Tales Of The Neon Sea is a cyberpunk detect 'em up with a cat

It is the future and not only have vandals replaced almost all bulbs with pink and green neon lights, someone is doing murder too. Enter us, a former detective now living hard as a private eye, to solve crime in Tales Of The Neon Sea. The puzzle-o-adventure-a-platform game launched yesterday and I cannot deny that a fair chunk of my interest is driven by occasionally getting to play as his catpal, chatting with other cats and exploring places our big trenchcoated idiot can't reach. Cats: they are good. Crime: it is bad. This game: it sounds like something I want to see more of?

I mean, it does also sound fairly generic as "cyberpunk" setups go. Observe:

"In the near future, humans and sentient AI robots rely on each other for survival despite growing tensions and unease. Our protagonist, formerly a veteran police detective but now retired following years of frustration and disillusionment, spends his days intoxicated while accepting random jobs as a private investigator to make ends meet. He exists within the neon sea of an immense city, its blinding artificial lights unable to hide the shadow of greed and lust that threatens to engulf it at any moment.

"This drunken cycle is broken when our hero becomes entangled in a murder case, one which holds the key to tracking down a monstrous killer who long ago escaped justice. Unlock your memories, decode the truth, and resist drowning in the wave of conspiracy that grips the city!"

Unlocking your memories and decoding the truth seems to chiefly involve talking to people and solving a whole load of puzzles. You can see some of that in this big lump o' video:

Tales Of The Neon Sea is out now on Steam, with a 10% launch discount bringing it down to £12.14/€12.59/$15.29. It's made by Chinese studio Palm Pioneer and published by Zodiac Interactive.