Horror visual novels Psychological horror Horror

Do NOT Take This Cat Home

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A cute cat in a box in a dark alley. Surely you will take it home.

Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
Stores: itch.io
Price: Pay what you want
Rated: Rated 4.8 of 5 by 1,209 players on itch.io
Length: 3 to 4 hours, depending on reading speed
Players: 1
Made by: Pixeliminal
Released: 2023

Not on VR. Do NOT Take This Cat Home is on itch.io, PC, Mac and Linux. It is not in the VR part of the site you came from.

Get it on itch.io

What frightens On a gloomy day off you find a black cat with huge yellow eyes in a box at the end of an alley. Taking it home starts a cute pet routine of petting, feeding and playing that slides into a surreal, possessive and violent story, with distorted screens, loud noises and flashing images.
Content: violence against people and animals, death, abuse and abusive relationships, disturbing images, loud noises, flashing images and lights.

A free, pay-what-you-want psychological horror visual novel by Pixeliminal, made in Ren'Py. You find a stray black cat in an alley and decide what to do with it, and the cosy pet story it starts turns surreal and possessive, with 39 endings and one true ending to find.

About Do NOT Take This Cat Home

Do NOT Take This Cat Home is a horror visual novel by the solo maker Pixeliminal, released on itch.io in October 2023 for Windows, macOS and Linux. It is built in Ren'Py and runs to about 32,000 words, which its maker puts at three to four hours of reading.

It opens on a grey day off. A sound draws you into a dark alley, and in a cardboard box at the back sits a small black cat with enormous yellow eyes. You can walk away, play with it and leave, or take it home, and the game makes its feelings about that last choice clear in its title.

Play is reading and choosing. Menus let you pet, feed, play with or clean the cat, plan your day and react to what happens, and there are animations and small minigames along the way. Soft, rounded art and a sweet tone sit next to blurred, colour-split screens and sudden changes that tell you something is off.

The horror is psychological: a possessive, yandere-style attachment, a relationship that turns abusive, violence and death. The maker warns that it is not for children or the easily disturbed, and lists loud noises and flashing lights among its warnings.

With 39 endings and a true ending, it suits players who like to replay a visual novel and pick every branch, and who enjoy horror that starts out cute.

How to play Do NOT Take This Cat Home

Download it from its itch.io page for Windows, macOS or Linux; it is free, or name your own price.
Read the full content warnings in the About section of the main menu before you start.
Read the story and click to advance; pick from the menus when the game asks what you do.
Care for the cat through the pet, feed, play and clean menus, and play the short minigames when they come up.
Replay and choose differently to reach more of the 39 endings and the true ending.

Screenshots

The cat in its box in the alley with two choices on screen: Take cat home or Do not take cat home

A blurred, colour-split living room behind a menu reading Pet cat, Feed cat, Play with cat, Clean cat and On second thought

A grainy, distorted close-up of the black cat's face with the text Suddenly, the screen changes, showing the face of a black cat

A blurred street scene in shifting colours with choices to go watch a movie, go to the carnival or go to the dog park

Tips

Save before big choices so you can branch off to other endings without replaying from the start.
Play with sound, but keep the volume moderate: the maker warns of loud noises.
Paying 2 dollars or more adds the soundtrack, an endings guide and a content warning list, which helps if you want every ending.
Download only from the itch.io page; the maker says copies on Google Play and other sites are not theirs.