Tigey's Gift

To begin with, I would really like to apologies to the person who gave me the key to this game. I have completely forgotten that I was supposed to review it and got distracted by some other interesting titles. That is the first time something like this happens and I hope it is also the last.

This part aside, let us finally talk about Tigey's Gift in more detail. The review will be short as there is not much to write about, but I hope it will be helpful.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2830294137

The Bad Part: Technical Aspects

The gameplay…oof, this is the tough one. I have very few good things to say about it.

On the one hand, everything is quite basic: you shoot bubbles and try to make them hit correct combinations, get specific scores and are rewarded with pictures of cats and their shenanigans. But on the other hand, there is little to no explanation on how to do it correctly. This is because the tutorial is very confusing. You are forced to read descriptions while shooting the bubbles and there is no option to pause. To be honest, even though I have completed the game, I am still not sure whether I did everything correctly or got the right idea about some features (big thanks to Gyepi for clarifying several things for me).

The general repetitiveness also does not help the case. To open all stories, you will need to go through the same motions over and over and over again. Considering how difficult it can be to understand what to do and the “one hit – you’re out” rule, half of your runs (if not more) are bound to be unsuccessful. I strongly recommend against long playthroughs because you might get bored or annoyed after several attempts.

Another issue is that either there is no proper fullscreen mode or I was not able to find it. The game does not react to the usual combo of ALT+ENTER and there are no proper settings. So, in the end, I had to play in a small window with white borders around it. No biggie, of course, but this is still a drawback for any game.

Compared to the lackluster gameplay, the UI is at least more appealing - it is very simplistic yet cute. Buttons look unassuming but serve their purpose diligently. I just wish some of them disappeared from the screen when they were supposed to (like the Start one during the introduction).

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2830294004

The Good Part: Visuals, Audio and Writing

I will admit right away that I am not much of a cat person and prefer dogs in general – I grew up with two beautiful Dobermanns, so it is a given. However, this story book was able to touch my heart. My dogs died many years ago, but I still remember them with love, so I can understand why the author of Tigey's Gift decided to create a project about their deceased friend. Pets are family members, no matter how long they live with you, so making a tribute to them deserves respect no matter how intricate (or not) the work is.

Usually, I do not put descriptions of visuals and plot in the same section, but this time, the story is told along with illustrations, so they are obviously connected. And what a story it is! Both bittersweet and heartwarming, simple and complicated. There is no fantasy or grand adventure – just a simple life with cats, which includes both fun and difficulties. Something close to every pet owner in the world.

My only gripe in this part is the quality of translation. You can understand everything well enough, no problem, but grammatical and vocabulary mistakes are noticeable right away even to a non-native speaker. But this can be easily forgiven for a one-person project, in my humble opinion.

Now, what can I say about the aforementioned pictures? They are extremely cute! I like such an art style – gentle, fluffy and with lots of charm. They brought new colors to the storytelling and made it more vivid. Definitely a big plus.
Speaking of music, there are very few tracks, but all are light and sweet – like a child’s music box – and they fit the atmosphere really well. The only annoying part is that the game does not remember any settings for the cat’s mewing and forces you to change them again during each playthrough.

The last but not least: I would really like to complement the narrator – she has a very pleasant voice and shows her emotions in the right way. It does not feel like simple acting but more like talking to a friend.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2830301145

In Conclusion

It is perfect for a child, but adults looking for a challenge will probably get bored rather quickly. However, Tigey's Gift is so heartwarming that it can also become a perfect distraction after a long day at work if you do not mind all its issues.

I do not think it is fair to judge this kind of game by its technical aspects. It was clearly made by an amateur and serves more like a tribute to the author’s feline companions than anything else. And Tigey's Gift does exactly what it is supposed to – tells a short and sweet story about love for cats and how much a cat can love you in turn. Considering the low-price tag (and current 40% discount), I think this wholesome title is entertaining enough to give it a try despite the drawbacks. And the pictures are really cute too.

