Purrfect Date

Visually, Purrfect Date is gorgeous with the unique, hand-drawn visuals throughout the entire game. Cute and cartoony graphics greet players from the get-go, and in some ways, they remind me of my Saturday morning cartoons when I was a child. Both the humans and cats that you come across in the story are all unique, distinctive, and have their own personalities that you'll be able to discover by playing. Purrfect Date also utilizes a bright and vibrant color palette that is sure to appeal to the audience, but some scenes are also darker and gloomier, which helps set the tone. The soundtrack is endearing and whimsical, which I found to be a delight to listen to while playing. The game also has realistic sound effects that play to match the situation and dialogue that you're in, which adds some depth.

While Purrfect Date classifies itself as a dating sim, it's not as straightforward as you originally think it is when first diving in. It's also more of an interactive visual novel, with a bit of romance with felines.

You take on the role of a researcher who just landed a job on the appropriately named Cat Island to work with Professor Pawpur. You're there to help research and take care of the cats that live on the island. Just from this, it already sounds like a cat lover's paradise, right? But things take a dark turn pretty early on in the first chapter, as you discover the possibility of Were-Cats. Turns out there's more to Cat Island than you originally thought, and it's not a serene, feline loving paradise.

Since Purrfect Date is more of an interactive visual novel, there's a lot of reading involved. The story advances through the dialogue, and there's a lot of exchanges between your character and associates, as well as cats. However, you can choose to be either a male or female for each chapter, and there's a few different appearances to pick from for each. There's also a wide variety of cats to find on the island, and your Cat-A-Log device is able to scan and provide information on every feline you come across. The information includes breed, age, and color - you know, all the highly important details when it comes to identifying cats.

As you play, you'll have to make decisions that affect the outcome of the story's ending. There are 18 different endings that you can get, so there's a bit of replay value if you want to find out what all of the endings are. In each chapter, you'll have the opportunity to do research for the antidote for Were-Cats, recon with NPCs that you've met to investigate further, and even develop romantic relationships with the cats themselves. The only mandatory action is research, though.

Each time you decide to do romance, research, or recon, it will take up some energy, which is represented by hearts. You can rest to replenish your energy if needed, but that does mean missing out on another activity. Players can choose to do romance and recon as much as they want, with each opportunity filling up on of the progress bars. However, once you do research three times, then that chapter will close and the story advances. So ideally, you'd want to make sure that you're done with everything else before continuing with research, as there's no way to go back after you make your decision.

Since you are a newly appointed researcher in each chapter, that means you'll have to pick only one cat if you choose to date them. You can do the romance action up to five times in a chapter, and three recon and research actions. Again, while the only mandatory thing you need to do is research, the choice of romance or recon affect the results of your research. Therefore, you'll need to choose wisely, especially when it comes to the tougher decisions that affect your relationship with your feline friends.

Purrfect Date is an interesting and unorthodox mashup of dating sim and interactive visual novel. The handcrafted graphics are cute, the sound design is realistic, and controls are simple, since everything's done through taps. The story gets you hooked in right away, and I love the humor and dark twist in plot. I mean, Were-Cats, who knew? I certainly wasn't expecting that when I was starting the game, but now I need to know more.

If you aren't a big fan of reading, then I hate to break it to you, but that's a requirement for Purrfect Date. Everything is revealed through the dialogue, and while you can skip through it, you'll be missing vital parts of the story, or even just the humorous puns and whatnot.

And if you hate cats, well, this game is not for you.

As a cat fan, Purrfect Date is a nice surprise on the App Store. I didn't know about the game before this week, but it's certainly a fun, interactive visual novel experience. Plus, dating the cats (crazy cat lady style) is fun and silly, which is to be expected from the same people who developed Surgeon Simulator. And honestly, the visuals are charming and appealing to everyone, and the sound is great.

Purrfect Date is available on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for $4.99.