Nine Noir Lives (2022), Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard (2024)

Nine Noir Lives, 2022, developed and published by Silvermode Studios
Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard, 2024, developed by WatchDaToast and published by Assemble Entertainment 

I think I'm gonna go through this overload of cute in one go. It feels more suitable to speak of these two games at the same time, as while they do have merit, there's very little I can say about them individually, as they both are pretty traditional point and click games, one taking inspiration from retro aesthetics, the other from film noir, meshed together with cute cats. 

Let's start with the retro one, which actually manages to be the better-looking one of the two, with some nice animations and cut scenes thrown in the mix.

Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard is a story of a young deer, Finn, who returns home after being away for a while. Instead of finding his parents, he finds a ransacked home and rumours of terrible things happening to the animals of the kingdom. Everyone is suspecting the wolves.

But, as it often is, the truth is far more sinister. The whole existence of the world is hanging in the balance, and Finn is the only one who can save the day. 

 Beyond the Edge of Owlgarden takes inspiration from the old LucasArts point-and-click games. Not only does it have quite gorgeous pixel art, but it also has a verb-driven UI as well. To interact with the world, you choose a proper verb and then click around your heart's content.

Puzzles are mostly fine. Towards the end, there are some rather nasty pixel hunt puzzles, which did frustrate me to no end. But other than that, it's a decent game. A traditional in every way possible.

The second cute contestant is Nine Noir Lives, a story of a hard-boiled (or is it a cuddly boiled?) cat detective, Cuddles. After some simple busy work to pay the bills. The police chief of Meow Meow Furrington asks Cuddles to look into the murder of the son of the local mafia boss. 

As Cuddles arrives at the scene, he finds the poor from his father's night club, head caved in. The case takes Cuddles to the sinister world of illegal drugs. But in a very cute way. 

Nine Noir Lives has more of a modern approach, having high-resolution art, but still relying on a multicursor interface with use, talk, look and lick functions. Yes, like a proper cat, Cuddles can stick his tongue on more or less anything he sees. Not that it's necessarily needed, but it does provide some amusing lines.

As such, despite both games having something of grim stories, they both dilute them by having a lot of humour. Overall, Owslgard succeed here better, and it manages to have some genuine heart in it. Nine Noir Lives is more of a silly game, playing around with its cute characters and somewhat amusing mixture of hard-boiled dialogue for cats.

But, in the end, Nine Noir Lives is more of a hit and miss with its comedy. It's not a bad game, but how much you enjoy it depends on what your tolerance is towards the style of comedy it has to offer. I did find it better when it was leaning towards a bit more dramatic rather than silly.

And that's my cuteness overload for you. One good, one decent game. If either feels like something you'd want to try, you can get Nine Noir Lives from GOG and Steam. Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard can be found on GOG and Steam as well.