Atlus’ adult-oriented Catherine now has a demo
Catherine, the brilliantly bizarre HD debut from the same team behind the Persona series, finally has a demo. At least if you’re Japanese or pretending to be Japanese – your system has to be registered in the land of the rising sun if you want to experience all the pillow-clutching, boxer-sporting, fork-stabbing weirdness of this adults-only title.
Players control 32-year old “herbivore man” Vincent who, after meeting mysterious 22-year old femme fatale Catherine, begins having strange dreams in which he must climb an endless stairway in his skivvies or die, avoiding sheep people and chainsaw babies along the way. The story switches back and forth between the lucid nightmare puzzle-platforming sections and the daytime dialog tree sections where players avoid commitment and embrace alcoholism. And it’s all sprinkled liberally throughout with stunning anime sequences from Tekkon Kinkreet’s Studio 4°C.
Catherine releases in Japan on February 17 for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. There are as of yet no plans for Atlus to release the game in the United States, but you can create a PlayStation Network Japanese account to try the demo, available now. Sure, you won’t being able to understand a single word the characters are saying, but that shouldn’t impede your enjoyment of the pushing and pulling puzzle gameplay. Or even the story for that matter, which look so trippy, it might just make more sense if you don’t know what the hell they’re really saying.
-kristen spencer
