Game: Cardamom: A Musical Visual Novel
Genre: Action, Adventure, Simulation
System: Steam (Windows, macOS)
Developers | Publishers: Box of Black Spiders
Controller Support: No
Steam Deck: Unknown
Price: US $12,99| UK £8.70 | EU € 9,75
Release Date: September 16th, 2025
A review code was provided; many thanks to Box of Black Spiders.
Cardamom: A Musical Visual Novel is a 2025 visual novel developed and released by Box of Black Spiders.
The Premise of Cardamom: A Musical Visual Novel
Cardamom: A Musical Visual Novel is a visual novel set in a Broadway musical. We play as a cartoon cat and befriend the cat-loving residents of the building. We communicate with them, and the decisions we make determine the outcome of their stories.
Gameplay
Cardamom: A Musical Visual Novel is a classic visual novel. We have some choices about who to talk to and some options within a conversation. From time to time, some of the humans we interact with burst out in song, singing about their problems and desires. Depending on how the story unfolds, so do the songs change. According to the developers, there are 17 unique songs in the game.
The world of Cardamom: A Musical Visual Novel
The game is set in an apartment building in New York City, and all the residents are involved in creative pursuits, such as singing and writing. That by itself is already a pretty standard setup for a Broadway musical. It helps that the residents start almost randomly singing about their lives. Despite the game being short, there is plenty of character growth and development. Still, the ending felt a bit abrupt.
Visually, the game looks charmingly like a hand-drawn cartoon. In between chapters, we have slideshows showing what’s happening and the passage of time, which also look nice and give us a bit more perspective on the characters’ lives.
Some Other Things
Cardamom: A Musical Visual Novel uses autosave after each chapter. You can replay a chapter once you complete it. Unlike other visual novels, here we don’t have a fast-forward or skip button for dialogues, which, coupled with the lack of manual save slots, means that if you want to explore other endings, you will have to replay the whole game from the very beginning.
Cardamom: A Musical Visual Novel has a demo on its Steam page. The game also has Steam achievements, but no trading cards yet.
Conclusion
Cardamom: A Musical Visual Novel is a short but sweet visual novel about a cat looking for a home and connections. If you are in the mood for some musical magic, go and try it out.
Final Verdict: I Like it
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