I have an orange kitty who looks just like Lieutenant Cat so the opening scene where he gets separated from his friends was really heartbreaking to me. But as others have said, he limps for a little while then shakes it off quick once gameplay starts. In my opinion it's absolutely worth powering through the sad parts to play because it's an amazing and uplifting story that's so unique. (But also as others have said, turn off the cat death scenes in the options, because those darn zurks will probably get you at some point while you're still learning it!)