Kittengumi: Sakabato’s Thief, an upcoming visual novel about samurai cats from developer Guarida Games and publisher Gammera Nest, has just been announced with a new cinematic and gameplay trailer. The teaser introduces the key characters, plot, and gameplay mechanics.
Kittengumi doesn’t have an exact release date yet, but it is “coming soon”. It will be available on PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5, where you can wishlist the game now.
A port for the Nintendo Switch and a release on the Epic Games Store are both planned, according to today’s trailer, which you can watch on the Gammera Nest YouTube channel:
As a visual novel with so many familiar archetypes, it was a wise decision for Kittengumi: Sakabato’s Thief to create such gorgeous artwork. Today’s trailer description mentions that the art was all hand-drawn, and it shows. The characters sparkle with life, with fun expressions and body language that effectively sells their personality.
This will go a long way in encouraging players to meet the characters and explore their narratives. The clothing and environments also look colorful and detailed, hinting at the devs’ genuine fandom for the genre and world.
The Steam page mentions a serious dedication to it, with Japanese instruments in the soundtrack. Notably, the page reveals that Kittengumi: Sakabato’s Thief is actually “the premiere of a saga”, hinting at future titles. So, it may be more worthwhile to get invested in these characters and their conflict.
Ideally, these subsequent titles will have a better budget. Kittengumi: Sakabato’s Thief is an indie, so it noticeably lacks the same complexity and motion of comparable titles. This makes it less accessible for newcomers to the genre, but those who already enjoy visual novels will surely be intrigued by the theme.
You can read more about Kittengumi: Sakabato’s Thief, Guarida Games, and other upcoming indies by following our news section.
Thank you very much for sharing the game, we hope to show you more soon.