Hustle Cat
Hints and Tips:
---------------
Submitted by: David K.
-= Understand the route point system =-
* Hustle Cat uses hidden character points during the shared opening. The normal route
you enter is driven by which romance candidate has the strongest point lead.
* For normal routes, the interview quiz does not decide your romance. Answer it
however you like and concentrate on the character-specific choices later.
* The cat-following choice is not important for route scoring. Use the character
choices and the later basement visit as your real route anchors.
* On the five normal routes, check the basement when the option appears. The scene
there is a practical confirmation of who Avery is currently lined up with.
-= Save before the two universal bad-end choices =-
* When Avery gets the choice "There's one thing I can do: QUIT", choosing it and then
"Double down" leads to a bad ending.
* When Graves tells Avery to run from Nacht, choose "Run away" to continue the normal
route. Staying to help Graves leads to another bad ending.
* Keep a manual save before either branch if you want to see the bad ending and then
return to the romance route without replaying the shared opening.
-= Graves is a completion route =-
* Graves cannot be selected on a fresh file. Finish Landry, Finley, Hayes, Mason,
and Reese first.
* Start a New Game after those five completions. A new opening line about a weird
dream involving a goth band signals that Graves is available.
* If Graves does not unlock, check the coffee cup on the main menu. The five normal
route faces act as a completion check; a missing face identifies the route that
did not register.
-= Use the built-in VN tools =-
* The game has eight manual save slots. Use separate slots for the shared opening,
the basement route check, and the late bad-end choice.
* Fast-forward skips previously read text quickly and slows when it reaches unseen
dialogue. This is the main way to replay the shared opening efficiently.
* The Log button shows previous text. Use it after a fast-forward burst if you think
you skipped a choice or line too quickly.
* Returning to the main menu through the in-game back control creates an autosave;
the game keeps two autosaves.
Profile and Interface:
----------------------
-= Avery's profile =-
* Avery Grey's name is fixed.
* At New Game, choose he/him, she/her, or they/them pronouns.
* Choose between two body/portrait builds and three skin tones. The selected Avery
appearance is reflected in story CGs.
* Pronouns can be changed later from the in-game options without restarting the run.
-= In-game tools =-
* Save: create or overwrite one of eight manual saves.
* Fast-forward: accelerate dialogue; unseen text slows the skip automatically.
* Options: adjust music and sound volume, fullscreen behavior, scroll-wheel use, and
Avery's current pronouns.
* Log: review previous text.
* Go Back: return to the main menu and create an autosave.
Normal Route Rules:
-------------------
-= What actually matters =-
* The normal routes are flexible. You do not need to copy every interview answer or
every neutral choice exactly.
* Character-favoring choices add route points. The highest point total wins
the normal route.
* Once the basement scene clearly shows your intended crush, later ordinary choices
are much less important to route selection.
* When Nacht appears and Graves orders Avery to run, choose "Run away" unless you
deliberately want the universal bad ending.
-= Landry - safe route sequence =-
1. Choose "Yeah, that sounds great!"
2. Choose "You seem really fun to work with".
3. Choose "I just thought it was a cool shirt..."
4. Choose "Help Mason and Hayes in the kitchen".
5. Choose "I guess I'll go, then..."
6. Choose "Follow the Siamese Cat!"
7. Choose "You're right..."
8. Choose "Leave him alone."
9. Choose "What a hassle!"
10. Choose "Sneak a Donut".
11. Choose "One coffee, coming right up!"
12. Choose "Have a good night!"
13. Choose "Help Hayes with the dishes".
14. Take either option at the next neutral choice.
15. Choose "See what Landry's doing".
16. Choose "Check the basement".
17. Choose "Run away" when Graves tells Avery to run.
-= Finley - safe route sequence =-
1. Choose "Actually, I'm here about the job..."
2. Choose "But now you've got my interest!"
3. Choose "Help Mason and Hayes in the kitchen".
4. Choose "I guess I'll go, then..."
5. Follow either cat.
6. Choose "You're right..."
7. Choose "Leave him alone."
8. Choose "Mission: Accepted!"
9. Choose "Sneak a donut".
10. Choose "You got it, hot stuff!"
11. Choose "Have a good night!"
12. Choose "Help Hayes with the dishes".
13. Take either option at the next neutral choice.
14. Choose "See what Finley is doing".
15. Choose "Check the basement".
16. Choose "Run away" when Graves tells Avery to run.
-= Hayes - safe route sequence =-
1. Choose "Actually, I'm here about the job..."
2. Choose "I just thought it was a cool shirt..."
3. Choose "Help Mason and Hayes in the kitchen".
4. Choose "I guess I'll go, then..."
5. Choose "Follow the Siamese Cat!"
6. Choose "You're right..."
7. Choose "Do you hate people?"
8. Choose "What a hassle!"
9. Choose "Sneak a donut".
10. Choose "One coffee, coming right up!"
11. Choose "Have a good night!"
12. Choose "Invite him to go back to the others!"
13. Choose "Just get some from work".
14. Choose "Stay Put".
15. Choose "Check the basement".
16. Choose "Run away" when Graves tells Avery to run.
-= Mason - safe route sequence =-
1. Choose "Actually, I'm here about the job..."
2. Choose "I just thought it was a cool shirt..."
3. Choose "Help Mason and Hayes in the kitchen".
4. Choose "You seem really busy; are you sure?"
5. Follow either cat.
6. Choose "You're right..."
7. Choose "Leave him alone."
8. Choose "What a hassle!"
9. Choose "I better not."
10. Choose "I like strawberry!"
11. Choose "One coffee, coming right up!"
12. Choose "Do you want me to walk you home?"
13. Choose "Help Hayes with the dishes".
14. Choose "Go to the corner store for coffee."
15. Choose "Stay Put."
16. Choose "Check the basement".
17. Choose "Run away" when Graves tells Avery to run.
-= Reese - safe route sequence =-
1. Choose "Actually, I'm here about the job..."
2. Choose "I just thought it was a cool shirt..."
3. Choose "Ask Reese about the uniforms".
4. Choose "I see what he's up to".
5. Choose "Follow Reese's cat!"
6. Choose "You're right..."
7. Choose "Leave him alone."
8. Choose "What a hassle!"
9. Choose "Sneak a donut".
10. Choose "One coffee, coming right up!"
11. Choose "Have a good night!"
12. Choose "Help Hayes with the dishes".
13. Take either option at the next neutral choice.
14. Choose "See what Reese is doing".
15. Choose "Check the basement".
16. Choose "Run away" when Graves tells Avery to run.
Graves Secret Route:
--------------------
-= Unlock Graves first =-
1. Finish the Landry, Finley, Hayes, Mason, and Reese routes.
2. Return to the main menu and confirm all five faces appear in the coffee cup.
3. Start New Game rather than loading an old shared-opening save.
4. Look for the new opening line "I had this weird dream about a goth band..." as
the unlock confirmation.
-= Four Graves checkpoints =-
* Checkpoint 1: choose "Is that going to be on the test?"
* Checkpoint 2: pass the interview with a majority of correct answers.
* Checkpoint 3: choose "Yeah, I guess we haven't."
* Checkpoint 4: choose "What's really going on?"
* Missing one of these checkpoints drops the run off Graves's route. Other normal
character points do not override Graves once all four checkpoints are hit.
-= Safe Graves interview answers =-
1. Choose "Cats that look like they're wearing tuxedos".
2. Choose "いいえ、話しません".
3. Choose "Orca".
4. Choose "Punk. I'm not dead, just resting."
5. Choose "7.5".
6. Choose "Draculas".
-= Safe Graves route finish =-
1. Start with "Actually, I'm here about the job..."
2. Choose "Is that going to be on the test?"
3. Pass the interview with a majority; the safe answers above pass it cleanly.
4. Choose "Check out Graves's apartment".
5. Choose "Yeah, I guess we haven't."
6. Choose "What's really going on?"
7. Choose "Run away" during the Nacht encounter.
Bad Ends and Gallery Secrets:
-----------------------------
-= Quit-job bad ending =-
1. Save before the quit choice.
2. Choose "There's one thing I can do: QUIT".
3. Choose "Double down".
4. Reload the earlier save afterward if you want to continue the intended romance.
-= Nacht bad-ending CG - collect before Graves =-
1. On any normal route, save before the first Nacht confrontation.
2. Choose "Stay and help Graves" instead of "Run away" to unlock the bad-ending CG.
3. Reload the save and choose "Run away" to continue the romance route.
4. Do this before completing Graves if you want a clean gallery run. After Graves is
completed, the "Run away" choice can disappear until another normal character
route is played.
5. If that already happened, play another normal route back to the Nacht choice,
collect the missing CG, then reload and continue normally.
-= Reese uniform gallery scene =-
* Choose "Ask Reese about the uniforms".
* When Reese pushes the uniform idea, humor him/give in and wear it.
* This unlocks the optional maid-uniform CG without being required for Reese's route.
-= Two gallery slots can remain blank =-
* Two gallery images can remain blank even after all six routes: the Hayes coffee-art
image and the rusted-bike image.
* Do not keep replaying routes to force those two slots if everything else is
complete; the in-game gallery can fail to mark them as unlocked.
* On Steam, open Manage -> Browse local files, then open:
images\hustlecat\cg
* The CG files are stored there even when those two in-game gallery slots stay blank.
Saving and Replay:
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-= Use the save system deliberately =-
* There are eight user save slots and two autosaves.
* Keep one save before the basement route check and another before the first Nacht
confrontation. Use the remaining slots for route-specific late scenes.
* Fast-forward previously read dialogue instead of starting every replay from scratch
at normal speed.
-= Back up Windows saves =-
* Steam Cloud synchronizes JSON files from:
* %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\com.datenighto.game.hustlecat
* Copy the whole folder before deleting saves, repairing a missing Graves unlock, or
troubleshooting disappearing route/gallery progress.
* Use that same folder for manual Windows backups even when Steam Cloud is disabled.
-= If saves or gallery progress disappear =-
1. Stop playing and copy the current AppData save folder before more
cloud syncs occur.
2. On future sessions, save in-game, use Go Back to return to the main menu, then
close the game instead of killing the window immediately.
3. If AVG or Avast is installed, inspect its protection and quarantine history for
activity against the Hustle Cat save folder before restoring a backup.
4. If Steam Cloud keeps restoring the wrong state, use the Steam-Cloud restore
procedure in Solutions before opening more routes or overwriting saves.
Solutions:
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-= Graves will not unlock =-
1. Return to the main menu and inspect the coffee cup.
2. Confirm that Landry, Finley, Hayes, Mason, and Reese all have faces in the cup.
3. Replay the missing route if one face is absent.
4. After all five faces are present, start New Game. Do not load an
old shared-opening save.
5. Confirm the new opening line about a "weird dream about a goth band".
-= Steam Cloud keeps restoring the wrong save state =-
1. Close Hustle Cat completely and copy this entire local save folder
somewhere safe: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\com.datenighto.game.hustlecat
2. In Steam Library, right-click Hustle Cat -> Properties -> General and turn off
"Keep games saves in the Steam Cloud for Hustle Cat".
3. With Cloud disabled, replace the local JSON files with the known-good backup you
actually want to keep.
4. Launch Hustle Cat and verify the manual saves, coffee-cup route faces, Graves
availability, and gallery state before changing anything else.
5. Create a fresh manual save or use Go Back to return to the main menu so the
validated local state is written again, then close the game normally.
6. Re-enable Steam Cloud from Properties -> General. If Steam presents a sync
conflict, choose the option that keeps or uploads the validated local state
instead of downloading the older cloud state.
7. Do not delete the backup until the game has launched again with the expected saves
and gallery after Cloud is re-enabled.
-= A gallery CG is missing after Graves =-
1. If the missing image is the Nacht bad-end CG, run any normal route to the
first Nacht confrontation.
2. Save there, choose "Stay and help Graves", then reload and choose "Run away".
3. If only the Hayes coffee-art or rusted-bike slots remain blank, stop replaying
routes; those two slots can remain bugged.
4. On Steam, use Manage -> Browse local files and open images\hustlecat\cg to view
the CG files directly.
Technical Issues:
-----------------
-= Current Windows build =-
* Hustle Cat remains sold on Steam for Windows and is also sold as a Windows
download on itch.io.
* Steam's public Windows branch is Build 1120134 from May 13, 2016. The gameplay
build has not been replaced by later Steam record changes.
* The Windows version uses NW.js/Node technology. Steam Cloud is available on the
Steam edition; the itch download does not use Steam Cloud.
* The store lists Windows 7-era minimum requirements, but the current Steam client
requires Windows 10 or later.
-= If the game crashes while saving or skipping =-
1. Back up the AppData save folder before testing fixes.
2. Restart the game and load a known-good manual save instead of repeatedly
overwriting the slot that crashed.
3. If the problem repeats during fast-forward, stop fast-forwarding before major
choice clusters and make a fresh manual save.
4. On Steam, verify the installed files. On itch.io, re-extract or reinstall the
Windows download without deleting the AppData save folder.
Reference:
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-= Route structure =-
* Normal romance routes: Landry, Finley, Hayes, Mason, Reese.
* Secret completion route: Graves.
* Normal route selection uses hidden character points.
* Normal interview answers do not choose the romance.
* Basement visit confirms the normal-route direction.
* Graves unlock: finish all five normal routes, then start New Game.
* Gallery ordering: collect the Nacht bad-end CG before finishing Graves if possible;
after Graves, restoring that choice can require another normal-route pass.
-= Graves checkpoints =-
* "Is that going to be on the test?"
* Pass the interview with a majority.
* "Yeah, I guess we haven't."
* "What's really going on?"
* "Run away" at the Nacht confrontation.
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