Catherine is a puzzle video game developed by Atlus. The game was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in Japan and North America in 2011, in PAL regions by Deep Silver in 2012, and for Windows by Sega in 2019. A re-release with additional content, titled Catherine: Full Body, was released in 2019 for the PlayStation 4 worldwide and for the PlayStation Vita only in Japan, and a Nintendo Switch version released worldwide in 2020.
The story follows Vincent Brooks, a man who is beset by supernatural nightmares while torn between his feelings for his longtime girlfriend Katherine and the similarly named beauty Catherine. The gameplay is divided between the daytime, where Vincent interacts with the characters in a social simulation, and his dreams where he must navigate three-dimensional towers through combined platforming and puzzle-solving. The game's ending is affected by choices made by Vincent over the course of the story.
Catherine was developed by the same studio behind the Persona series, including producer and director Katsura Hashino, character designer Shigenori Soejima, and music composer Shoji Meguro. The game began production near the end of Persona 4 development in 2008, with the aim being to create something for a more adult audience. The English localization was handled by Atlus USA. Full Body was developed by Studio Zero, a then-newly formed division within Atlus led by Hashino. The team aimed to expand upon the original, bringing back the initial cast while adding a new love interest named Rin, short for Qatherine.
Reception was generally positive, with critics praising its mature subject matter and gameplay, although some criticism was directed towards its difficulty. In response, Atlus released a patch with an "Easy" mode. The game was nominated for several awards, and exceeded Atlus' sales expectations by having sold over one million copies worldwide by 2017.
Gameplay
Catherine is a cross-genre video game in which players control Vincent Brooks, a man who is tormented by deadly nightmares after becoming involved with multiple women. The gameplay is divided into two parts; daytime social simulation segments where Vincent interacts with various characters at the Stray Sheep bar, and nightmare segments where he navigates deadly block towers using a combination of platforming and puzzle solving. The game is split into three modes; the single-player story campaign dubbed "Golden Playhouse", and "Babel". Multiplayer-exclusive "Colosseum" challenge levels are unlocked after first completing the story.
The daytime gameplay involves Vincent interacting with his girlfriends and other characters in the Stray Sheep bar. During dialogue and text segments, Vincent can choose several options to respond; these include standard dialogue options and composing text messages. During his time in the Stray Sheep, Vincent can purchase drinks which help his navigation of Nightmare stages, but also impede his movement if he has too many. He can also play a minigame titled "Rapunzel" which mimics the gameplay in nightmares, or listen to a jukebox containing tracks from other Atlus games. Leaving the Stray Sheep will trigger the next Nightmare section.
The main gameplay takes place in the Nightmare stages. Vincent must climb towers made of blocks, which must be arranged into a stairway to reach the exit. As he climbs, the tower collapses beneath him, and if he fails to arrange the blocks before the collapse reaches him, Vincent will fall and the game ends; he either restarts from the last checkpoint on the tower if Vincent has a pillow item, or the player must restart the game from their last save. Blocks can be freely pushed and pulled, balanced on the edge of a similar block, and form stairways. In addition to standard blocks, some blocks have extra functions such as springing Vincent higher, and other blocks are lethal traps. Vincent can earn pillows that allow him to retry levels. There are also several items which can be found or purchased in between stages, such as spare blocks, lightning which removes enemies, and energy drinks that allow Vincent to climb more steps at a time.
Finishing a stage awards a score based on the time completed and items collected. These are posted on online leader boards accessed from the game's start menu. In addition to the Golden Playhouse mode, Babel Mode features four large stages playable with up to two players, while Colosseum features two players simultaneously playing a stage in order to reach the top first. The game has multiple endings depending on the choices made by the player during the course of the narrative.
Additional elements were added in Full Body. A new mode includes rearranged versions of the game's puzzles, with the original arrangement featuring as a separate mode. A new online multiplayer mode is also added, where players can enter both a randomised match or a contest with a player of equal rank. New character Rin can be called to halt the tower's collapse for a short time. Players can access a new difficulty level called "Safety", which removes all threats and the time limit, and allows players to skip puzzles and continue with the story.
Synopsis
Setting and characters Set in the American space colony of Neo-Brooklyn (as revealed in Full Body), the plot of Catherine is presented as a story within a story on Golden Playhouse, a television program described as "like a Saturday morning theatre, with a bit of a Twilight Zone vibe". The Stray Sheep, a bar where the main cast frequently meets, acts as the stage for the game's major events. The game focuses on four main characters: Vincent Brooks, a 32-year-old systems engineer who acts as the game's protagonist and player character. Unambitious and unenthusiastic, Vincent lives a stereotypical bachelor's life; he avoids the challenges of adulthood, including his uninspiring job, his rundown apartment, and his unwillingness to marry his girlfriend, Katherine. Vincent is voiced by Koichi Yamadera in Japanese, and Troy Baker in English. Catherine, a 22-year-old woman. She meets Vincent at the Stray Sheep seemingly by accident and ends up spending the night with him. This encounter, and Catherine's continued attempts to romance Vincent, become the catalyst for the game's events. Outwardly, Catherine is playful, seductive, and free-spirited; in reality, she is a succubus demon who tempts men for her own ends. Catherine is voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro in Japanese, and Laura Bailey in English. Katherine McBride, a 32-year-old woman working as an office manager at a clothing manufacturer. A childhood friend of Vincent's, they reconnected five years before the game's events and began dating. Katherine wishes to marry Vincent and is increasingly irritated by his indecisiveness. Katherine is voiced by Kotono Mitsuishi in Japanese, and Michelle Ruff in English. Rin, short for Qatherine, is a character exclusive to Full Body. An amnesiac who plays the piano at the Stray Sheep, Rin becomes a comforting presence during Vincent's journey. It is later revealed that Rin is in fact an otokonoko boy and part of a species of angel-like aliens sent to stop the Nightmares. Rin is voiced by Aya Hirano in Japanese, and Brianna Knickerbocker in English.
