Hustle Cat

I first found Hustle Cat through PressHeartToContinue and Octopimp's playthrough in 2016. Whenever I play through the game again, it's their voices I hear in my head over the brilliantly done soundtrack. (And the "NERD ALERT" whenever Graves appears.) Over the past decade, at least four laptops, and a degree, I keep coming back to this game. For me, of course, it's endlessly nostalgic, but I think even for new players it still has things to offer. The story is charming, the characters are dynamic, and the artwork is breathtaking. Part of me hopes we'll get another game like this from DateNighto, but I think the magic of Hustle Cat probably can't be replicated. Hustle Cat has been a comfort and an escape for me for years, and as someone who has been playing Otome games for over a decade, remains the standard to which I hold other games. Happy tenth anniversary, Hustle Cat! <3

Hustle Cat is a story about a cat café that is shrouded in mystery, or that's what the summary will tell you. I thought the game would be a light-hearted, fun time. Unfortunately, its poor storytelling and writing left much to be desired. [b] Art [/b] I have nothing bad to say about the art. The few backgrounds that I saw looked nice, and the characters were lovely. [b] Character(s) [/b] I'll start this by saying that Avery is a horrible protagonist. Usually when a main character has flaws that make them unlikeable, they at least have some redeeming quality about them that I like. This did not happen. From the little I spent on this (both time and money), I got to know that they are awkward, judgemental, stupid, and refuses to take accountability, which also makes them very immature. Avery has no qualities that make them worthwhile. And I have ended up loving characters who people love to hate. [b] Music [/b] The tunes are nice to listen to, but nothing to write home about. [b] Story [/b] This is the meat of any Visual Novel. Or it should be. I'm not sure if it's even present here, the plate seems rather empty to me. I feel like the story in this is on par with someone's first…

I wanted to like Hustle Cat, but it left me disappointed. The story is boring and juvenile, the love interests are basic and all the time-skipping made it hard to form any connections with them. Your choices also eventually disappear, and the endings felt rushed and follow basically the same formula. Even the explanation for the main conflict didn't make much sense. Not worth $20 in my opinion.

This was the first amare game I played (in 2021, it's been a while), and I quite enjoyed it. I havent experienced any other game with story, like this one, in which you can choose your character's gender, and it was made in a way it worked nicely. I remember I didn't know what to expect about the game, but I enjoyed it. It's not super long, and it has a nice mix between reality and magic.

... In my defence, they have a human form.

a really cute game. Loved it!