THE CAT AND THE COUP

main sources credits

Reviews

GameemaG.ir (Persian version. English below.): "There is a question here; How does a country allow its researchers to create such a game to criticize its own policy. Is honesty the best policy?" - Mahdi Fanaei
Technologies of History: "...a metaphor for the uncertainty of historical outcomes, but as a cat, the player is assured of landing on his or her feet, unlike Mossadegh." - Steve Anderson
Newsgames: "A harbinger of some future symbolic political game---perhaps the truest conversion of the political cartoon to game form." - Brian Hertler
Indie Game Reviewer: "Despite the imagery’s perspectival flatness, the actual experience of the visual scope is labyrinthine." - Tanya Kan
Killscreen: "One has to wonder whose idea of a documentary it is, outside of Luis Buñuel. " - Brian Howe
Rock, Paper, Shotgun: "It’s beautiful, it’s moving, it’s frightening, it’s metaphysical, it’s allegorical, it’s mechanically as well as intellectually clever. It doesn’t patronise you. It knows you’re a grown-up and it knows you’re a gamer, and it treats both those things equally seriously." - Alec Meer
Artillery Magazine: "Naughty Kitty!" - Scarlet Cheng
Penny Arcade - Games You Might Not Have Tried. Ep #2: "Is this a game? Is it a documentary about the first Prime Minister of Iran? Is it an acid trip? Or is it just a story about a cat?"
Radio Free Europe: "[A zealous gamer's] only complaint? 'The fact that when it finally pulls you in, it ends.' Rather like Mossadegh's career." - Kristin Deasy
The Best Computer Games Magazine (Russian)
DIYgamer: "The look, based on 13th-16th century Persian miniatures, is stunning." - Erik Johnson
KCET: “On one level, the game is about a historical moment; but it is also about something far more complex, namely perspective, impossible spaces, and manipulation. Things, perhaps, that cats know best." - Holly Willis
PC Gamer: “...free, fun and beautiful documentary game about a CIA-funded coup" - Graham Smith
Play The Past: "...days after playing it, I may not remember all the exact dates and names. I do, however, remember the images and Mossadegh himself...the mood and the tone, the oil dripping, and the confused way Mossadegh stumbled through his fall." - Emily Bembeneck
Indie Games: "It's really lovely stuff, with gorgeous art and a very fitting soundtrack." - Michael Rose
Whatculture!: "The Cat The The Coup is easily one of the most creative games I have played. " - John Downder
Pixelitis: "The game’s strongest asset is the narrow sense of tragedy it evokes. The Cat and the Coup tells the story in a personal way. " - Matt Reed
Reviews on the Run (click link on right): "8 out of 10" - Steve Tilley and Raju Mudhar
Gamezone: "The way in which The Cat and the Coup presents its historical tale is riveting." - David Sanchez
Gamasutra: "The video game industry is, right now, inunduated by trends and developers who find the unceasing need to be exactly like everyone else. For once, I'm hoping they'd do the same here and pick up The Cat and the Coup's aesthetically pleasing frankness and make it common place. " - Cassandra Khaw
Gamesugar: "Though you may be able to travel to different worlds in a Halo or what not, you’ll never be as personal as you are here." - Chris O'Neal
The Game Machine: “Score: 90 out of 100" - Roberto Turrini
The New York Times: “A game that points vaguely toward a potential approach for future documentary films." - Michael Cieply
Nightmare Mode: "The Cat and the Coup illustrates a path for future docugames: clarity and depth of conscience without sacrificing playability and player interest.” - Tom Auxier

THE CAT AND THE COUP

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