The Elevator Game with Catgirls

Nayru kindly shared with me the beta-version of The Elevator Game with Catgirls, and it is exceedingly delightful to see that some advanced Kickstarter goals have been achieved and the game since attained a voice over—an incredibly good one, to boot!
Unfortunately, to my greatest shame, the full playthrough took me more than a couple of years, even though the game itself can be played in a span of several evenings. The reason for my tardiness is that I’m incredibly bad with any gameplay, so, at first, I couldn’t proceed without a guide, and then, much later, I found myself unable to get further even with the help of a walkthrough. That said, from my limited experience, I would estimate the difficulty of the puzzles needed for the Main/True Endings as medium; it’s just that I’m simply very bad at this kind of stuff and probably followed the instructions wrong at some time, because the approach that didn’t work once somehow got me unstuck later. And I am incredibly happy that I managed to get past that point! Playing The Elevator Game with Catgirls to completion was a precious experience, and the game ended up being one of my favourite works of fiction ever.
After all, it contains so many things that I utterly love. PoV of being lost in an eerie, liminal space, especially when searching for someone precious you’ve parted with, someone who is out there, their current state unknown to you and the hope to find them slim. Complicated, codependent queer relationship with a darker underside that gets more and more foreboding as it emerges from the evidence. Piecing together the mystery of what had actually happened note by note, until the picture takes shape and you finally understand the place and importance of what had merely been some ominous words on a page. Unreliable Narrator of sorts—yeah, Asahi never outright deceives us, but her PoV very much hides the truth of her romantic relationship with Kirin (the truth being not a romantic nature of their relationship itself but something disturbing and sinister—I find it very fitting and fascinating that we never actually learn Asahi’s full opinion on the situation, it’s just hinted that she has her share of dark thoughts too).
It quite pleasantly reminded me of another one of my favourites—(web-)novel Subcutanean by Aaron R. Reed (please, google it, its paid version has some utterly unique features, while its free version is already easily 10/10 to me), especially—mild spoilers for both the game and the novel!—the existence of different worlds with the different sets of the same main characters, where the PoV character gets, for some time, the “other” version of their loved one, and the liminal place connecting those worlds in a way that it’s possible to get lost on the wrong side.
The Elevator Game is much more atmospheric, however—it might have been one of the most wonderfully eerie experiences in my entire life. Its unsettling atmosphere is incredibly rich and utterly unparalleled, and I especially love how it’s supported by the visuals, sounds (I hear the elevator chime and hum in my mind’s ear right now) and the game mechanics itself. Certain applications of the game engine’s capabilities were incredibly inventive! NoBread Studio gets more and more sophisticated with clever programming involved in creating special experiences for their players with each game. The Infinite Maze room really stood out for me, although every part of the game is nothing short of amazing.
I love how the Main/True Ending doesn’t dispel the atmosphere, leaving enough mystery to keep you intrigued and enraptured with the enigmatic anomalous locale (and people involved in its workings), as well as with the entire cat infection premise, yet it reveals enough to bring you satisfaction and closure. I think that, in large part, it is facilitated by the string of carefully crafted illustrations fleshing out the finale. I absolutely love the artstyle! It fits the story so well and truly adds to the experience.
Secret/Easter Egg Endings are mostly a bit difficult to get without a guide, yet they are extremely worth the effort, especially since they contain some of the sweetest moments in the entire game, as well as the most hilarious ones, and also the most hauntingly beautiful. I enjoyed the Flower Ending so, so much, whoaaaa! It involves the body horror and the existential horror of the most delightful kinds, and its visuals are simply ethereal, truly gorgeous.
Some Easter Eggs pertaining to NoBread Studio’s other games, namely Blankspace, went far beyond simple visual allusions. It felt really nostalgic to visit a certain room, and I love how it connects all the games into a unified universe (or, more exactly, a multiverse) where the characters continue existing even outside the frame. I wonder if I’ll get to meet some familiar faces some time in the future once more.
The Elevator Game with Catgirls continues the trend of point-and-click horror mysteries with an escape room component set by Blankspace, yet feels more complex, intricate, elaborate and expansive, as well as more aesthetically advanced. It’s amazing to see the evolution, especially when it’s created by a very small team in which a major bulk of the work is done by one person. It is a treat for every mystery/horror lover, or anyone interested in dark queer fiction, and makes for a very memorable experience. I’m deeply grateful I’ve got to play it (and see the artbook delving into some behind-the-scenes details, considerations, and scrapped concepts). I think it’s going to stick with me for the rest of my life, especially whenever I’m reminded of urban legends, ethically dubious relationships and liminal spaces, which is very often.

