For those looking for games oriented to add more moe to your life, you may wish to look towards NEKOPARA Vol.1. NEKOPARA Vol.1 is just the moe game to fill your life up with all the things you wanted out of a moe anime, you just didn't know it. If you were ever curious about NEKOPARA Vol.1 when it was a Steam only game, you might consider getting it on your Switch! This game really falls into a niche group, so please note that this game may not be for you.

NEKOPARA Vol.1 is a moe game featuring none other than catgirls (if the name didn’t give anything away). Be prepared for catgirls, oppai, ecchi dialogue, nudity, and lots of nyaa-ing! Available in Chinese, English, and Japanese, NEKOPARA Vol.1 will provide many a player with catgirl moe in 3 different languages so we can all enjoy all of the catgirls!

Yes, NEKOPARA Vol.1 actually does have a story, for your information. NEKOPARA Vol.1 is the first entry in the NEKOPARA series. Here, we see Minaduki Kashou run away from his family and the family business of making wagashi in favor of a career manning a Western sweet shop, which he dubs as “La Soleil”. Kashou has big dreams so he had left without notice, but someone from home sends him two large packages, which are revealed to be the catgirls, Chocola and Vanilla who followed Kashou to his new home. While Kashou did originally want to send them back, he ends up keeping both Chocola and Vanilla. Thus, they begin their lives together working at La Soleil.

NEKOPARA Vol.1 is clearly for a niche group of gamers, so do not expect just anyone to be able to pick up this game. Many people may be offended by the contents of the game or disgusted by it, so if you don’t think you can handle a moe game that revolves around providing fan service, then this game is not for you. Clearly, this catgirl game is meant for blatant fanservice, so don’t go in for the plot. Only the “plot.”

One example of the blatant fanservice that may be off putting to some and enjoyable for others is the ability to change your settings to alter the chest bounciness levels. Heck, there’s even a catgirl on screen to show you the differences between the default settings and however you wish to customize it, and no, we don’t mean Chocola and Vanilla (who are a little lacking if you know what I mean). You can choose to add max chest bounciness or go for absolutely as little as possible; we won’t judge.

Of the settings that we could change, we have to say we were extremely grateful that voices for all the catgirls can be altered. We immediately went in and turned Chocola’s voice way down as she appears to be the loudest catgirl by many decibels and her whiny voice just wasn’t as moe as listening to Vanilla by any margin. (Sorry to all the Chocola fans out there; Vanilla is BAE)

Anyway, let’s actually talk gameplay. For the most part, this is just a visual novel where a majority of the game revolves around reading dialogue. It’s not as wordy as more plot heavy visual novels like Steins;Gate 0 or The Fruits of Grisaia by any comparison, but be prepared to just read mostly. You should also be aware that this is a kinetic visual novel so there’s no real gameplay. It’s alllllllll plot and it has a linear storyline. There are no branching storylines to this one.

All the same, if you go into NEKOPARA Vol.1 realistically, you know what you are getting yourself into. It’s all about the fanservice and the storyline really shows that as you dive into the sexual themes. Let’s not forget about the petting mode that you can just enter randomly that allows you to have some semblance of gameplay as you just pet the girls and listen to them make happy noises. Does this have anything to do with the story or outcome? Nope, but it’s got its own benefits for the niche.

When it comes down to graphics, NEKOPARA Vol.1 is pretty amazing. The visuals remind us a lot of playing the OreImo VN as the character expressions change per their emotions and it is a lot more animated than when you play other VNs. It must be for that moe gameplay or something, but the character movements are more fluid and it feels a lot more carefree thanks to the animation style. Of course, this also adds to all of the oppai bouncing with each steady breath, but hey, the developers know their clientele.

NEKOPARA Vol.1 is a game that is really tailored to a specific niche, so it’s not a game for everyone. While we applaud the game for all the fanservice, catgirls, and sexual themes that really goes with the niche, we dislike the fact that this game is $14.99 for 7 hours of gameplay at most. There are no branching plotlines and very little interaction on the part of the player. If it was a bit more moderately priced for how little it provides, we’d say it was worth it, but it’s only an OK game at most, but hey, you play it for the oppai, catgirls, and nude CGs, right?

Bonus, NEKOPARA Vol.0 is included as an extra story giving you the prequel to Vol.1 which gives you the daily life of Chocola and Vanilla as they lived under Shigure’s guidance. It’s not a long story, but it’s a little bit extra for those looking for more.

Our time with NEKOPARA Vol.1 may be over, but perhaps you are ready to dive right in. Hopefully, we helped you figure out exactly what it is you wanted when you considered picking up NEKOPARA Vol.1. Are any gamers out there ready for this catgirl game? Or perhaps you are looking for a bit more action? Let us know all of your thoughts in the comments below! Once again, thanks for checking in with Honey’s Anime for all of your otaku needs.