Video Game / Cats and the Other Lives

Is the cat just a pet, or does this creature play a more mysterious role in our lives?

Leaving the material sheath behind us,
We shall walk the boundless fields of Aaru.
Unburnt by the blinding flames of vanity,
We shall find the Carven Path.
Released from the illusions of the Usurper,
We shall taste the everlasting peace.
Bearing our breasts to the blades of contempt,
We shall find our rightful place among kin.
Cleansed of the spectre of great,
We shall replace this tyranny with the guiding light.
In the end,
We shall become,
All we created.

— Tagline

Cats and the Other Lives is a point-and-click adventure game created by Cultic Games.

After the patriarch of the Mason family Bernard Mason passes away, his family returns to their childhood home to settle matters once and for all.

The game follows a point-and-click adventure format. You follow the family cat Aspen and explore their past, along with all their trauma, their hopes and the secrets that were kept over the years.

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Cats and the Other Lives provides examples of:

• Affair? Blame the Bastard: While we never really learn Lorraine's perspective regarding Dawn, Shannon does not take to her half-sister that well. It reaches a breaking point, which Shannon alludes to in an argument where Dawn smashes a bottle towards Shannon. It also doesn't help that Dawn was only found out by her father when her mother died of cancer when she was young, barely a year after Thomas went missing, whom Shannon blamed herself for.
• …And That Little Girl Was Me: Dawn's roleplaying character Cassandra Blackwell has many familiar characteristics with her actual real-life counterpart, but Murray's character Murraegh Ironson takes the cake, as he alludes to heavily in his backstory with Murraegh's son dying from a disease. Which Dawn catches on to.
• Awful Wedded Life: While it is difficult to assess the rest of their marriage as they got older, Lorraine and Bernard's marriage was one. Especially considering how Lorraine regresses back to painful memories of their time together and the way she lashes out at Aspen. And while not as bad as that marriage, Jonathan and Shannon are also considering getting a divorce.
• Bastard Angst: Dawn suffers from bits of this as she is ostracised from her half-sister Shannon. In fact it reaches a breaking point when Shannon calls Dawn that to her face, which Dawn responds by flinging a dish in Shannon's direction.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Poor, poor Mason children. They just wanted their dad back after he left to try and start a utopian commune in Death Valley. Thomas left to try and find him, and while Bernard did come back, Thomas never did.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Masons. BIG TIME. Granted, they try and work through their issues, but this still applies.
• Bilingual Bonus: Several. Señora Mercedes Núñez often talks in Gratuitous Spanish in her conversations to the family, even explaining the meanings behind them on occasion. When Farrah is alone in the bedroom, after you discover her visa is failing, she mutters in Arabic to herself. And in a throwaway line in Chapter 2, Murray mentions the Irish term for St Patrick's Day (Lá Fhéile Pádraig) correctly with a night he had.
• Birds of a Feather: Why Murray got hired by Bernard. Both of them lost their sons.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Addy to Shannon.
• Cats Are Magic: Aspen has the ability to see events from the past.
• Cool Aunt: Dawn is one to Addy. Dawn mentions she works as an indie game developer for a living, which Addy finds cool.
• Defector from Decadence: A complicated example. Bernard Mason attempted to defect from decadence, after learning the extent of his father's work (and by extension his family) and gradually became completely disillusioned by his actions. It's why he and other idealists attempted to start a utopian cult in Death Valley. After that failed, he returned home after Thomas' disappearance.
• Diabolus ex Machina: The Pound, which netted Aspen suddenly in Chapter 3 in front of Shannon and Murray.
• Epic Fail: To say the plans for Aaru went badly was an understatement. Then again the plans were shortsighted. Building far away from most of civilisation and in a humid desert environment was never going to turn out well. A dead city indeed.
• Freudian Excuse: A few.
  • Murray's attachment to his wooden figurine so much so that he would kick Aspen away from it just to keep it safe, but this is due to the fact it is the last remaining possession his son made for him.
  • Loraine is arguably one of the biggest antagonists in the game towards Aspen when she needs to be moving around the house. But Lorraine also suffers from dementia and believes she is having conversations with Bernard, whom she is furious for his actions in the past and going out to build a failed commune cult in the middle of Death Valley and the subsequent loss of her son, Thomas.
• It's All My Fault: Shannon says this nearly word for word after an emotional breakdown, confessing she encouraged Thomas to leave to find Bernard.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: While pretending to be a "paranormic investogator", Will accuses Aspen of spying on the family and even seeing ghosts. At certain times he takes to following the cat around the house, complete with his very own, rather amusing theme.
  Will: I'm behind you, kitty...
• Living Emotional Crutch: Aspen is this to multiple characters, but most of all Aspen is this to, surprisingly, Shannon. The last person you might expect this to apply to, since she is rather cold to Aspen intially. But she still cares for Aspen who comforts her when she is considering selling the house and down in the dumps. Shannon is also shown to connect emotionally to a painting featuring a mother cat and her kittens and even calls Aspen Darling when she wants her to leave to go outside. And Dawn does not take kindly to losing Aspen to the pound in Chapter 3 at all (not helping it happened right in front of her) and becomes defensive, even getting in a fight with Dawn. When Aspen reappears again, weak, Dawn breaks down, cradling her and her hair, which she has been keeping neat throughout the game, is messy. She was worried she'd lost her like she lost Thomas]].
• Madness Mantra: Lorainne is prone to this due to her implied dementia and her tendency to regress to past events. We learn why this is in Chapter 2. Thomas Mason ran away to find his father, Bernard, after he attempted to start a commune in Death Valley, which failed. Bernard returned home, and Lorraine chewed him out for it, demanding that he find her son. She continues this to the present day, even reciting full conversations between herself, Uriel, and Bernard. At times Lorraine becomes a ghostly memory and relives the moment after the police suggest she focus on her surviving children.
• Meaningful Name: Aspen, the cat. Stated very early on. All of Aspen's ancestors have been named Aspen by Bernard, maybe also of the symbolism attached to Aspen trees. They are often left out to help the deceased to rebirth, which is even referenced somewhat in the achievement Back from The Dead after you save Liam from his suicide attempt, and are noted frequently in the game for its ability to clone itself.
• Mistaken Identity: Played for Drama and Justified due to her dementia. Lorraine thinks Aspen is Bernard at times due to her remembering past events and lashes out at Aspen as a result.
• Notice This: As Aspen, you will frequently hear noises, banging and muttering, that you must investigate the source of, with very obvious visual representations.
• Not Now, Kiddo: More like Not Now, Cat. After Liam's attempted suicide, attempts to draw Dr Jonathan's attention initially fail due to this.
• Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You: Kinda. Aspen's meows after she returns to the house, after escaping the pound's van are intially ignored in favour of Shannon calling them out over the phone. And when a fight breaks out between the family, it's up to Aspen try and get through to them.
• Once More, with Clarity: Considering the game's themes and gameplay, it's natural this would occur. One example of this is a conversation between Bernard and Murray with Bernard being angry at Murray for not completing the winter garden in time. In actuality, it was because Shannon was coming, and both had plans to raid the cellar to mix drinks.
• Parents as People: Bernard Mason, Shannon Carmichael Mason and Dr Jonathan Carmichael are particular examples of this but the adult Masons are this in general. Liam even mentions to Addy that he used to think that adults had it all planed out, but the older he got, he realised how lost they really were.
  This train has no conductor, kid.
• Passed in Their Sleep: Possibly what happened to Aspen in the end.
• Pet the Dog: Pet the Cat. Several of the Masons pet Aspen throughout the game. Notably after receiving a recording from Aspen, Dawn hugs her tightly. The other person worth of note is Shannon, who first has Aspen in her lap when she is considering listening to her husband and selling the house or keeping it and secondly, a major moment when she breaks down after discovering Aspen is alive and found, hugging her fiercely.
• Rage Breaking Point: Shannon, who is known to be collected, and sensible and chides Addy for swearing, reaches it over the phone after the pound illegally took Aspen in front of her, citing the eight inches from private property rule and then having lost Aspen. She retorts on the call.
  Shannon: Fuck your eight inches rule.
• Red Herring: Early on it looks like some of the family members are involved in the mysterious cult which Bernard has been alluded to be a part of. In one scene Dawn announces the resurrection of Cassandra Blackwell is imminent. Turns out, Cassandra is Dawn's character's name in D&D and unrelated to the mysteries of the house.
• Shout-Out: After tricking Will by hiding the second time, he references ParaNorman.
• Speech Impediment: Addy suffers from one, but her mother Shannon shows hints of this too.
• Spider-Sense: Aspen has one to detect memories of the past, mice, birds and critically Liam's dying gasps after cutting his wrists.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Dawn and Murray's roleplaying characters show suspicious similarities with their real-life counterparts.
• The Alcoholic: Liam Mason. When the memory of his father appeared in Chapter 1, he didn't recognize Liam without a bottle in his hand.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: Will. On account of being a small child, but his notion that Aspen is seeing things, discovering the mysteries of the house and influencing the family is correct.
• The Ghost: Several, actually.
  • Thomas Mason disappeared during the 1970s, but you can still see memories of him as a young boy in the Manson house and his memory and the impact of his disappearance haunts the family to this day.
  • Uriel Mason also applies due to his Small Role, Big Impact in shaping Bernard Mason into the man he became and perpetuating Generational Trauma.
  • Beth Mason Carmichael is the daughter of Shannon and Jonathan who is in college and isn't at the funeral or in the house during the game. Still, tensions exist between her sister and mother, going by their calls and texts.
  • And in a semi-literal sense, most of the family members' memories appear like ghosts at various points.
• Tragic Keepsake: Murray has one: a broken wooden doll which he tries to keep Aspen from. It's revealed when creating his roleplaying character Murraegh. It is one of the last objects his son made for him.
• Uncertain Doom: Aspen is noted to be quite an old cat at the start of the game and many characters make reference to her age and how Aspen will die soon. That said, during the epilogue of the game, the family reconciles and is getting ready to leave the house behind. It is not known where Aspen will end up after the house is sold and since his owner Bernard is dead, but the members of the family seem to care about him. It is also possible that Aspen died in the end peacefully in her sleep, with the game's conclusion. The fact that Aspen's abilities to jump and move have also become limited during the ending and her seeming more exhausted than ever may support this. It is left ambiguous whether Aspen has died or not, but it is heavily implied.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: Most notably, you have the option of sparing the mouse or killing it. There are options for scrabbing the family members or rubbing gently against them on a minor level.
• Wham Shot:
  • In Chapter 1 after attempting to get a wooden statue from Murray, he suddenly kicks Aspen to get it back and sobs afterwards, cradling it close.
  • Near the end of Chapter 2, after a family argument in which Liam accidentally slaps and knocks down Farah while trying to get at Shannon, Aspen enters the bathroom through the window and sees him in the bathtub full of his own blood.
• Wham Line:
  • In Chapter 3, Karl Henninger says this to Bernard's picture frame while alone.
  "Goodbye my love."
• What Happened to the Mouse?: No one knows what really happened to Thomas Mason after he went missing and while most of the mysteries are answered in the game, this one never is. Karl mentions to Addy that closure only happens in stories and in this case the family never learned what happened to him, but the worst can be assumed considering the effort and resources that were put into looking for him.

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