PIXEL
4.5 / 5
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Steam listing data
In Harbor City, a metropolis of desire and crime, rise from an art gallery assistant to the eye of the storm. In a nation where everyone is alienated into beast
Kingdom of the Beast: CAT released on Steam on 17 August 2026 from Automatic Metabolism Studio. It is a modern urban visual novel RPG about artists trying to keep their dignity inside a tightening political system — considerably heavier material than the title suggests.
Harbor City, and the New Dawn Republic
The setting is Harbor City, a coastal metropolis inside what the studio calls the rapidly transforming and ideologically tightening New Dawn Republic. It is described as a giant port where prosperity coexists with decay and freedom intertwines with suppression.
Into that collide a group of young artists, dreamers and struggling insiders, navigating art, capital, power and survival as the era grinds away individual dignity. Automatic Metabolism frame it as a search for redemption in a cold, shimmering labyrinth.
A cast defined by the compromises they make
The characters are written around specific occupational tensions rather than archetypes.
Sora Yano is a gallery assistant from a wealthy merchant family, sceptical of material wealth and social systems. Kaede Takashiro quit fashion design to sing in bars and masks her insecurity with alcohol. Shino Fujii holds onto justice from behind a bookstore counter. Shinya Nakagawa is a sculptor caught between his ideals and rent. And Lin Mo is a cultural censorship official climbing the ladder of power.
Putting the censor in the ensemble rather than offstage as a villain is the sharpest choice here — it makes the pressure structural rather than a plot device.
Exhibitions, live houses and the censor’s shadow
The narrative moves through art exhibitions, underground Live House performances and the looming shadows of economic crisis and ideological censorship, with the cast’s fates becoming entangled as the pressure mounts.
The studio’s own tonal description is “realism and dark humor” — this is not a bleak grind, but it is not light either.
Technical details worth knowing
The listing specifies Partial Controller Support, not full. For a text-heavy visual novel RPG that is worth checking against your setup, since menus and interactions may still need keyboard and mouse.
Also absent: no Steam Achievements and no Cloud saves — the latter meaning your progress stays on one machine. Family Sharing is enabled.
Language support covers English, Japanese and Simplified Chinese. The build is Windows only. Steam genre tags are Adventure, Indie and RPG.
Under eight dollars at launch
Kingdom of the Beast: CAT is on Steam at $8.99. The launch discount has ended and this is the standard price, verified on 6 September 2026.
For a story-driven visual novel with a written ensemble and a genuine political spine, under eight dollars is modest. The caveats are practical rather than creative: no cloud saves, no achievements, partial controller support.
If you want urban literary fiction with dark humour and are comfortable reading a lot, this is aimed squarely at you. If you were expecting something light from the title, it is not that.
Full details are on the official Steam store page.
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