Catgirl Harem Game Review: Nekopara Vol. 0

Written by Flamecaster, edited by Otaku Apologist

“Nekopara Vol. 0”, developed by NEKO WORKs. A pervy visual novel prequel to “Nekopara Vol. 1”, centered around a group of catgirls and their sexy shenanigans with their master. Available on Steam for $2.99. Released on August 17th, 2015. The game features no explicit sex scenes, but there are plenty of pervy and sexually suggestive scenes.

Let’s dig into Nekopara Vol. 0, and see what the cat dragged in.

STORY

As a prequel to the first volume of “Nekopara”, the game lets you experience one whole day in the lives of the Minaduki family and their six catgirls. Master Kashou (the protagonist of the first Nekopara) is absent throughout the game’s length. The plot focuses on the girls themselves. All of the game’s cutesy story is divided into a few select chapters that served as prolonged slice-of-life comedy sketches. These chapters usually involve two or more of the Minaduki catgirls. The girls all have different chemistry with one another. The way their respective dialogues are written makes them feel real and their relationships believable. If you ever wanted to read something relaxing, heartwarming, and quirky, you’ll be in for a delicious treat.

GAMEPLAY

As someone who has seen countless adorable things during his life, I thought “Nekopara Vol. 0” wouldn’t make me squee with glee like a high school girl. Boy, was I wrong. It’s no exaggeration to say that “Nekopara Vol. 0”  contains intense levels of catgirl cuteness that melts even the most frigid of hearts. The moment you start the game, all of your senses are assaulted by the profound moe seeping out of every pore of this title. The player gets to indirectly participate in a whole day in the lives of the catgirls. Every character gets a good amount of attention. Given the fandisc’s short length, one would normally not expect such a cleanly established balance. From lazily waking up in the morning, making breakfast, cleaning the Minaduki residence, going out for walks, watching TV and even bathing.

Read more of our coverage of Nekopara visual novel series!

The creators still managed to squeeze in one more small feature, which made me grin like an idiot: I am of course talking about the “petting” feature you can enable anytime. You can now pet all the characters you see on screen, hear them make purrs and moans of pleasure, and watch them fidget with lovestruck facial expressions.

GRAPHICS

“Nekopara Vol. 0” exhibits overwhelming charm in its art, character designs, and even backgrounds. This effect is further accentuated with the fluid and free-flowing sprite animation. This feature is present in all “Nekopara” games. Sayori, the main artist for the series, once again uses her incredibly detailed character-drawing proficiency to the forefront. All of the characters in “Nekopara Vol. 0” look absolutely beautiful. From their anatomical design, to linework, to the use of colors and shading, every catgirl is a marvel to behold.

MUSIC

The music during most of the scenes is upbeat and adds to the silliness on screen. It accentuates the comedy and provides a very relaxing ambiance to the scenes with the Minaduki catgirls and their adorable master Shigure. Despite its short length, Vol. 0 provides a decent mix of tunes that do not overstay their welcome for this short and sweet adventure.

SOUND EFFECTS AND VOICE-ACTING (SFX)

Similar to the music, the sound effects of “Nekopata Vol. 0” are very comedic. A lot of goofy, wacky sounds play as the adorable catgirls try to one-up each other’s cuteness. The humor and its delivery wouldn’t be half as effective without the casting of excellent voice actresses to play up all the varied traits of the characters. All the lines are delivered with care, passion, and utmost professionalism. Not a single line of text is phoned in. Thanks to the cast’s excellent work, each character feels distinctly different and more than alive, like any one of them could jump out of the screen.

HENTAI

While “Nekopara Vol. 0″ doesn’t have any explicit erotic content, there’s a hefty amount of sexual themes. The purple-haired Cinnamon alludes to all kinds of kinky acts all the time and even mentions how she’s getting wet “down there”. Shigure puts all of her brother complex issues on the table, some good old-fashioned breast slapping ensues, and on top of that, you also get to see nice steamy semi-nudity during the bathtime. Since the game has only been released on Steam, the censorship on the naughty bits goes the extra mile with conveniently placed fog. Despite that, the girls’ curvatures are clearly visible and the censorship doesn’t get in the way of anything else other than nipples and cat vagina. There’s a heavy focus on innuendos just like other games’ in the Nekopara series. You will be seeing plenty of sexual harassment, and groping.

CONCLUDING WORDS

“Nekopara Vol. 0” did absolutely everything it needed to do as a fandisc. It compacted almost everything fans loved about the first game into a bite-sized, cat-eared morsel that leaves you hungry for the other volumes.

“Nekopara Vol. 0” is available on Steam for only $2.99.