Atlus, the publisher often noted for its amazing Japanese role-playing games, also publishes a ton of quirky Japan-market titles that wouldn’t otherwise make it outside of the country. One of those games is the downloadable title Catherine, a puzzler so infused with bizarre mechanics and an even weirder storyline that it couldn’t help but become a classic.
How to Download Catherine
You can download Catherine by clicking the Download link below the game review. You should know that there is also Catherine: Full Body game in the making scheduled for a release on February 14, 2019 – this is going to be revamped and extended version of the now classic title.
The Game Review
Coming out in 2011 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Catherine also made its way to the PS Vita and PS4.
Centered on the tale of Vincent Brooks and his obsession with manic-pixie dream girl Catherine and the more vampish mystery chick, Katherine, the game is both intensely puzzle driven and narratively focused. The latter is not surprising for an Atlus game, but the former is unique.
Choices that the player makes in the game have a direct impact on what kind of ending you will get. It is this unique combination of role-playing game choices with puzzle-gaming mechanics that makes Catherine so unique.
Of course, the game comes from the same team that is behind the blockbuster Persona JRPG series, and it shows.
From overall production quality to the execution of the story, everything in Catherine fits together well and really shows that the team knows what they’re doing when it comes to making games.
The puzzle solving mechanics are initially simple but increasingly complex. This isn’t the whole thrust of the game, but it can quickly become a deal breaker for those of us that don’t like puzzle games.
One of the main incentives to stick it out, however, is that the game has a really solid core story. Not only does the story resonate on multiple levels but also it is sure to embrace its more bizarre side. Catherine does a great job of subverting expectation and keeping the player on their toes. Expecting one thing then receiving the next is pretty much a calling card of Atlus narratives, and it is here in full force.
In every other respect, Catherine is a triple-A title. Atlus rarely puts out the garbage and they certainly didn’t do so here. Graphically speaking the game is beautiful and clean. Narratively the game embraces its strange, quirky story. The story is probably the best part of Catherine. It is more realized than many Hollywood tales (and way more interesting). Sound and music largely serve the narrative purposes of the story but are, on the whole, outstanding.
