Overlooked Games: Catherine

Catherine, for those of you who don't know, is a horror/puzzle platformer released on the PS3/360 in 2011 by none other than the ATLUS persona team (The guys that made Persona 3 and 4). Catherine was their first attempt at making a game on the 7th generation consoles and as expected they delivered. You follow the story of Vincent Brooks. A software developer in his early 30s struggling with his love life and having a hard time getting himself to commit to his girlfriend (Katherine) whom he's been dating for quite a few years. One day Vincent meets a hot, young blonde girl (Catherine) at a bar he frequents with his friends. The Girl tries to seduce Vincent and apparently he ends up cheating on Katherine with a K with Catherine with a C.

Meanwhile, after the death of a few young men in their early thirties under mysterious circumstances, there's rumors going around town that men who're being unfaithful to their partners are dying in their sleep, Sure enough, Vincent too starts having weird nightmares close to his encounter with Catherine.

The Dreams aspect of the story is where the gameplay comes in, each night, when vincent goes to sleep he's dropped into a labyrinth where he must climb up block puzzles before the bottom gives out and he falls to his death - If you Die in the dream, you die in real life - and the puzzles can be a bit challenging.

At first glance it may seem like the type of game that uses sex and sexual themes as a selling point but anyone who'd played Persona 3/4 or is familiar with the Persona team's work knows that they have a knack for handling mature themes and situations like this in a very responsible fashion. They mannage to get the point across pretty well and Catherine ends up with a well crafted and interesting narrative that everyone ought to experience at least once.

This is one of those games that for one reason or another couldn't quite reach its fullest potential but is still a ramarkable experience that is unjustly neglected by most.