The Cat Lady

The Cat Lady is a suspenseful psychological horror adventure built around Susan Ashworth, a lonely 40-year-old on the verge of suicide. She has no family, no friends, and no hope for a better future. One day she discovers that five strangers will come along and change everything — and the game's central arc is what happens when those strangers turn out to be the most ruthless, deranged and cold-blooded psychopaths the city has ever known.

The Parasites, as the five are eventually called, will stop at nothing to hurt Susan. Unless she hurts them first. Her journey doesn't take her across the world and won't turn her into a hero — she has little faith in others, hardly cares about herself, can't fight, has never fired a gun in her life. But she's hanging onto a thin thread of hope: that at the end of her time with the Parasites, there's an elusive reward waiting that might be worth the effort.

The gameplay is the genre's standard point-and-click adventure with stylized art and simple keyboard controls. What makes The Cat Lady stand out is its writing — psychological depth, mature themes, and a willingness to sit with despair without flinching from it. The journey takes Susan between the world of the living and the world of the dead, and the only way to survive is to overcome her biggest weakness: herself.

Written and directed by Remigiusz Michalski under the Harvester Games banner, The Cat Lady features atmospheric voice acting and a 70-minute soundtrack by micAmic with featured artists Warmer, 5iah and Tears Of Mars (included free in the Steam library). The game contains strong adult themes and is recommended only for players 18 and over. Subsequent entries in the same series — Downfall and Lorelai — extend the storytelling further.