You play the cat of Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran. During the summer of 1953, the CIA engineered a coup to bring about his downfall. As the cat, you coax Mossadegh back through significant events of his life by knocking objects off of shelves, scattering his papers, jumping on his lap, and scratching him.
Tropes used:
- Anachronic Order: The game is ordered not in chronological order, but in order of progressively difficult situations. It begins with Mossadegh's death of old age in 1967, then jumps to his fateful decision to nationalize the country's oil industry in 1951, then to his imprisonment in 1956, then to court-martial in 1953, and then continues jumping back and forth.
- Based on a True Story: All of the events mentioned in the game are real. The cat's role in them, and the way they are portrayed on the screens, are not.
- Been There, Shaped History: Downplayed. The cat is always present at every major point of Mossadegh's life, but his presence functions as more of a framing device, as when it solves puzzles (that are usually about knocking things over or otherwise causes havoc), this causes whatever vignette is happening to end in one way or another, like when the vases it knocks outside the room Mossadegh is in encourage the protesters outside to push on the walls and fold up the scene, moving them on to the next one.
- Sometimes, the cat's presence does seem to change the event's outcome, like when he ends up repeatedly jumping into Mossadegh's lap and knocking him over during the crucial negotiations with Truman, sabotaging them. On the other hand, it is completely offscreen, getting petted by unclear figures, during the most pivotal moment of all, when Mossadegh actually does nationalize the oil industry - which is portrayed as him physically turning a giant oil valve.
- Book Ends: The game begins with Mossadegh's death and then flashes backwards through the events of his rule that led up to the coup, as shown from the perspective of his cat. Then, after Mossadegh's decisions have convinced the US and the UK a coup was inevitable, the control is taken away from the player again and we are shown a stylized montage of the key dates and events in much greater detail, until we once again arrive at the screen with Mossadegh's death.
- Cartoon Physics: The game is drawn in the style of traditional Iranian frescoes, and we are often shown the entire single-screen level either suspended on a chain or just floating in the void. In these cases, the cat jumping on something is enough to completely change the way the entire room is balanced on that chain; needless to say, a cat being this weighty is entirely implausible.
- Cats Are Mean: The cat is shown to only care about causing mischief, regardless of whatever had been going on. One vignette even appears to imply the cat's interference ended up sabotaging the negotiations between Mossadegh and Truman in 1951 that could have prevented the coup.
- Cerebus Syndrome: The last section of the game is completely devoid of the cat's antics, or any interactivity in general, as it simply portrays Mossadegh floating up on the rising level of oil past the timeline of the coup, to underscore that by that point he was overtaken by the events instead of shaping them. To underscore the gravity of the moment, the graphics now mainly consist of real-life photos, instead of stylized artwork like the majority of the game.
- Comic Relief: The cat's silly antics are interweaved with the serious moments of Mossadegh's life. There's dry humour in the fact that a cat could never understand anything it was witnessing, even as those events have shaped the life of millions.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Mossadegh is drawn entirely in shades of grey, with his sprite having a positively ghostly quality. Considering that the game technically starts from his death, it's more than a little appropriate.
- The Man Behind the Man: Kermit Roosevelt Jr. was one to the Shah of Iran, since he was the CIA officer who bribed every person required for the coup to go off without a hitch. The game outright quotes the Shah's infamous toast to Roosevelt: "I owe my throne to God, my people, my army - and to you!"
- Red Scare: Referred to during the cutscene-like collage section, when Mossadegh simply floats past the detailed timeline of the oil crisis. One of the events is the election of Eisenhower in 1952, which the narrative directly links to his rhetoric claiming that the past Democratic administration "tolerated penetration by communists".
- Rise to the Challenge: Played with. Right after Mossadegh makes the decision to nationalize the oil industry, the cat needs to knock him down by jumping at him from the two chandeliers in the room. Each time Mossadegh falls, the force of impact opens up a hole in the floor which starts gushing out oil; after it is done three times, there's now enough oil to fill up the room and float Mossadegh upwards, past the ceiling and through a collage of a more detailed timeline of the oil crisis.
