On my birthday, I decided to 1) complete something from my backlog, 2) play something relaxing because it was my birthday, and 3) do research for my freelance work.

All of these things would be accomplished if I played the visual novel Nekopara Vol. 1.

(You know you’re at a strange point in your career when you’re playing Nekopara for research purposes.)

I knew very little about Nekopara going in, but I had Volume 0, 1, and 2 from the visual novel Humble Bundle, so I decided to give it a try.

Nekopara is set in a world with catgirls, which are basically what you’d get if cats could speak and behave like humans but still keep a lot of their feline tendencies. It’s actually a kinetic novel, so there are no choices to make or routes to follow, just a story to enjoy.

Well, it’s not the deepest story. The main character starts up a bakery, and two catgirls from his home follow him and end up working there. In the all-ages version, it’s pretty much just silly hijinks and awkward sexual situations the entire way through.

There’s something endearing about it, though. If you don’t think too hard about it, it’s a silly, cute story. If you do think too hard about it, it starts to feel a little creepy… but if you accept everything at face value, Nekopara is a fine way to enjoy a few hours.

Except for Shigure. Shigure is always creepy.

It also has really good production values. I was a little surprised at how nice everything looked, with lovely art and even animated characters.

After I finished Vol. 1, I played Vol. 0, which has even less story and just exists to show the characters in some additional silly situations. Since I have Vol. 2, I’ll probably go through that eventually, and then we’ll see if I’m interested enough to pick up Vol. 3 and the eventual fourth volume.

In short, Nekopara is silly and a little embarrassing to play, but it was an amusing way to spend the afternoon.