I dont like this game from a technical standpoint. The buttons look like standard html buttons, the audio settings dont work, or at least only adjust a small portion of the audio. There are no settings at all, there is no tutorial on how to play. The gameplay is very simple, not engaging at all and honestly just boring. There is nothing else to do other then the simple gameplay loop and some short stories on the cats you get as a reward for reaching certain scores.
Overall it just isnt worth playing to me, however it also is clear that someone put their heart into creating this and not necessarily made this to be a super good game, but rather to show love to the cats he had in the past years and for that it fullfills its purpose. For me though, the only positive is that the drawings are cute.

A gentle message faithful to our little companions – a reminder to acknowledge, preserve and commemorate them.

In memory of a sweet friend named Tigey:

This game is there to bring awareness coming to joy our little furry friends bring us, as well as, spreading information coming to special needs pets.
Tigey’s Gift recounts the life of a newborn kitten named Tigey and their growth process while facing difficulties coming to what a regular cat life would be, due to cerebral hypoplasia that demands special treatment and utmost care.

Tigey grew among many other cats and got along well with all of them, while the owner did their best to treat the kitty based on their necessities and Veterinarian’s instructions.

This is a heart-warming story filled with warm memories while the owner did their best to bring love to their sick kitty. Still, bittersweet questions will be pondered, such us… if the kitty was actually happy at the time.

Score high in order to unlock the story:

The gameplay consists of an arcade puzzle game where you have to click on falling tiles. By clashing together two equal tiles you get an explosion which will increase combo and trigger fever mode.

We also shall be careful to not make the tiles fall outside of the cat’s playground, as that will lead us to a game over.

Based on our score we can unlock parts of the cat’s story within menu section.

Focused on the narrative part:

The game is presented in simple graphics and does require some improvement coming to mechanics, but mainly a proper tutorial.
While the gameplay is predictable, the short explanation at the beginning of the game could offer more so the player would understand how the whole works.
The Developer already announced to be currently working on improving the offered in-game tutorial.

Personally, I was way more interested in knowing the cat’s story than engaging in the gameplay, which actually shall be the purpose of this title as it is actually a memorial created for Tigey in order to let everyone know their story.

The puzzle part itself is not bad, but repeating it over and over again in order to get that score to conclude the game was not an engaging experience to me.

Personal considerations:

As a previous cat owner who cannot get over the cat who left me 3+ years ago and how much love was brought to me, I believe to have grasped quite well the message of this game.

Honestly, receiving the game itself and reading its description did make me tear up – both because of the delicate topic and my own self relating to the story…
The memories of the kitty having to follow a certain pattern of “rules”; taking medications, avoiding certain types of food, being unable to climb slightly higher objects and so on… it is all very well explained by keeping a simple storytelling approach.

Featurings:

Tigey’s Gift does offer a very gentle narration recounting the story about these little balls of fur delivering joy to the owner. This is a story about a big family of cats, but in particular concerning one of their kittens – Tigey.

While playing the puzzle part you will get occasional soft meowing from the cat’s side, as well as a fun little animation during fever mode.

The menu does offer delicate graphics in old Windows style; quite stylized and simple, yet fluffy. May be even a slightly childish type of aesthetic, creating a heart-warming atmosphere.

There is a slight flickering coming to the text displayed during the introduction part which resulted a tad bothersome to the eyes.

During the story mode we get a lot of adorable art pieces, that sadly are not displayed in high quality, the whole is accompanied by a cute, yet soothing BGM.

Overall:

I appreciate the work and love put into this title and have no regrets coming to discover Tigey’s story. However, I do suggest this title in case you are purely willing to get to know the story of Tigey the Developer is willing to spread, as the gameplay part is not really engaging on the long run.

To find out and discover interesting VNs, indie games and more navigate through my Curator Page!
🩷 Gyepi Types 🩷