The game Felinophobia opens with a quote detailing a large creature, a Cat-goddess, that seems to have killed someone. The next page then describes humanity's relationship with cats throughout history. This relationship being that even though humans seem to think cats are sweet animals that we allow into our homes, the nature of cats has never changed and they have never been domesticated by humans. The next scene then jumps to an entirely new topic. The player is now a detective hard at work investigating a case. These completely different topics may leave the player with many questions. The player may question why were these first two scenes included or what do these first two scenes have anything to do with a detective trying to solve a case. Why these seemingly different topics were both included in the game is answered later on in the investigation. While searching for clues a destroyed room is found. Inside that room is a table covered in scratch marks. This clue and the two scenes in the beginning of the game make the player’s mind jump to the idea that something related to cats is involved in the case, the player only needing to continue on with the game to find out more. The questions the player may have had at the beginning of the game and this clue serving as a callback to the first two scenes only make the player want to continue playing in order to find what the connection is between cats and the investigation.
Another reason the player may want to continue playing the game is because of the different options presented to the player. There are different paths available for the player to play through and different endings for the player to find. This encourages the player to replay the game with different choices.
The design choices in this game make the game feel more realistic and help the player feel as if they are actually in the game, trying to solve the case. The inclusion of photos next to the text allows the player to see what the developer was picturing when they wrote the story while also helping with the immersion. With the photos the player can more easily picture what is happening in their own mind. The dialogue system is easy to follow and flows like an actual conversation. Instead of a block of dialogue, the player is presented with a line said by another character to the player character. The player then can ‘respond’ to the character by clicking the link/the next line of dialogue. Doing so makes the other character’s response to that line appear underneath the player’s line of dialogue. This continues until the conversation is finished. This whole format makes it feel as though there really is a back and forth between the player character and the other character and that the player is actually involved in the conversation. Italics are used when quotes are used in the game and when pieces of dialogue are coming from a television and not a character in the game.