Cats and the Other Lives: Game review (PS5)

I have developed a habit of playing cat games on the anniversaries of my cats' deaths, and also on their birthdays. Cats and the Other Lives was on sale in the Playstation store, and I ended up postponing playing it until the anniversary of my last and oldest cat Kali's death anniversary. And little did I know how suitable this game was for that purpose.

 

 

In Cats and the Other Lives, a family member dies and the family relations are observed by the family cat named Aspen. She is said to be an old and fat cat, who likes to roam around the mansion. She of course likes to do cat things, such as scratching furniture, being afraid of water, chasing mice and dropping things off from tables. 

 

 

This game addresses some dark and depressing themes. What secrets and tragedies are hidden in the Mason mansion's past and present? Something even more sinister than hemorrhoids? Possibly. 

 

 

There are some more difficult minigames in the game, which I had to try many times. I hate having to repeat sections in games. I also had some problems with the controls, and I wasn't the only one.

 

 

 

How long is Cats and the other lives?

This is exactly the question I wondered when I started playing this game. I didn't know if I could play the game through in one sitting. Somehow I assumed that the game would be too long for that, and I was right. My first playthrough lasted for about 6 hours, so it is a short game. And sadly there isn't much replay value. But I did play it again, because I had missed one trophy.

The game is divided into three chapters and three days, plus an epilogue.

 

 

 

Cats and the Other Lives: Ending 

In the end the cat and mouse kiss. What happens if you kill the mouse earlier? Surely the mouse can't be there in the end then?  

The game's ending left me worried. In fact towards the end I started getting scared. If you want spoilers you can check out the ending yourself.

 

 

Trigger warnings: this game has dark themes, and not everyone always treats the kitty nicely. At one point one character even kicks the cat.  

 

 

Cat games

There are more and more games coming out where you play as a cat. Some of them are garbage, but Cats and the Other lives is not. In fact it is a hidden little gem. This game and its ending stayed with me for a while.

 

Cats and the Other Lives gameplay

 

 

Fallout 76: Brahmin meat location

It was a long and cursed process to get Brahmin meat when you don't want to kill any innocent cows. Unfortunately the animals in Fallout 76 (affiliate link) seem to be mutated and often two-headed, those poor unfortunate souls. So one could argue that getting them out of their misery would be the merciful thing to do. 

We didn't want to kill the cows to make progress in the Second Helpings mission. It took a long time to find some Brahmin meat.

 

 

This quest requires the player to cook a ribeye steak. To be able to do that brahmin meat is needed. No problem, right? Because there are many two-headed cows roaming around the area. But what if you don't want to kill them? 

Cows have a special place in my heart, and I still regret killing them for a trophy in Far Cry: New Dawn. This time I wasn't willing to do it. Maybe I have learned from my mistake.

 

 

How to get Brahmin meat without killing 

If you don't want to kill the cows you are supposed to get the meat from brahmin corpses in the area. But for us all the meat we could find was always spoiled.

So, after weeks of trying, we traveled to Whitespring resort. In its mall resides a vendor named Marie, who sometimes has brahmin meat for sale. It's random. So I thought our luck had turned when she did have one piece of meat.

But for my co-op partner, there was no meat. Had I bought the only one available?

 

 

But then a disaster struck. I tried to give the meat to my partner and accidentally ate it! I was ready to ragequit the whole game right then. Like I said, this was a cursed quest for us.

I tried to search online how often the vendors change their stock? I could only find conflicting information.

But then we went back to Flatwoods, and for the first time there was some fresh meat on brahmin corpses. So finally, success! 

 

 

Where to find Brahmin meat in Fallout 76

*Brahmin corpses near the mission Second helpings objective (the meat could be spoiled though) in Flatwoods

*Vendor Marie in Whitespring resort, take the elevator to Whitespring mall, Le Grand Gourmet store

 

 

 

Cats in Fallout 76?

Yes, there is at least one cat in the game. Cheswick II was seen looking out the window, perhaps waiting for its long lost owner.

 

 

There are some animal and cat items in the game's Atomic shop. Here's just some of them. 

 

You can buy Grey Tabby Cat as your camp cat. You can interact with the cat with commands pet, speak and sit.

 

 

And there are also some other cat themed things in the game, as seen in the pictures in this post. 

 

 

 

Animals in Fallout 76

The animals I have encountered in Fallout 76 so far are: cat, dog, cow, radstag doe, chicken, frog.

 

 

 

Fallout 76 is NOT a multiplayer game!

Here is a warning for those who are looking for a nice game to play together with a friend. 

Fallout 76 is said to be a multiplayer game. In reality it is not. It is a single player game. 

Most the missions and quests you have to do solo. What's the point of having multiplayer/co-op when in reality you can't do missions together? 

If you try do the quests together only the team leader gets progress in the mission. If you want do any missions you absolutely have to do them alone/solo.

 

How to become an alcoholic

It's easy to become addicted to alcohol in this game. Just drink booze too much and too often. Then you get negative status effects when you don't drink alcohol often enough.

Beware though, some foods can cure random addictions. Unfortunately this happened to me, and I had to work my way back to alcoholism. 

 

 

 

Fallout 76: Field Medic trophy

The easiest way of doing this with a friend is to go to a lookout tower. When a player jumps down from the tower they get the critically injured status. Then you can just revive them by pressing X.

 

 

happier times... happier cows... 

 

 

Fallout 76 is the type of game I would never play alone. It would be much more fun with a friend if the quests could be actually done in co-op.

 

Fallout 76 gameplay