Cattus Atrox

>INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction

Cattus Atrox begins with a warning. The warning says this: "This work of IF contains strong language, violence, and sexual descriptions. It is not intended for children or anyone with a distaste for such things." In my opinion, this warning does not tell the whole truth. I'd like to replace it with this warning: "This work of IF contains strong language, violence, and sexual descriptions. It also contains no plot, no characterization, and no puzzles to speak of. It consists of horrifying situations with no apparent logic behind them, graphic descriptions of gratuitous violence, and incident after incident that is unsolvable without prior knowledge (i.e. save-and-restore "puzzles".) Its world is only fully implemented enough to serve these goals. In a winning session, you will beat an animal to death, watch 3 people be literally torn apart, and strangle a friendly housecat. If you like slasher movies, this is the IF game for you. It is not intended for children or anyone with a distaste for such things." See, here's the thing: I really don't mind strong language, violence, or sexual descriptions when they're in the service of a story that makes sense. The "strong language, violence, and sexual descriptions" tag could be equally attached to Bride of Chucky and The Color Purple. As you might have guessed from what I've written so far, this game is on the Chucky end of that continuum.