Good Story Guild returned to PAX East with a new demo for Cat Secretary, a game I’ve been highly anticipating since I first tried it last year.
Cat Secretary is a cozy 3D job sim that has you working for a massive corporation, and it’s your duty to uncover the secrets work wouldn’t want the world to know while keeping everyone happy… but as a cat, of course. Do your job and solve puzzles around the office during the day while exploring the halls and coworkers’ desks at night. As a cat owner myself, this obviously caught my eye last year, and I really enjoyed what I played. When I saw Good Story Guild on the show floor, I had to test out the latest demo.
If I recall correctly from my first go around, one of your main missions is to stop evil A.I. from taking over the company so everyone can keep their jobs. That said, this demo was a bit different. I began my day at the office as usual, just following orders until I was set free. A small robot assistant tells me it’s orientation day and has me doing minor job duties, like filing papers, calibrating the router, and talking to my coworkers. Ordinary work on paper, but 10 times more fun as a cuddly cat totally not plotting to take down the whole company.
There’s nothing menacing about a slogan like that.
These sections were straightforward and led you where the game wanted you to be. The previous demo was much more exploratory and had more levels. I remember seeing people next to me running around in locations I hadn’t even discovered yet, and I wondered how exactly they got there. It seemed like you could deviate from the main mission of the demo without being stopped. This looked like tons of fun, but as a demo at a fan convention, I remember lines for the game moving very slowly and lasting a while. Thankfully, their booth had a good number of stations, so several attendees could play.
After noticing there was less roaming around, I tried testing the game’s limits. I saw an opportunity to brew coffee for the rest of the office. I had the cat stand next to the coffee machine, holding a bag of coffee, and in-game physics took the wheel. If you tilt the analog stick too far, you spill grounds everywhere and possibly run out of coffee, so you have to move the stick just right. Then you have to fill up the other side with water by extending the kitchen faucet hose, which is flailing all over the place. I ended up spilling so much water everywhere that the coffeemaker caught fire, which I was not expecting and genuinely scared me. Despite being scared, I had fun with these silly minigames.
If not supposed to be up there, why so cute.
This implemented a new mechanic based on “Coworker Morale” where you have to make sure everyone at work is satisfied with the way things are run. Because no one likes it when the coffeemaker explodes, or staring at a blank office, you have to fill the empty space with nice-looking decor. Not only is it your job to take down a terrible company, but it’s also up to our furry friend to make sure the humans that keep the place running are taken care of. I haven’t seen very many of the other coworkers other than one interaction, but I believe they’re going to have a major part when it comes to the overall plot of the game, and hopefully, making their lives easier work-wise will help in the end, especially since the game has full voice work included.
The last part of my time with the demo took me through a museum that gave more backstory on DOX, the company you work for, and how it started. It’s a bit of a self-guided tour where you go through different rooms where you learn about the founder, the people who helped start the company, and DOX’s marketable rodent mascot, who looks oddly familiar to another marketable rodent mascot. I really enjoyed this section, and it gave me a deeper look at just how terrible this company probably is, and it only makes me want to bust them even more. Sadly, when the museum portion ended, my demo time was up.
This cat’s got the need. The need for speed.
Everything I played this time around was entirely different. I loved how there were more minigames to play as the cat, which made me realize the finer details of what keeps a normal office job functioning, and how creative the team was to incorporate a cat into that setting. I felt like the controls were much tighter when walking under tables and between chairs in the break room. While running, you actually pick up a lot of speed for such a small space. If you crash into a wall, there’s an indicator that shows you slightly hurt the cat, which was a cute addition. The team has put in a lot of fine-tuning into the controls and camera work from last year’s demo.
When it comes to the game as a whole, I feel like this is going to end up a much bigger game than I anticipated. When I saw this demo for the first time, I thought I was only going to get cute office work as a cat and suddenly I’m plotting a global take down alongside a mouse in a suit. An aspect I really appreciate is the writing and how it shines throughout all parts of the game.
You can tell a lot of thought went into everything. Every piece of text and dialogue has intent and a purpose, and you really feel like you’re diving into this world of cats working as secretaries. It offers a whimsical commentary on the world we live in today, helping brighten the realities when facing the “doom and gloom”. I can’t wait to get lost in this adorable little world once the game finally comes out.
Cat Secretary is expected to release sometime this year for PC via Steam. Add this to the “Games That Would Be a Perfect Fit for Cozy Switch 2 Gaming” list.
Good Story Guild returned to PAX East with a new demo for Cat Secretary, a game I’ve been highly anticipating since I first tried it last year. Cat Secretary is a cozy 3D job sim that has you working for a massive corporation, and it’s your duty to uncover the secrets work wouldn’t want the world to know while keeping everyone happy… but as a cat, of course.
