff first. The beginning is VERY slow. Though in a way it is understandable as it is showing the daily life and the gradual growing relationship of the cat and her owner. However, it is kind of boring, and the few gameplay aspects you do get to "play" are very simple and repetitive. Press "f" when the icon is in the circle. Press z, x, or c when the moving thing is in that spot. Press these buttons in order. Press left and right to dodge obstacles. Yes, press- you don't free control the cat, which does hamper the intensity of the chase scenes. All throughout the game, gameplay does not get more complicated/ interesting than that. Gameplay isn't super important in story games, but with a story with so much "empty space" I guess you could call it, what you do get to play doesn't leave you super invested. For like 3/4ths of the game, I felt disconnected with what was going on. Not like I didn't care, but like I was watching a movie that I could almost zone out for minutes at a time without losing much.
You can get into some shenanigans, like tracking paint around the house or knocking over objects. But there's really not any consequences for those things, nor can you go super crazy with it, so it does just feel like... okay, I did that.
Okay, onto the story. The entire tone of the game is very cold and melancholy. After being abandoned by her owner- and she WAS abandoned, don't mistake that- "Dawn" heads around listlessly trying to find a place to call home. But everywhere she goes, she is faced with rejection or abuse. This kind of story is fine. I like dark stories. However, it did... put me off, I guess. At a point I started wondering what could be a satisfying ending. Dawn reunites with her old owner? No, she was a bad owner and abandoned Dawn when there were issues at home. Dawn goes back to the shelter? Then we're back where we started. Find a random person that's nice and fade to black? Realistic and most simple, I guess, but then it kinda feels like "what's the point" after going through all that just to have a convenient nice person ex machina. But with all of those options, they really did choose the worst one.
So let's talk about Olive. Dawn's owner. A couple of weeks before adopting Dawn, she lost her original cat, (also named Dawn), and because she is an old lady who puts all her emotional needs on her pet, she goes and adopts the MC with the express purpose of replacing the original cat. Not only is this effed, Olive is a BAD pet owner. No, she never abuses or hurts the cat, but she is neglectful and has no idea/care to be a good cat owner. She leaves food out all the time, she apparently leaves open paint out for the cat to get into, she only buys a single toy (that the cat can't play by herself), she never buys a cat tower or scratching post or anything the cat can use to fulfill their needs. And at no point it looks like she ever bought the cat a pet bed or anything?? Oh yeah, and she also ABANDONS HER CAT.
At one point, after a medical scare, Olive's daughter throws the cat out (side note, the game really seems to flip flop between "her daughter's a PSYCHO" to "oh but shes just so stwessed she's not dat bad" many times and it's very confusing). When Olive goes to retrieve the cat, the original Dawn pops back up and Olive takes her inside instead, leaving the MC alone and cold outside by themselves. It takes an annoying amount of time for Olive to realize that this random cat constantly trying to get into her house and not die from hunger or dogs which also looks exactly like her cat is ACTUALLY ONE OF HER CATS! OMG. WHAT A REVELATION. Olive, realizing what she has done and knowing she can't take care of two cats, decides to drop the MC off in the woods and drive off, tragically watching the cat run after her car.
WHAT???!!! Even the shelter, as heartbreaking as that would be, would be better than this! Olive says that she'll "be safe" out here, which.... absolutely not? I'm not going to get into why this is a horrendously awful idea, because I assume everyone reasonable already knows. Actually makes me wonder if Olive dumped her here so she wouldn't have to go through the embarrassment of taking the cat back to the shelter.
At this point, the story isn't unforgivable. This unfortunately happens. Though at this point it does start to feel like this game was made by an animal shelter on how to not be a bad pet owner, which is... valid, but I don't know if it will really reach the people who need to hear it, and otherwise it's preaching to the choir.
Anyway, after weeks of wandering around, starving, getting in fights with other stray cats, getting chased away by people, feeling depressed because of how rejected and unlovable she feels, and other things, "Dawn" finally finds the strength and courage to confront Olive about how she abandoned and hurt her. We're still on board at this point- the game does a very good job of emphasizing the hurt and pain "Dawn" feels and the anger as you relisten to everything Olive said at the beginning and realize how it was all rubbish- "You belong with me", "I'll always love you", "I'll never let anything hurt you", etc.
When "Dawn" finally finds her way back home, she finds that Olive has moved out to a retirement home. "Dawn" feels despair as her one last bit of purpose has been ripped away from her. She attempts to unalive herself by sitting in the road. Here's where the game royally F***S EVERYTHING up. "Dawn"'s life flashes before her eyes and you see snippets of all the horrible homes she's had before now, and you see Olive holding her and it goes "home isn't about blahblahblah, it's about wHeRe YoU'rE nEeDeD" then "Dawn" goes back to Olive's house and basically says even if Olive can't keep her, even if she rejects her, she still loves her and she's still her pet and she wants to be with her. Excuse me-
WHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Cutting everything else out for a second about how this doesn't make sense and yada yada- the game is basically saying that you should forgive and go back to people who hurt you, only got you/kept you around for emotional validation, did not take care of your needs or provide extra accommodation for you than the bare minimum, and abandoned you because your life has otherwise been cr*p so far and you can't get/don't deserve something better, so settle for lying outside in the rain begging for scraps as you listen to your loved one love on somebody else because as long as they have somebody to fill the void, what'do they need you for, right? I mean, after all, home is where you're needed. *dreamy romantic sigh*
This is an absolutely abhorrent message, for anyone. For victims of toxic or one-sided relationships, for love-starved people, for ANYONE. Not to mention what this will tell bad/selfish pet owners. Remember earlier, when I compared the game to a "what not to do as a pet owner" simulator? Well apparently, it's ACTUALLY a "what to ABSOLUTELY do as a pet owner" because no matter how you neglect your cat, they'll still love you and always come back and be exactly what you need- an emotional sponge to throw away when you don't need them anymore.
Now to get into the writing of it because "home is where you're 'NEEDED'"- but "Dawn" isn't needed? Olive clearly just needed a companion- it didn't really seem to matter who- if anything she was more connected to the real Dawn than you and SHE HAS HER NOW. She has her daughter too! Why is "Dawn" "NeEdEd" here? It doesn't make any sense!