One of my favorite horror games of all time, despite the brevity.
Even ignoring the obvious joke to be made here about how the lesbian likes the game with lesbians, this game really is that good. I played it 2 years ago at this point, right at the turn of the new year 2023 and I still think about it to this day.
The gameplay is a little basic, it's just a visual novel cross with some SH Moon Logic style puzzles, but seriously, even with the simplicity of the concept, it's executed beautifully well. The horror sticks with you because of how much you're actually required to force yourself through it. One of the most common issues I've always had with horror VNs (like Corpse Party and its ilk) is the fact that for the most part it's in the same area of horror as a movie or a book. It can be evocative, but there's a certain degree to which the viewer is not really a participant, resulting in certain aspects of the horror to not work as well (one of the many reasons why video games are uniquely equipped for the horror thematic). Despite that common pitfall, this game manages to avoid it by sticking the player's POV into one of the two main characters for the entire duration of the game, which all games do, but uniquely for a visual novel requires you to move around aside from just participating in the story as a neutral third party behind a screen. The reason it works here, is because this game is extremely sparse with its secondary cast. It never plays its hand fully until it knows the other shoe is off the foot finally, and as a result it forces the player into an extremely uneasy and stressful enviroment, that manages to play off some really cliche'd tropes real well.
If you're a horror fan, and you don't mind the slightly ugoo~ anime-esque kawaii art-style and the tumblr sexymen, you'd actually find a master class in both horror writing and some insanely talented game developers behind the scenes.
Now I just wish the game wasn't as obscure as it was, because this game deserves all the recognition it can get.

I enjoyed this way more than I had first thought, mostly looking for something horror oriented (catgirls is always a + naturally), a really well made game with a nice atmosphere and good writing, just had to see all the endings which painted a nice picture!

A funky blend of narrative and puzzle elements all tied together by excellent art and atmosphere. The growing dread as the overarching story was gradually revealed alongside some excellently creepy moments made this a really fun game to play through.

I backed this game on Kickstarter a few years ago after really enjoying NoBreadStudio's previous title "Blank Space", and while I intended to play it around release life kind of got in the way (as it does) but I'm glad I finally did get around to playing this because the Elevator Game with Catgirls is really solid. The art is really unique in a good way, I like the whole concept art/sketch look they seemingly went for with the sprites and CGs, and the environment in tandem with the OST sells the liminal spaces vibe very well. The writing as expected was excellent, the world building in particular was really interesting and my only complaint would be I was a little let down by the true ending as it almost felt like there was a missing chunk or POV that was cut for time or budgetary reasons, however I felt the journey was worth the destination. Speaking of journey, there are a fair amount of side/easter egg endings and a lot of them range from funny to pretty creepy with quite a few referencing other games, my favourite being meeting Beryl from Blank Space, now with voice acting! . As for the voice acting I felt it was a really good addition that added a lot to the experience and I hope they bring it back for future titles. Overall I liked this game and would recommend it to any horror or mystery fans and people who like the style of NoBreadStudio's games in general.
I'm gonna level with you, elevator pun fans were kinda shafted. Good puns are like broken elevators, they never let you down but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of steps were taken to avoid them as I don't think they would've elevated the experience and would probably have just pushed a lot of buttons, eventually driving players up the wall.

If a horror point and click visual novel with a puzzle/hidden object twist sounds intriguing, this is going to be your thing. I spent a bit over 6 hours with this game, and I enjoyed it. There's no real jump scares to speak of, but more of a creeping dread vibe.
The art style is definitely a choice, and I think it works well here. Ironic that the characters look like cutouts, but are animated.
The cast is sparse, and the game is focused on its hook, which is based around ... the elevator game. And cat girls. I can't say much about the plot without giving away the way the "game" ties it together. There's quite a bit of lore, both regarding the "game" and the origin of the cat girls themselves. And their relationship.
I got all the notes, and all but two of the endings playing with no help. I don't think I could have gotten 100% without a guide. I definitely recommend playing blind as much as possible. A pen and a sheet of paper for notes is going to help you.
Music is ok, graphics are ok, voice acting is ok. The story is what carries it.
Definitely a thumbs up.

I liked this game more than I was expecting. The presentation of the game was pretty good, and "exploring" the game's world was pretty fun. I enjoyed the details in the environment, and the details on the character sprites (like the cat-like features). The character expressions on the sprites are really great, though I do wish the 2D elements in the event CGs were a wee bit more consistent and had the same detail as the character sprites.
Exploring the environment reminded me of classic pre-rendered background adventure games, contributing to the horror atmosphere. I legitimately got spooked a couple times! (though they did dip into cheese rarely also) The audio in the game is pretty good, with nice ambient music and sound effects. The voice acting isn't the best, but it's far from distractingly bad, and now I think those voices suit the characters.
While the general atmosphere in the game is good, I do wish there was more dialogue between the characters themselves. The ultimate conclusion to the drama of the game is a little weak because of that, but the game is non-linear in nature, so it might be hard to pace the ending well. It is far from not being a satisfactory conclusion, but it did leave me wanting more for sure.
If you enjoy girls' love and horror themes, check this game out. If you're big into horror, you'll probably spot a reference or two you'll recognize too.