Good Story Guild returned to PAX East with a new demo for Cat Secretary, a game I’ve been highly anticipating since I first tried it last year.
Cat Secretary is a cozy 3D job sim that has you working for a massive corporation, and it’s your duty to uncover the secrets work wouldn’t want the world to know while keeping everyone happy… but as a cat, of course. Do your job and solve puzzles around the office during the day while exploring the halls and coworkers’ desks at night. As a cat owner myself, this obviously caught my eye last year, and I really enjoyed what I played. When I saw Good Story Guild on the show floor, I had to test out the latest demo.
If I recall correctly from my first go around, one of your main missions is to stop evil A.I. from taking over the company so everyone can keep their jobs. That said, this demo was a bit different. I began my day at the office as usual, just following orders until I was set free. A small robot assistant tells me it’s orientation day and has me doing minor job duties, like filing papers, calibrating the router, and talking to my coworkers. Ordinary work on paper, but 10 times more fun as a cuddly cat totally not plotting to take down the whole company.
There’s nothing menacing about a slogan like that.
These sections were straightforward and led you where the game wanted you to be. The previous demo was much more exploratory and had more levels. I remember seeing people next to me running around in locations I hadn’t even discovered yet, and I wondered how exactly they got there. It seemed like you could deviate from the main mission of the demo without being stopped. This looked like tons of fun, but as a demo at a fan convention, I remember lines for the game moving very slowly and lasting a while. Thankfully, their booth had a good number of stations, so several attendees could play.
After noticing there was less roaming around, I tried testing the game’s limits. I saw an opportunity to brew coffee for the rest of the office. I had the cat stand next to the coffee machine, holding a bag of coffee, and in-game physics took the wheel. If you tilt the analog stick too far, you spill grounds everywhere and possibly run out of coffee, so you have to move the stick just right. Then you have to fill up the other side with water by extending the kitchen faucet hose, which is flailing all over the place. I ended up spilling so much water everywhere that the coffeemaker caught fire, which I was not expecting and genuinely scared me. Despite being scared, I had fun with these silly minigames.
If not supposed to be up there, why so cute.
This implemented a new mechanic based on “Coworker Morale” where you have to make sure everyone at work is satisfied with the way things are run. Because no one likes it when the coffeemaker explodes, or staring at a blank office, you have to fill the empty space with nice-looking decor. Not only is it your job to take down a terrible company, but it’s also up to our furry friend to make sure the humans that keep the place running are taken care of. I haven’t seen very many of the other coworkers other than one interaction, but I believe they’re going to have a major part when it comes to the overall plot of the game, and hopefully, making their lives easier work-wise will help in the end, especially since the game has full voice work included.
The last part of my time with the demo took me through a museum that gave more backstory on DOX, the company you work for, and how it started. It’s a bit of a self-guided tour where you go through different rooms where you learn about the founder, the people who helped start the company, and DOX’s marketable rodent mascot, who looks oddly familiar to another marketable rodent mascot. I really enjoyed this section, and it gave me a deeper look at just how terrible this company probably is, and it only makes me want to bust them even more. Sadly, when the museum portion ended, my demo time was up.
This cat’s got the need. The need for speed.
Everything I played this time around was entirely different. I loved how there were more minigames to play as the cat, which made me realize the finer details of what keeps a normal office job functioning, and how creative the team was to incorporate a cat into that setting. I felt like the controls were much tighter when walking under tables and between chairs in the break room. While running, you actually pick up a lot of speed for such a small space. If you crash into a wall, there’s an indicator that shows you slightly hurt the cat, which was a cute addition. The team has put in a lot of fine-tuning into the controls and camera work from last year’s demo.
When it comes to the game as a whole, I feel like this is going to end up a much bigger game than I anticipated. When I saw this demo for the first time, I thought I was only going to get cute office work as a cat and suddenly I’m plotting a global take down alongside a mouse in a suit. An aspect I really appreciate is the writing and how it shines throughout all parts of the game.
You can tell a lot of thought went into everything. Every piece of text and dialogue has intent and a purpose, and you really feel like you’re diving into this world of cats working as secretaries. It offers a whimsical commentary on the world we live in today, helping brighten the realities when facing the “doom and gloom”. I can’t wait to get lost in this adorable little world once the game finally comes out.
Cat Secretary is expected to release sometime this year for PC via Steam. Add this to the “Games That Would Be a Perfect Fit for Cozy Switch 2 Gaming” list.
by Adriana Rodriguez