The supporting cast includes Vincent's regular drinking partners at the Stray Sheep: Orlando Haddick (Hiroaki Hirata/Liam O'Brien), an old friend and divorcee who holds cynical views on marriage; Johnny Ariga (Takehito Koyasu/Travis Willingham) an idealist and longtime friend searching for a soulmate; and Toby Nebbins (Kishō Taniyama/Yuri Lowenthal), Johnny's co-worker who has a crush on Erica Anderson (Junko Minagawa/Erin Fitzgerald) a waitress at the Stray Sheep who's been around her friends for a while. Thomas Mutton (Norio Wakamoto/Kirk Thornton), nicknamed "Boss", is the owner of the Stray Sheep. The game is narrated by Trisha, (Junko Minagawa/Erin Fitzgerald) who is the host of Golden Playhouse dubbed the "Midnight Venus".
Plot Vincent Brooks is disillusioned due to his unwillingness to commit to marrying his longtime girlfriend, Katherine McBride. One night at the Stray Sheep Bar, a despondent, drunken Vincent meets an enigmatic young woman named Catherine; they have a one-night stand which turns into an affair. Simultaneously, Vincent begins experiencing surreal nightmares where he and other men must ascend a tower while outrunning terrifying demons; if they fail in the dream, they die in real life. Struggling with the stress of his double life and his delusional paranoia, which are intensified by his worsening nightmares, Vincent begins to lose his grip on reality and is eventually compelled to end the affair with Catherine. In a violent argument between Vincent, Catherine, and Katherine, who break out over having an affair with each other, Catherine is seemingly killed; however, the incident is revealed to have occurred in a nightmare from which Vincent and Katherine escape. The next day, Katherine — who retains no memory of the nightmare but grows furious after she guessed his infidelity — breaks off their relationship, refusing to believe that Vincent was unfaithful.
Vincent realizes he is the only person aware of Catherine's existence, and all her messages have vanished from his phone. Vincent confronts Mutton, the proprietor of the Stray Sheep; the only other person he has witnessed Catherine speaking to. He learns that Mutton is the Mesopotamian deity Dumuzid the Shepherd and that Catherine is a succubus who aided Mutton in his game to kill men who would not commit to marriage and family on the basis that the population growth for humanity is less than optimal. Vincent enters the nightmare world one last time on the condition that he and the other men will be freed if he reaches the top of the tower. Vincent is victorious and defeats Dumuzid, who is revealed to be an associate of Astaroth.
In Full Body, Rin moves in next door to Vincent after taking a job at the Stray Sheep playing piano. Vincent and Rin grow close, with Rin comforting him in his nightmares by playing the piano. During one meeting, Vincent accidentally discovers that Rin is an otokonoko male, which causes a rift between them following Vincent's shocked reaction. If Vincent chooses to reconnect, Rin appears in Vincent's nightmare and is captured by Mutton. Vincent rescues Rin by defeating Astaroth. Alternate endings for Katherine and Catherine are unlocked if Vincent sends them a recording of Rin's piano music.
From here, there are several possible endings, depending on the player's actions throughout the game: Katherine Endings: Vincent meets with Katherine and asks her to take him back. In the "bad" ending, she refuses. In the "good" ending, she forgives him after Mutton and Vincent's friends reveal his ordeal. In the "true" ending, they are married. In the Full Body ending, Katherine again leaves Vincent, gaining new self-confidence while fondly remembering her time with Vincent. Catherine Endings: Vincent summons Catherine and asks to marry her. In the "bad" ending, she refuses. In the "good" ending, she accepts that they live together in the Underworld despite the objections of Nergal, the Mesopotamian god of war and death and Catherine's father. In the "true" ending, Vincent overthrows Nergal, becoming the King of the Underworld with Catherine as his Queen. In the Full Body ending, Catherine transports Vincent back to his high school days and appears as a human, allowing them to fall in love, marry, and start a family. Freedom Endings: Vincent realizes he does not desire marriage. Having won against Mutton, he demands payment from him, which he immediately uses to bet on a women's wrestling match. In the "good" ending, he loses the bet. In the "true" ending, he wins and uses the money to fulfill his dream of visiting outer space.