Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche

With a very short runtime, those familiar with the shoot-em-up genre might not get a lot out of this game. We think this reflects quite well in its price, however, and for a game that started life as an April Fool’s joke, it’s actually very accomplished. If you’re up for a few laughs, definitely give this one a go; it’s a great start to what could potentially be a highly enjoyable, lasting franchise.

Regardless of what the date is, the internet is always full to the brim with video game industry rumours and news. On one day in particular it is important to remember (more so than usual) that not everything you read online is true. April Fool’s Day has given us some brilliant gags over the years from IGN’s 2008 trailer for a movie based on The Legend Of Zelda, to Valve putting Half-Life 3 on the Steam store. These types of pranks always provide a great laugh but usually lead to nothing.

Cat Girl without Salad does indeed feel like an April Fools gag, for better or worse. While some similar gags like 8-Bit Bayonetta or the Shin Megami Tensei metroidvania still lead to solid games made in a shorter amount of time, Cat Girl ends up as a bigger mixed bag, due to being only three stages long, with each of those feeling like a dull slog through the mud. The powerups are super cool and nifty, but since they rarely appear and the final stage is filled with enemy sponges, they never felt truly realized or useful.

Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche is a brief yet amusing shooter. The silliness works well, and the varied weapons make you rethink every attack to keep shooter fans on their toes. The shooting is fun for those not normally skilled in either traditional or bullet-hell variants of the genre, but it really takes some effort to not complete the game in one sitting. This isn't a fantastic game in the genre, but it's worth owning if you're down for short and satisfying side-scrolling shooter jaunts.

This is a game filled with humor and which mixes characteristics of different genres which leads to a resulting fun experience that nevertheless, doesn't tick all the boxes to convince everyone. While the colourful visual environment, original ideas and overall humor make it a friendly game, its very short life and rather high price make it an experience that will not please everyone.

Catgirl Without Salad: Amuse Bouche is a delightful, sugar rush of a game that's over far too quickly. It's a wildly funny game with gorgeous visuals and terrific voice-acting. Unfortunately, the game is over far too soon and once the three levels have been cleared, there just isn't much else to do. The game doesn't overstay its welcome, and that helps the joke land in a way that few other games could pull off. As such, many players will find that the game's humor and style are well worth the $7.99 cost of admission, but others might want to wait for Shantae and the Seven Sirens, instead.

"No vegetables, please."

This game is too stinkin’ short! After playing one level I told myself I would try out the next but quit after a while. I beat the game in a single one and half hour sitting. The game is so beautifully made and is really quite cheap, but it’s a game that lasts no more than a couple hours. There is a good side to this though! Once I beat the last battle, the villain mentioned that Kebako will have six more trials to face. This, I assume, means there will be updates to the game that add in more levels.

A Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche is a fine game that is well worth the price of admission. This is the kind of game you need to get when you have some credit on your Switch and just want something easy and fun to play, and the content should please anyone wanting a laugh or a quick getaway from reality.

Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche began its life as an April Fool's prank, so its inadequacies as a game aren't shocking.