How do you even begin to describe a game like Catherine in words? Is it horror? Comedy? A puzzle game? An RPG? Is it about love? Sex? Responsibility? “Freedom”? Actually, it’s all of the above.
Like a patchwork of seemingly disparate gametypes, Catherine is part tough-as-nails puzzler and part story-heavy adventure — you’ll bounce between them according to what time it is in the game. The day and evening consist of cinematics and visits to the Stray Sheep bar for adventure-style interactions, while sleepytime is reserved for battling “nightmare” tower challenges, where puzzle elements come into play.
But it’s the story you really want to dig into, and at the game’s start, you know only as much (or as little) as hapless man-child hero Vincent Brooks. Living a life of semi-slackerdom, he’s just another 32-year-old schmoe shrugging his way through a vaguely defined job path while deftly dodging commitment to his longtime girlfriend, Katherine. She, on the other hand, is ready to kick things up a notch. Maybe.
You see, no one in Catherine says exactly what they mean. Instead, they skirt around issues like…well, just like people do in the real world. But soon enough, Vincent’s easy-breezy laissez-faire life is about to change. And the catalyst arrives at his local watering hole, all dressed up in a barely-there outfit — and her name is Catherine. Cue the potential infidelity, crisis of conscience, and…dead bodies?!
After Catherine’s arrival, Vincent’s existence becomes one long nightmare of screwball booty calls, sussing out what’s real and what’s imaginary, and fighting in a string of bizarre, sheep-filled dream sequences where his fears are out to kill him. On the one hand, you’re responsible for guiding him through tough, block-riddled puzzle segments. On the other, you’ll spend adventure game–like alcohol-fueled evenings at the bar with his similarly troubled bros, making multiple-choice decisions that’ll determine his fate, as well as that of the other emotionally stunted men he bumps into both inside and outside of his nightly dream-state sojourns.
Sound bizarre? Well, it is. Yet the madness is spellbinding — if you have the stomach to survive Catherine’s grueling tower-puzzle scenarios. Even with the game’s countless helpful tutorials and technique-laden tips, you’ll tax your dexterity in pushing, pulling, and climbing blocks to reach your goal far above while juking crazed sheep and hazardous obstacles — all within a very tight time limit. Death is no stranger to those who brave Catherine, and neither is hitting the “Retry” option over and over again.
Is it frustrating to face seemingly insurmountable stacks of blocks each in-game night? It can be if you’re ballsy enough to weather the insanity on anything but the Easy difficulty setting (which grants you more retries and a slightly more forgiving time limit outside of boss stages). And even on Easy, these puzzles can crush even the toughest of souls. This game is not for the undetermined or those seeking cheap thrills based on Catherine’s cheeky marketing. But for the right gamer, the chance to unravel the mystery — and creeping horror — of Vincent’s mid-life crisis becomes increasingly worthwhile.
Outside of the love-it-or-hate-it puzzles, it’s everything else you do in-game that makes Catherine so deliciously unique. Each of the nine in-game days goes through a pattern that allows you to hang at the Stray Sheep pub each night with your buddies, talking to the regulars, reading and replying to texts on your phone, and messing around in a 64-stage 8bit version of the puzzle segments called Rapunzel. You’ll even find sheep versions of the folks you talk to at the bar wandering the interstitial “landings” between nightmare tower floors. Both are important, as what you say to them can affect which of seven endings you receive — they’re determined by a Law or Chaos meter that swings to and fro with each decision you make throughout the game.
There’s so much cleverness afoot that when paired with the game’s real-world setting, it makes for a tale that’s never really been told before in a game. And it’s a blast to participate in, even if you’ll chafe a bit at the one-dimensional nature of Vincent’s love interests or the somewhat dudebro-skewed view of Catherine’s world.
As a character, Vincent’s personality, reactions, and dilemma ring exceptionally true, metaphorical sheep-deaths and all. Letting us playfully poke around his paralyzed psyche makes for an absolutely ridiculous but surprisingly insightful ride, well worth taking for anyone with a taste for the truly odd.
+ Outrageously unique; clever morality system; loads of extras.
+ Beautifully rendered characters look better than their 2D counterparts.
- Often overly difficult puzzles; enormously niche appeal; anime-style storytelling may turn off some folks; lots of load time.
? Can man really live on sushi, bar pizza, and cocktails alone?
