E3: Catherine

[Drakmeire]

They had this Idea for awhile I guess.
Here is Vincent in P3P
<youtube=3-2mNfAO-WQ>

 

[Bek359]

We already knew that this was a puzzle game months ago. That is to say, the information was unambiguously stated months ago. It is possible that people were not paying attention.

 

[Coffinshaker]

so I'm to understand it's NOT a dating simulation game?

 

[PrototypeC]

Too bad it's rather short, but games have to get pretty insanely long to register in our immortal gamer minds these days, so it's probably still pretty sizable.

Not sure where all the surprise that it's a puzzle game is coming from. I thought we knew that months ago!

 

[cameron196789]

I thought most people knew it was a puzzle game already?

 

[AbstractStream]

I already knew most of this except the boss levels and the sheep in the dreams being actual people. Cool, makes it even more interesting. Can't wait.

 

[cobra_ky]

actually i think it's exactly what we expected, since pretty much everything i know about this game has come from the escapist, and there's nothing here i didn't know already.

 

[RThaiRThai]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who realized that everyone knows it's a puzzle game. That was really bothering me. I would like to further point out, though I think many people already knew, that the game was realeased *months* ago! It was only released in Japan, but that would've been a problem about 10 or 20 years ago.

Also:

They had this Idea for awhile I guess.
Here is Vincent in P3P
<youtube=3-2mNfAO-WQ>

Awesome. Thanks for linking this. I really need to play Persona one day.

 

[Kakashi on crack]

I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but I'm about to (no one ever says that when they're not about to sound like a jerk). What did you expect? It was well known it was a horror puzzle game in which the puzzles themselves were in a nightmare zone. The obvious way it would work is the way it does work.

Yeah this kinda sums it up... I knew it was a puzzle game by the third or fourth news reel, was justing wondering how much of a puzzle game it would be.

Never played P4, and I might get this if I have the spare cash but I usually can't stand puzzle games (I love strategy, but can't stand puzzles) so if I don't have the spare cash, then there's no way.

Also I kinda just spent almost 1.45k on a nice laptop, so I'd be SOL anyways if I wanted to buy this.

 

[Mike Laserbeam]

Yup, definitely knew that Catherine was a puzzle game since I first heard about it AGES ago. As it's been out in Japan for a while, it's not like it was a huge secret...

Also, why did I read the spoiler in the first post...? God damn...

I'll definitely buy this, not day 1 but I'll get it at some point. I'm a big SMT fan and after seeing (and recognising) Vincent in my recent P3P playthrough, I just won't be able to NOT buy the game to see what happens to him!

 

[Z(ombie)fan]

E3: Catherine

We finally know what Catherine [http://www.amazon.com/Catherine-Playstation-3/dp/B004P7VGF2/] is all about, and it's not what we expected.

Given that it's from the team responsible for Persona [http://www.amazon.com/Shin-Megami-Tensei-Persona-Sony-PSP/dp/B001V7UX1W/], and its marketing featured more cleavage than the local strip club, you could be forgiven for expecting Catherine to be an RPG filled with plenty of sex. It's not. Oh, there's plenty of nookie, but Catherine is actually a puzzle game.

Seriously.

The protagonist in the game is Vincent, whose disinterest in commitment is beginning to frustrate his girlfriend of five years, Katherine. He meets a super-sexy girl in a bar one night, and after waking up next to her thinks that he might be in a lot of trouble. Plenty of corpses have been showing up all over town, and they all have one thing in common: They were all men who cheated on their girlfriends.

Every night, Vincent has a nightmare in which he is climbing a tower of stacked blocks. He must maneuver up the tower, moving blocks, shifting position, and reorganizing them into stairs, so that he can make it to the top before time runs out. Pulling a block out the stack, Jenga-style, allows the one above it to drop, and you can hang from the edges to shimmy around a block you just pulled into the spot where you were standing. As Vincent climbs, the lower rows of blocks fall away into nothingness, so maintaining upward mobility is vital. It's not as easy as simply shifting blocks around, though; some explode, others shoot out spikes, and every so often you'll run into something really special, like ice.

