A Tale Of Tails: The Cat And The Coup

I was going to treat this as a Wot I Think, but sometimes you meet a game that just isn't at all suited to any kind of verdict like that. There's plenty I could probably find to moan about if I put my critic's hat on, but what a futile endeavour that would be.

The Cat And The Coup doesn't exist to serve games' usual purposes, although that's not to say it's entirely divorced from why we play them. You owe it to yourself to free up 20 minutes for this. And I don't only say that because it stars a cat.

It's an abstract but simple puzzle game about a cat and a ghost.

It's a reverse-order, interactive documentary about a CIA-orchestrated takedown of the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran.

It looks like Terry Gilliam does The Power Of Nightmares.

It's beautiful, it's moving, it's frightening, it's metaphysical, it's allegorical, it's mechanically as well as intellectually clever.

It doesn't patronise you. It knows you're a grown-up and it knows you're a gamer, and it treats both those things equally seriously.

It will only take you 20 minutes and it won't cost you a penny.

We should have posted about it sooner. We let you down. The creators, Peter Brinson and Kurosh ValaNejad, did not. Here's how and why they made The Cat And The Coup.