Celsius Strays: a new accessible gem in the world of Brok The Investigator

French developer COWCAT revealed in April, in collaboration with Patch Works Interactive, a demo for Celsius Strays, a lite puzzle visual novel set in the world of Brok The Investigator, which once again promises an impressive level of accessibility.

The setting is more dystopian than ever. The rat people, known as the Squealers, have been confined to the slums of Atlasia, a world plagued by social inequality and global warming. Surrounded by robotic death squads, food shortages, and crime lords, we take on the role of the leader of the rat resistance, tasked with assigning missions to our team, managing resources, and changing the fate of our people.

The demo lets players experience the first chapter. It literally starts with a bang, as an explosion throws the resistance's plans into disarray. From there, we embark on an emotional rollercoaster featuring mysterious characters, a gang that is also a family, and the constant threat of the authorities. As with many visual novels, the balance between gameplay and cutscenes is heavily weighted toward the latter, but the puzzles are satisfying, bringing to mind Ace Attorney, which the developers themselves cite as one of their inspirations.

From an accessibility standpoint, the work is already excellent in this demo, also thanks to the proprietary Brok VN (Visual Novel Engine), which makes accessibility support easier to implement. As has become customary in the Brok universe, every element of the game is voiced, controls are intuitive and flexible, and options are available for high contrast, subtitles, and text enlargement. COWCAT has nevertheless taken further steps compared to its previous IP: each character has a dedicated color code that makes them easier to identify, sound effects emphasize intense emotions, and once the game is completed, players can make different choices without having to replay the entire game.

The only thing that feels missing is an audio cue indicating the exact moment when the player needs to press Enter to advance the scene. During our playthrough, there were moments when we waited because we thought there was more text to come, or clicked too quickly and missed fragments of the story.

However, since this is still a demo, some features are still in development, and the studio itself has stated that bugs will be fixed and additional features will be added, including audio descriptions of locations and characters. All the more reason to add Celsius Strays to your wishlist now and experience it to the fullest when it launches.