Boss levels are a little bit different. Vincent still has to race to the top of the tower, but this time he's being pursued by a gigantic monster that represents one of his innermost fears. The boss I got to see was, appropriately, Catherine herself, who chases after Vincent with a fork. Each boss has special abilities that make solving the puzzle even harder. In the case of Catherine, she can turn blocks into nonmoving blocks.

The game takes place in three different areas: Vincent's favorite bar, the "landings," and the nightmares that he has every night. The landings are where Vincent meets the sheepmen who are other men having nightmares, and talk to them about how to tackle the puzzles in his nightmares. They might teach him new moves or techniques that will give him a clue as to how to solve the puzzle in his next nightmare. There's a rumor going around town that if you die in your dreams, you die in real life, so gathering intel is in your best interests.

Pay attention to the other patrons of the bar and you'll recognize some of them as the sheep from your dreams. By talking to them, you may be able to rescue them from their nightmares, thus saving their lives. Not only will this earn you achievements, but it will also make you a nicer guy, tipping the game's morality meter into the blue.

The decisions you make aren't judged as good or evil, merely chaotic or restrained. Jerks will send the meter into the red zone, while nicer guys will have that needle leaning into the blue. The choices you make - like how to answer an angry text from Katherine when she realizes you're out at the bar again - don't change how the game progresses, but where your morality meter winds up will determine which of Catherine's many endings you receive.

The Tower of Babel mode are completely separate missions you unlock by playing through the story mode, which should last about 8-12 hours, depending on how well you tune into Catherine's particular brand of puzzle solving. For even more block-moving puzzletry, you can play the Rapunzel arcade game at the bar. Its puzzles have the added incentive of not being timed, and when you reach the top, you get to shag Rapunzel herself. Or at least do something that makes her braid shake.

Catherine isn't at all what I expected, but it's still something very special and weird. The puzzles, sheepmen, confessionals, chaos meter, and anime cutscenes are a bizarre combination, but it all really seems to work. The multiple endings are great bait for replays, especially once you've mastered the block-shifting mechanics that will help you soar through the nightmare levels.

We'll see if it gets any weirder when Catherine comes out on Xbox 360 and PS3 in late July. If that's even possible.

See all our coverage directly from the show floor. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/conferences/e3_2011 ]

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I knew at least two months ago and I didn't even look the game up at all.

how is this news?

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

Ok. This is the first time I'm legitimately sad this isn't coming to the PC. Like Susan, I also thought that this was basically a AAA dating RPG; and while I have nothing against games like that, they aren't my primary niche, so I wasn't very interested.......and I was happier that way

 

[Susan Arendt]

...


I knew at least two months ago and I didn't even look the game up at all.

how is this news?

It's great that you're so well informed, but not everyone keeps up with game news as much as you do. E3 is a time when even more laid-back gamers tune in to find out what new games will be coming out. If you're super informed about Catherine already, then no, this demo wouldn't really provide you with much insight. But if you're the kind of reader who doesn't necessarily read gaming sites every day, and is just reading up on E3 news, then this lets you know what the game is about.

Many different kinds of gamers read The Escapist - we want to help them all, not just the super hardcore fans.

 

[Fatal-X]

I knew this a long time ago...

I'm a super hardcore fan! Cool! ^^

But yeah, it's really surprising that they made a puzzle game out of it. Still, I'm guessing that the game is more about the story and choices, than the gameplay.

I'll probably get the game eventually.

 

[rioki]

"Its puzzles have the added incentive of not being timed, and when you reach the top, you get to shag Rapunzel herself. Or at least do something that makes her braid shake."

Too bad that the original character of Rapunzel is a small ugly guy...

EDIT: THAT WAS STUPID! ... I got Rapunzel and Rumpelstielzchen confused... Me bad...

 

[Fasckira]

I recall reading on the Escapist a few weeks back that it was already determined to be a puzzle game. Its nice to have it officially confirmed though, and hearing about the morality meter is pretty cool!

Im still keen to check this out, thanks for the write up Susan.