In the game, you play as Cat, an anthropomorphic cat that has just been hired at Bear's Restaurant, the coziest eatery in the afterlife. It's your job to dive into the memories of the recently-deceased and serve them a proper last meal before they have to rest in peace.
A sequel to this game, Fishing Paradiso, released in May 2022.
Tropes:
- Afterlife Antechamber: The game mainly takes place in the "In-Between", the realm where recently-deceased souls spend time before the trains to Heaven and Hell arrive to take them to their final destination.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: After the Halfway Plot Switch, the player controls Bear in order to get Cat back.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: At the end of the game, the Demon of the Nihility sacrifices itself, including its very existence, to restore everyone it's recently consumed because Cat (and the player) became its first friend.
- Black Widow: One of the Memory Shards that the player obtains turns out to be from one, who died when her current fiancé found out about her four ex-husbands dying under mysterious circumstances, caught her trying to poison his drink, and then killed her first.
- Cessation of Existence: Any soul judged too impure to repent in Hell will be sent to Nihility, a realm where their soul breaks down into base components like despair and fades away rather than returning to a reincarnation cycle.
- Death of a Child: The game's cast of dead souls includes two children: a pickpocket that's nine years old, and Cat, who died before graduating elementary school.
- Ghost Amnesia: Cat doesn't have any memories of what they were like when they were alive, including what her own favorite meal is. She turns out to be Bear's deceased daughter.
- Halfway Plot Switch: The game starts with Cat managing Bear's restaurant, borrowing Memory Fragments from customers in order to serve them a proper final meal based on their favorite experience, and dealing with a demonic intruder. Then the Demon of Nihility kidnaps Cat, and Bear has to ride the train to Hell in order to get her back, having to help a demon judge the souls of the damned along the way.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam:
- One of the Memory Shards is from a gangster with a strict code of honor, refusing to deal drugs when the gang gets new management, and taking out the two Sinister Silhouettes sent to kill him before succumbing to his wounds. Later, we see the Memory of one of the goons, who sympathized with the gangster and was about to go turncoat before his partner shot the gangster and they were both killed in retaliation. Once he arrives in Hell, the goon vows to work hard to redeem his soul and better himself for his next reincarnation.
- Another Memory Shard depicts a creeper that murdered the girl he loved finish the end of his fifteen-year prison sentence and vow to live a better life...only for the father of the girl to meet him right outside the prison entrance and shoot him dead, claiming he'd never be able to atone for his sins. The creeper is later seen on the train to hell, upset at being denied a chance to be better and returning to his own ways, stalking the soul of the Black Widow.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Bear set up his restaurant in order to reunite with the soul of his daughter, who he heard had yet to pass on to the afterlife. At the Halfway Plot Switch, it turns out that Cat, the waitress with Ghost Amnesia he recently hired, is Bear's daughter.
- Inn Between the Worlds: Is set in a restaurant between Earth and Heaven where souls can have a final meal before moving on.
- Kids Are Cruel: Cat's death was caused by her "friends" at elementary school trapping her on the roof of a building. You learn this on the train to Hell, where it turns out the primarily responsible kid grew up to be so irredeemable that he's sentenced to Cessation of Existence in Nihility.
- Memory Jar: In order to learn enough about each customer to serve them a proper last meal, Cat is given a Memory Shard from each of them, which can be tapped to see their most significant memories of life.
- Mercy Kill: One of the Memory Shards depicts the trial and execution of a nurse that killed one hundred terminally ill patients, with her genuinely believing that it was more merciful than letting their lives end naturally.
- Our Spirits Are Different: Once a Spirit reaches the afterlife, they tend to take on a form that evokes their most significant memory. While these are usually how they were at some point in their life, Bear and Cat are notably Anthropomorphic Animals, and some are constant Sinister Silhouettes with fancy or gangster apparel.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Around the Halfway Plot Switch, the player learns that Bear's daughter died before him, and he created his restaurant in the hopes of reuniting with her.
- Refusing Paradise: Bear could've moved on to Heaven immediately after passing away because of the purity of his soul, but waited in the In-Between to find his daughter. In the post-game, even after they're reunited, they choose to remain in the In-Between to help other souls move on.
- Shout-Out: One man in the In-Between is a gamer who passed away before finishing his collection. Talking to him in the post-game has him talk about some of his favorite titles, such as Last Fantasy VI, Overtale, and Bearsona 5.
- Voluntary Shape Shifting: Cat and Bear are actually humans, but their souls have chosen to look like animals. But towards the end of the game, as they're being dissolved by Nihility, they resume their true human forms. The post-game reveals their animal forms are based on how Cat depicted them both in her sketchbook when she was alive.
