NEKOPARA Vol. 1

This is the first game I have reviewed which I think I honestly might despise. I abhor this game. I loathe it. I bought this game as a kid and got too bored to play it, thank god. I'm completing my game library now, so I finished it and... by god. By god. If incest and pedo-adjacent vibes make you uncomfortable, don't buy this game. MC raised the catgirls personally and they begin the story with an EXPLICITLY parental relationship. Additionally, in this universe, catgirls remain relatively "childlike" in terms of behavior as well; as Chocola's breasts wiggle on screen, the game informs us that she can only read picture books, for instance. It is gross. The MC's younger sister, who looks like she is 8, has an entire subplot where she explicitly states that she is in romantic, sexual love with her brother. She even manipulates the situation so the catgirls are more likely to have sex with her brother, in what I can only assume is the least ethical case of projection of all time. Finally, the twin biological sister catgirls do gross sex acts with each other. I didn't play the 18+ patch, but the implications are nasty enough. What's more, this game is *boring*. I am not necessarily opposed to ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥ in a video game if it's artistic, but this is such common-denominator anime goonerslop it hurts. If you want insane kink, I can't help but feel like there's gotta be better out there, in terms of not making you conk out between sex scenes. The only interesting part of this (linear) VN is the tonal dissonance between the nauseatingly comforting slice-of-life elements, the horrific pervert ♥♥♥♥, and the worldbuilding which makes clear that catgirls are second-class citizens. Nekopara is a dystopia where you can ♥♥♥♥ a humanoid person with no social or legal repercussions but said person isn't allowed to leave the house without a permit. It would make for a good psychological horror imo. The art is beautiful and the voice acting is great. It's a real shame such effort and skill was put into this.