The highly anticipated Nekopara After: La Vraie Famille, the latest chapter in NEKO WORKs’ beloved catgirl-themed adult visual novel series, remains stuck in Valve’s Steam review process, delaying its release on the platform by over 49 days and counting.
While the game launched on other PC platforms like DLsite, Fanza, Denpasoft on June 13, 2025, its absence from Steam where the franchise has thrived for a decade has frustrated fans and further highlights the never-ending tensions between Japanese developers and Western platforms invoking bureaucratic censorship.
Nekopara After: La Vraie Famille marks a significant milestone for the franchise, created by illustrator Sayori, a female artist whose blend of romantic comedy, slice-of-life, and ecchi elements has captivated audiences since 2014 with the Nekopara franchise having sold over five million copies as of November 29th, 2021.
Set in a world where humans coexist with catgirls known as “nekos,” the series follows Kashou Minaduki, a young patissier who runs his bakery, La Soleil, alongside a growing harem of catgirls.
The story’s mix of heartwarming interactions, comedic mishaps, and explicit romantic encounters between Kashou and his catgirl companions has spawned several main volumes, a prequel, an anime adaptation and a loyal global fanbase.
Originally planned as DLC for Nekopara Vol. 4, La Vraie Famille evolved into a standalone title to celebrate the series’ 10th anniversary. The game introduces Fraise, a French catgirl raised by Beignet, who arrives in Japan after La Soleil’s French branch closes. Entrusted to protagonist Kashou, Fraise sparks a romantic tug-of-war with Kashou’s sister, Shigure, who secretly harbors feelings for him.
The narrative explores themes of love, loyalty, and family as the characters navigate their complex emotions, prioritizing each other’s happiness. Featuring animated character sprites, Japanese voice acting (except for Kashou), and multilingual support in English, Japanese, and Traditional Chinese, the game retains the series’ signature polish. Sayori returns for character designs, with Murasaki Yukiya penning the scenario and Ceui performing the theme song, “Contrail.”
With its signature blend of romantic comedy, slice-of-life fluff, and erotic tension, Nekopara After continues the formula that made Sayori’s catgirl franchise a breakout hit. But despite the franchise’s long-standing relationship with Steam where all previous entries (including Vol. 0 through Vol. 4 and Extra) have launched, this latest chapter however has been met with silence from Valve.
According to Sekai Project, the game’s publisher, they submitted Nekopara After’s build to Steam for review on May 5, 2025. On May 14, Valve requested a save file, which Sekai Project provided the same day. Since then, Valve has offered no further communication, leaving the release in limbo.
Sekai Project has been publicly tracking the delay, noting 44 days of silence as of June 13, likely in response to fans asking about the game’s status on Steam. However, there’s still no guarantee that Nekopara After will be approved for release. The prolonged delay raises concerns that the game could ultimately be rejected due to its content due to possibly conflicting with the personal biases of the reviewer handling the process.
The prolonged review process forced Sekai Project to abandon plans for a simultaneous multi-platform release. While Nekopara After launched on DLsite, Fanza, Denpasoft and Sekai’s own platform on June 13, its absence from Steam where all six previous Nekopara titles (Vol. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and Extra) have been available disrupts the franchise’s established distribution strategy.
Past entries on Steam were released with R-rated content removed, offering optional offsite patches or DLC for 18+ material, a model that balanced accessibility with fan expectations.
The delay aligns with a broader pattern of Valve’s inconsistent moderation, as seen in bans and delays of Japanese visual novels like Phantom Thief Angels: Twin Angel – Labyrinth of Time and World – Re:light which finally released on March 14 after being stuck in Valve’s review process limbo since December 2024 alongside other like Kimi ga Nozomu Eien Enhanced Edition, and Angelic Chaos Re:Boot.
Valve disproportionately targets Japanese content, particularly titles with ecchi or adult themes, while allowing more explicit material on Steam revolving around themes of rape, incest and even sex with animals, whether anthropomorphized or not.
Nekopara’s inclusion of loli characters may have unfortunately drawn scrutiny this time around.
Loli content has faced increasing censorship from Western platforms and payment processors like Visa. These entities have increasingly pushed Japanese retailers to remove material they deem objectionable, conflating stylized, fictional anime characters with real-world child exploitation, despite such content being entirely legal in Japan and many other countries.
Valve’s silence leaves Sekai Project in the dark, unable to respond to potential objections or adjust the game to meet Steam’s vague and often inconsistent content policies. This lack of transparency has become a common frustration among developers, echoing past incidents involving titles like Order Us! and Tokyo Clanpool.
The delay of Nekopara After: La Vraie Famille highlights a larger cultural conflict between Japanese creative expression and increasingly restrictive Western standards over moralism.
Visa has restricted transactions for eroge and lolicon content, while some Japanese banks have reportedly blocked Steam-related payouts for adult game developers further threatening the sustainability of Japan’s niche mediums. Meanwhile, Western platforms such as Steam and Nintendo of America are imposing ever-stricter guidelines, branding “cute anime girls” as inherently problematic.
Titles like Menhera Farm have faced backlash for supposedly exploitative visuals while the likes of Aquaplus justified censorship in the name of global market access revolving around scenes of anime girls bathing or kissing being omitted from the HD re-release of Key’s Kanon.
The continued delay of Nekopara After on Steam threatens to hurt sales, especially considering the franchise’s impressive track record on the platform since Nekopara Vol. 1. The fact that this unassuming series about catgirls and patisserie antics led to an anime adaptation speaks volumes about its popularity and value.
The uncertainty also highlights the difficult position Japanese developers now face, either subject their work to the scrutiny, cultural disconnect, and potential rejection of Western gatekeepers like Valve in order to access global markets, or bypass them entirely to safeguard their creative vision.
In the case of Nekopara After, even though the Steam release will be free of explicit scenes involving catgirl lolis, requiring external patches to restore such content much like the titles that came before it, the mere presence of these characters still subjects the title to increased scrutiny anyway.
As fans eagerly await updates, Sekai Project’s openness about the delay provides some insight, but Valve’s continued silence leaves the situation unresolved. Whether Nekopara After on Steam will be approved, rejected, or require additional alterations remains uncertain.
For those who follow the series and care about NEKO WORKs, the visual novel is already available on DLsite, Fanza, Denpasoft, even as the Steam release remains in limbo, another clear example of the difficulties Japanese eroge makers now face in today’s tightening gay global market.
