This brought a tear to my eye. A flawless take on Orpheus and Eurydice, and also just a perfectly executed story about grief and acceptance.
The art is adorable, particularly the cover art (the cat is so cute)! The animation used here was subtle but very well done - it almost looked 3 dimensional in terms of the execution, and really made you feel as if you were going up the stairs. The background is beautifully rendered, with the gradual gradient and fade out at the top of the stairs. The backing track, with its slight humming in the background, was absolutely perfect for the game - reminiscent of a cat's purr. The framing of the choices is simple but also perfect - at each point you can choose to either continue on, or look back. The choice comes frequently, driving home the difficulty of the choice at every step.
===SPOILERS===
I can't gush enough about how perfect the usage of Orpheus and Eurydice is here. Here, you take the role of Orpheus, while Eurydice is your cat, who is terminally ill. Orpheus' "journey out of the underworld" is used as a metaphor for the MC prolonging their cat's life. His refusal to look back is his refusal to accept their death and let them go. As Orpheus ascends the stairs, the cat's purring becomes more and more sparse, until they stop altogether - showing how, even if they're not dead, the cat is in pain, and perhaps letting go would be a greater kindness than holding on. The usage of Eurydice for the cat is such a perfect metaphor, as, like Eurydice, the cat cannot talk - and so Orpheus never knows what they really want. Does the cat want Orpheus to look back or continue on?
The choices are heartwrenching. At each point, Orpheus can look back, or continue to "trust." "I trust that she still wants to be with me." "I trust that she still wants to be here." Without knowing what the cat wants, Orpheus has no choice but to continue on. The gradual fadeout of the BGM - as the cat slowly stops purring - is such a visceral and tragic effect.
As you reach the top of the stairs, instead of entering light, you plunge into darkness. After that, if you refuse to look back, you enter a neverending loop of pleading and begging - as you plead and beg for more time, when there isn't any left. It's a poignant, excellent portrayal of the denial stage of grief. In the end, if you want to escape, you're forced to look back - to acknowledge your cat is dying, and to finally let them go.
If you choose to look back too soon or if you choose to go to the very end, there is regret and sadness either way. If you look back too soon, you wonder if you could have done more, and if you choose to go to the very end, you regret all of the pain that you caused your cat. There's no right answer.
I love the detail on the settings menu, where there are multiple stairs. Orpheus is on one set of stairs, while the cat is on the other. They're going in different directions now - inescapably separated by life and death, as Orpheus continues moving forward.
I can't say enough how perfectly executed and framed this story was. Fantastic work.