I feel the need to put something up about this game, out of sheer curiosity. Besides that, it makes for a pretty good tie in with Valentine’s Day… that is if your valentine is completely insane.
Catherine is some what of a mystery, of a game. It is made by the same team behind Persona 4, and actually it was made along side P4. It remains to be seen if this will actually take place IN the Shen Megami Tensei universe however, even with Vincent’s (the main character in Catherine) appearance in Persona 3 Portable.
I feel that I need to say that this is all that I can gather from playing the Japanese Demo of the game… in Japanese … which I neither speak nor read.
From all the art and video that is mainly shown for Catherine, one might be lead to believe this is some strange dating sim. While that may be true, it is actually a platformer, as far as the game-play is concerned. You play as Vincent a guy probably in his early thirties, who is in a long term relationship with his girlfriend Katherine (yes I spelled it right). Katherine has been pressuring him to get married and he just isn’t ready to settle down yet. This is only part of the larger story that is taking place in Catherine.
The other story happening along side their relationship story is that of murder. A series of mysterious deaths have been happening recently, all involving men around the same age as Vincent. It seems they are all dying in their sleep and end up having a twisted expression on their faces (think “The Ring”). So as Vincent is sitting at the bar drinking and thinking about all the other dudes his age dropping dead, a young attractive woman sits down with him. Though there are clearly other places to sit, she insists on sitting with him. Her name … Catherine.
Apparently over the course of a few drinks, she ends up going home with him and (again apparently) ends up sleeping with Vincent. This is pretty much where I lost the story in the cut scenes. My best guess is that he now is banging her instead of Katherine (see told you I had it right) and obviously this is a big issue. Vincent then begins to have constant nightmares when he sleeps.
Here is where the game gets a bit weirder. The parts where the player takes over are in Vincent’s dreams. Vincent finds himself at the bottom of a large staircase, if you will. Under the stairs there is some sort of horrible creature, if Vincent lingers to long, he will be killed in his dream. As we all know, if you are killed in your dream you die in real life (despite what Inception says). So Vincent has to climb. His path isn’t always so easy as moving from one level to the next, he must push or pull blocks to create the path. All this while whatever it is chases you up the stairs. Successfully reach the top and he is safe and wakes up.
Yeah, not what I was expecting either. This is Atlus at their best. Great production value in this game but it is crazy as hell, and obviously based around relationships with other in game characters. I am kinda hoping that they bring this game over to the states so that I can better understand what the hell is going on, but I’m not holding my breath either.
For more proof of this game being totally over signalized and crazy, check out the pics below. Yes those are “Catherine” branded panties. Apparently they were either a pre-order bonus or some sort of collectors edition pack in. Either way, wonderful marketing.
UPDATE: The Catherine “The Love Is Over” Deluxe Edition has been announced. Here’s what was detailed.
It’ll cost you $79.99 for the entire package.
It comes with the game
“Empty” T-Shirt (men’s large)
Vincent’s Boxers (men’s large)
Catherine Pillow Case (standard)
“Stray Sheep” pizza box (standard… I guess)
Also as a Pre-Order bonus an Art Book an a Soundtrack
And it looks… like this…
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