Production on The Cat Lady purring right along

Written by Jack Allin — December 12, 2009 at 11:46

If you haven't yet recovered from the trauma over the atrocities seen in Harvester Games' Downfall, time is running out, as the indie developer is already hard at work on its next horror adventure, The Cat Lady.

The Cat Lady is Susan Ashworth, a troubled young woman who attempted suicide when her husband died and life lost its meaning. Discovered by a friend and revived on the way to the hospital, Susan is ripped from a dreamlike world on the edge of life and death. Given this unexpected second chance, this time she decides to embrace it. Placed under Suicide Watch at her rundown two-bedroom flat, she is guarded closely as she attempts to find happiness again. The trouble is, "she brought something back from that other world – a warning. Something bad is going to happen and she'll have to fight to survive. Five people will come into to her life. One of them will change her life and make it better. But the other four have nothing but cruel intentions."

Like its predecessor, The Cat Lady is largely the creation of one man, Remigiusz Michalski, and the two games naturally share some things in common, like the heavy use of black and white as Susan "struggles with depression that makes her see the world in shades of grey". Also like Downfall, the new title will feature plenty of gore, though Michalski plans to make it less gratuitous this time around, giving it more emotional impact.

There will be some significant changes in The Cat Lady as well, at least the way the game is currently conceived. Michalski cautions that the plan could still change, but his goal is to move from traditional point-and-click to a keyboard-controlled scheme where players move only left and right, with interactive items being highlighted in close proximity. There will also be a much greater emphasis on player choice, some of which will have dramatic consequences throughout the course of the game.

There is currently no firm release date planned for The Cat Lady, but Michalski is targeting completion some time in 2010. In the meantime, for additional details, including some music samples from the game, be sure to have a look at the developer's website.