The Lonely Hearts Petshop is a new game from Malaysian developer Persona Theory Games. The demo of the game is now free to download and play from the itch.io website.

The Lonely Hearts Petshop is described as a cat to human matchmaking visual novel game. In this narrative-focused experience, players are tasked with helping to run a pet shop owned by anthropomorphic cats. Yes, you read that right. This is a world populated by adorable anthropomorphic cats, but the twist is that pets are actually human beings. It's a perfect game for all you cat lovers out there; to feel what it's like to have the situation in reverse.

Of course, this is made by Persona Theory Games; the same studio behind the excellent Fires At Midnight and the upcoming Kabaret, so we can expect a lot of local Malaysian culture, flavour and spice in The Lonely Hearts Petshop. In the game, the setting is even set on a fictional Jonker Street in an alternate version of Malacca.

You can make your own Catsona (personal avatar) with clothes and accessories, as well as listen to the stories of the customers, and choose which human is for them. The decisions and choices made by players will have consequences, be they big and small, good or bad.

In the meantime, you can check out gameplay footage from The Lonely Hearts Petshop below: