Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2020
Across the Grooves
Developer Nova-box
Your choices affect the destiny of Alice, drastically changing her reality and allowing her to explore alternative destinies by modifying her past. Travel across European cities, meet colourful characters and solve the mystery. From the Steam store page
80 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Sep 11, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
89
LovedLoved
67 positive · 8 negative
95% range 80–94%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 67 | 8 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
5 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
130 of 140 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 80 · most liked firstI tried hard to like this but I can't. Maybe it's me and my personal preferences because others obviously do like it but here are my main objections - in order of importance: a) While the game surely offers choices and consequences, even changing the looks of the protagonist (I couldn't really say I noticed too drastic change in Alice's personality) I simply find the whole story... and the protagonist as well... incredibly boring. Maybe it is me always wanting a kind of (super)hero, but all…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A beautifully made Visual Novel game. The first thing that caught my attention is the artwork, but after playing the game I found many other interesting aspects. The story is about Alice, a young woman who works in a bank and has a loving boyfriend. One day she received a mysterious package from her ex-boyfriend Ulysse who she hadn't heard about ever since their separation three years ago. Inside that package, there is an old vinyl record that changed her life upside down. Will she accept the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hello to you, dear bsky friends, I'm a writer and a musician. I work at Nova-box, a tiny independent video game studio based in Bordeaux, France. We make interactive graphic novels, such as Across the Grooves, Seers Isle, or End of Lines. More details on our website: www.nova-box.com
unlabelledView post →Not my favorite game by Nova-box. I thought the premise sounded interesting, and at first it was, but it quickly grew obvious that Alice has her own motivations regardless of your choices for her. For example, from the moment the game started, I wanted to help her get her life back: cushy job, handsome fiance', <spoiler> but there is no ending in the game for that. I played and played, getting several endings, until I realized that there is no way to have Alice end up returning to her previous…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hello to you, dear bsky friends, Nova-box is a tiny independent video game studio based in Bordeaux, France. We make interactive graphic novels, such as Across the Grooves and Seers Isle. Our latest release, End of Lines, came out in May 2023. More details on our website: www.nova-box.com
unlabelledView post →A visual novel which lets you make choices that change the story. An interesting concept of going back in time to change the past through music. It had some grammatical errors here and there. Definitely enjoyed the journey, would recommend.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hello to you, dear fediverse friends and anyone it may concern, Nova-box is a tiny independent video game studio based in Bordeaux, France. We make interactive graphic novels, such as Across the Grooves and Seers Isle. We just released our newest game, End of Lines, where you follow the struggle for survival of a family amidst a post-climate change world, in May 2023. #introduction #AlongTheEdge #SeersIsle #AcrossTheGrooves #EndOfLines #novabox
unlabelledView post →That's quite the improvement over Along The Edge, Still not very long but with more replayability, The art direction is stellar. Finishing it left me in an state of profund melancholy, even more so than their last two games. The addition of the sung moments is a great idea, but the lyrics are so... dull ? I just can't get my head around it, they're just so bland and random. Feels like a real missed opportunity to me. But this is otherwise a very good visual novel, almost clean of its…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nova-box's signature formula: absolutely GORGEOUS visuals, an intriguing blend of realism and supernatural elements, and an interactive, dynamic approach to storytelling where no choice is right or wrong, yet their consequences constantly reshape the story. The occasional "niche" musical references might not resonate with everyone, but they never steal the spotlight from the story and the characters. The music within the game itself is great, perfectly in line with the setting. I also enjoyed…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While I loved the other titles from this developer, this was a letdown. I found the story, while original, very demotivating and depressing. Alice starts out with what I perceived as a particularly good situation life which goes downhill through the entire game. There is no moment, even when Alice learns the meaning and the power of the record, where she can, forgive the pun, turn the tables and influence her fate in a positive way. It does not help that she looks uglier from chapter to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Across the Grooves" is not my kind of visual novel. The choice is what made me deeply invested in the story of "Along the Edge," but unfortunately the choice in this game is too constrained to become meaningful. The whole story is strictly bound to Alice, leaving no room for the feeling of freedom which I simply adored the "Seers Isle" for. The narrative is shallow for my taste and has to appeal to the nostalgia and a very peculiar music culture.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Some of the inspiration behind the (unannounced) indie game I'm making. It may or may not be loosely related with what we did on Along the Edge and Across the Grooves.
unlabelledView post →It's a VN that took me less than 3 hours for one playthrough. It has nice artwork and the music is okay. I'm not sure the choices really matter and what I mean by that is that I was never faced with a question with a true moral dilemma. The choices are more like should I go left or should I go right. So you make a choice and live with the pre-determined outcome. It's nicely written story, but it is lacking depth. The characters are one-dimensional for the most part. The story is weird, but it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Across the Grooves is the third choice-based visual novel by Nova-box. In this game, you play as Alice, a young woman whose life is turned upside down when she listens to a record that allows her to make changes to her past that will have unforeseen effects on her present. Alice has a normal life. She lives with her fiancé and works as a banker. That changes one day when she receives a package from her ex-boyfriend Ulysse containing an unmarked record. When Alice listens to the record, she…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Brilliantly captivating! This is a choose your own adventure narrative that actually makes you feel like EVERY choice and EVERY decision is genuinely coming from your heart and TRULY has an impact. There's no perception of making the 'wrong or right choice' and i had no urge to reach for a guide. It felt good, and real and visceral to throw myself into this and trust my own decision making. This is a rare thing to experience when playing games like this. Usually options are suggestive, loaded…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hrrmm, if I could give this netural recommendation, I'd probably pick that instead. Note, I am reviewing this after a single playthrough and apparently, there are multiple endings and every choice leads to different outcomes. I admit that I've not seen everything but I've seen enough to give thoughts - and if the devs wanted to encourage multiple playthroughs they could at least give us the option to speedthrough text I've already seen I feel like this game has a really cool premise and then…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bank employee accidentally changes her own life story by listening to a mysterious record My first Nova-box game and definitely not my last. The engaging story and gouache art got me hooked. The pensive music fits really well, too.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played previous Nova Box games and really enjoyed them, especially Along the Edge. Across the Grooves is also a nice visual novel with plenty of interesting twists and outcomes, as well as expected unique art style. One thing that differs from previous titles - characters, i felt like they could have been written better and that there was a lost potential. Other than that, it's a good interactive story about time traveling and life decisions, with some amount of music lore.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ngl there is a really good chance that its gonna get boring for you if you're not into classical music but despite all that great game amazing art style definitely recommended
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Recommended game. Very good storyline, good atmosphere and music, excellent background and glossary and beautiful artwork. It can give about 4 hours of enjoyable gameplay, and it is very interesting to play again to discover other ramifications as the story is greatly enriched, and also some situations have some unexpected surprises. :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This visual novel is certainly an interesting 'slice of life', but it is quite different from Along the Edge. I have only done one completion so far, though I intend to revisit it soon, probably better to make another run shortly after a first. Because to be fair, unlike 'Along the Edge', where it is a little more clear which answers will be for which type of answering rationale, there is perhaps a little more guess work with this VN, though that is totally fine, if anything it more reinforces…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →“Across the Grooves” is a very loveable visual novel about time-travel, music, relationships, alternate realities and fashion. I liked the story about the mystical record that literally changes their listener’s lives and the way my choices influenced the game’ s look and soundtrack. If you are into mystical stories and music like Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground, Led Zep, folk music and obscure psychedelic bands from the 60’s and 70’s you should easily love this game. I only wished that the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I only played through it once but i really love the concept behind all this.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Buy Along the Edge instead I loved Along the Edge. Across the Grooves is somewhat of a remake of that game and has great visuals, characters and sometimes dialogues. However I disliked some new aspects that featured majorly in this game: 1, A more overt supernatural, an organised cult focusing on the supernatural 2, Time travel, meaning you meet different versions of people from different timelines 3, The history of 20th-century music If these aspects are something you're actively seeking you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you're a fan of Nova-box, then you should already be on top of this. If not, this is a wonderfully wistful visual novel with amazing art and fantastic music that is well worth every replay. I got a smug, hipster-esc sense of superiority every time I caught a music reference, and learned something when I didn't, and I've only played the game through twice. If you like visual novels, play this game. If you don't like the idea of a 'bad ending', play this game. If you're a vintage music fan,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I definitely recommend for anyone that loved along the edge to buy this game immediately. There's even a character form that game in this one. In this game to your identity changes depending on what choices you made. In this game your ex sends you a vinyl that takes you back in the past, and it changes Alice's future. Hoping to either bringing her old reality back or finding her ex, it sends Alice through France, England, and Scotland to find out what happened to her ex and the powers of the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A multi-choose visual novel with muscial time traveling elements where your choices matter. As with Nova-Box's other games I really enjoyed this game and recommend it. It was obviously a very ambitious work-overall I think Nova-box pulled it off though. There might be a few timey wimey inconsistiencies here and there but overall the plot works, butterfly effects and all. Its fun to see the different versions of Alice and the effects her time traveling choices have on the world. *spoiler* In the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is not your "Life is Strange" fix.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What I love: Art style. At the very least it's something different. Beautifully drawn. Sound. Background sounds are some of the best I've ever heard. Feelings. Although I can't explain a lot of what's going on in the game it always made me feel something. It might have even help me make an important life decision of my own. What I don't like. It's not voiced. As someone who like's visual novels partly because of a difficulty focusing, fully voiced visuals are superior. Plot. The plot goes in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too few songs; even fewer tunes.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was gifted this game by a dear friend of mine for Christmas, and only recently managed to play it all the way through. It is such a breath-taking experience, in the sense that you don't lose. You make a series of choices that defines your story within a larger arc, and you leave satisfied. It has a beautiful soundtrack and artstyle, and a good amount of replayability as choices influence the outcomes and scenarios you face, as well as who your character becomes. (This last statement will…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Well, this was an utter surprise. I went into this with no spoilers other than "interactive fiction" and "music themed" What I found was a touching work that hammered home the theme of "music can change a person" in a way I've not experienced since I read Phonogram. It's certainly not for everyone, and i think some of the plot points are a bit naff, but, overall, I was utterly charmed.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An ambitious work that stretches the envelope on VN games. The fact that the Record's music changes according to your choices really put me into the moment when my character was playing it. The art is still that sketch-book style that I loved in Along the Edge, the story hits some of the same beats, you can choose the MCs main character traits through her answers which eventually influences her destiny and even her appearance. If you liked Along the Edge, definitely give it a shot, though I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Across the Grooves is a narrative-focused interactive graphic novel that builds its identity around music, altered timelines, relationships, and the consequences of choices. Developed and published by Nova-box, it follows Alice, a young woman whose relatively settled existence is disrupted when she receives a vinyl record from Ulysse, a former lover. Playing the record produces an impossible result: her past changes, and the life she remembers is replaced by a different version of reality. What…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The art work is nice. The music fits fine. The idea of the plot is quite interesting and twisted. The experience of the playthrough though is somewhat girly. Dissapointing part is absence of any real choices, imposed love story without proper development of characters relationship, very naive ending and the biggest dissapointment is zero use for the type of your character build - 4 types, acquired from options one makes in dialogue. Not even statistics on the characteristics you have acquired,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a new kind of visual novel for me but overall, the story was quite boring and not worth multiple play throughs. Bought on the lowest sale still felt overpaid
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Across The Grooves is one of the most affecting experiences I’ve had from a indie game. It was probably one of my first visual novels and it helped me come to terms with the idea that there’s no right way to be a woman, and that following my heart was what mattered (even if that wasn’t it’s intent)
unlabelledView post →that was awesome! :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Captivating story that leaves lots of options for more playthroughs. I enjoyed my first one a lot and am going to play again right away!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A lovely narrative experience by Nova-box. It follows along the same vein as their other games in that it presents a choose your own adventure story with gorgeous artwork, good music, and replayability. The setting is more modern compared to their previous games "Seers Isle". It is more like "Along The Edge" in many respects and even features some enjoyable cameos from characters in that game. Music history plays a huge role in the game and even though most of the background lore went over my…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was really looking forward to playing this, and it didn't disappoint. Gorgeous art, great music and a beautiful story... I'll definitely have to play this more than once, just to discover the different directions the story can go in, and I'm excited to do so (even though I never replay games). And that artwork, seriously... Wow.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Beautiful artwork and I really liked the story. I wish it had some standard VN features like rollback, nicer saves, only skipping 'seen' text, and autoplay. However, the game is worth playing even without those things. I really enjoyed it :D
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Across the Grooves may have taken the spot of the best Nova-Box game that I have played (Ik this is the second I played from them but only two picked my interest as for now). The game slightly improved compared to Along the Edge in some areas, mainly and most importantly its theme: the music. As I probably said in AtE review I mentioned the mystical/magical part was not used very much, if not only used at the very end of the witch path(s), but with AtG having the constant mentions of different…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gorgeous art, great writing, and a lot of different ways to shape the character as you play her through the game. I really enjoyed this game and played through to get all possible endings.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's well-written, interesting and beautifully illustrated. I love the subtle changes between routes. The main downside is there's no way to skip what you've already read. Other than that it's a thoroughly enchanting experience.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best visual novels, perfect!!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The art alone would be worth buying this one, this art style is amazing, and story is also really good. I'm always worried that time-travel stories will lose themselves with all the possibilities of changes, but this one stayed quite centered and managed to land the plane very well. It's quite short, but I find that I like it, and it has good options of replayability. The only downside to me are the singing parts, which are quite bland for a game that talks so much about music, both in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Across The Grooves was great to play and very much on par with Nova-box's standards. I've enjoyed every game so far. Pros: - Great story with multiple endings - Lots of references to music - Artwork is the best in the business - Soundtrack suits the game to a tea - Two romance options with both genders - Easter eggs One con: The songs are very repetitive with lacklustre vocals. The lyrics certainly deserved more work as well. It would have been fun to have fully fleshed out songs from…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →story game with choice making decision. Top tier quality drawing but the music sometimes is lagging. I just hope the music and be a little more stable during each stage. Love the story. Give me a deep impression and strong feeling after the first walkthrough of this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Another banger from Novabox. Beautiful art. A clever story, with a bit longer runtime than past titles. Music is subjective so i'll just say its well thought out, even if not my cup of tea this time around. If you have enjoyed other Novabox games, or just like a more serious and thought provoking story in your visual novels, i feel like you wont be disappointed.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Every scene was beautifully crafted, both artistically and musically! Such an cool story and I can't wait to play more of Nova-box's VN!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Another great Nova-Box game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of those games that had me hesitate between yes or no for recommendation - my true feelings lie somewhere in the middle! But I lean towards recommending, because this is a very unique Visual Novel, the thing about which I loved the most is that it was obviously written by people extremely passionate about music records. There's a lot of knowledge about this (to me) niche interest packed into this story, which I liked - even though I personally am not interested in the technicalities and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a fantastic interactive game , certainly kept me wanting to keep playing it just to see where it would take me next , i would recommend it to everyone that loves to be engrossed in the Story behind it all . well worth buying . I HOPE THERE'S MORE LIKE THIS IN THE FUTURE THANKYOU .
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A good globetrotting visual novel across Europe and time!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game's text is good, but these musics causes psychedelic facts for my mind, but you still can try to challenge.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's been a while since I last played a Nova-box narrative game, but these guys have not lost the magic touch. Who and what does Alice become and where will this narratively tangled portion of her life end up? Well that depends on how you play it, so go find out for yourselves!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The art is beautiful. VERY beautiful actually. The story is very unique and puts music front and center of the Visual Novel's story. I like that choices will effect the music and so on and so forth. The sound design is pretty damn GREAT too, with an almost ASMR quality to it. Very lush, full, and pleasing to the ears. Which is more than I can say about the original soundtrack. The music itself is not my cup of tea, but that's not the problem. The mixing and production of the music is also…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gorgeous art and an interesting enough story that I played through it twice to see scenes that I missed the first time. Our choices don't really matter though, they're purely cosmetic and the story is basically the same with different art. Still worth checking out though.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Un très beau voyage, je conseille pour tous les amateurs de jeux narratifs (en particulier les amateurs de musique!)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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