Catherine (game)

Catherine is an erotic horror, puzzle-platformer, adult adventure game developed by Atlus Persona Team and published by Atlus in North America and Japan and by co-published by Deep Silver in Europe. The game has only seen releases in Japan and North America. The cinematic portion of the game is handled by Studio 4°C. 
== Plot ==
In the neighborhood in which Vincent lives, there have recently been a number of bizarre incidents in which people die in their sleep with a look of anguish upon their faces. Strangely enough, all of the victims are young men. The story quickly spreads throughout the media, attracting widespread attention and theories as to the cause of death. A strange rumour begins to spread that if a person dreams of falling, then they must wake up soon or they will be unable to wake at all and die.
Vincent is at a bar contemplating marriage to Katherine, his lover of five years who is pressuring him to get married, when he meets a beautiful and mysterious woman named Catherine. Although there are many vacant seats she sits next to Vincent and she turns out to be exactly his type. The two end up spending the night together at Vincent's house.
After meeting the woman, Vincent begins to have nightmares every single night, which he believes may be related to the rumors. In these dreams, he and several other men, who appear to him as sheep, must escape from various horrors trying to kill him, for if he dies in his dream, he will die in reality. As dreams and reality begin to blend together, Vincent must not only fight to survive, but he must choose between Katherine and Catherine.
== Gameplay ==
Players control a man named Vincent who, after meeting a strange girl named Catherine, begins having strange nightmares, during which he might be killed. The main story mode, Golden Theater, follows the story between Daytime and Nightmare scenarios. During the daytime, Vincent will converse with his friends as well as try to handle his relationship with the two women, Catherine and Katherine. Most of this time takes place in the Stray Sheep bar where Vincent can save and send text messages from his mobile phone, talk to customers, order drinks, play a minigame titled Rapunzel or listen to a jukebox containing tracks from other Atlus games such as the Persona series. 
The Nightmare stages are where the main gameplay takes place. In a nightmarish dreamworld inhabited by other men, who are represented as sheep, Vincent must climb up giant staircases that are slowly collapsing underneath him and safely reach the top. To accomplish this, Vincent must push, pull and climb blocks as quickly as possible while avoiding various traps such as spikes and ice. Climbing up steps in quick succession increases a score multiplier, and at the end of the level, players are given an award based on their score. Each stage is split up into numerous areas, culminating in a boss stage in which a nightmarish creature also attempts to kill Vincent. Items found throughout the levels include pillows which give extra lives, block items that can be placed anywhere in the level and lightning that can destroy sheep which block your path. There are also certain attributes Vincent can get depending on what he drinks during the day. Vincent will die if he falls off the bottom of the level, gets caught by a trap or is killed by a boss, with the game ending if Vincent runs out of retry pillows. In between action stages, Vincent can interact with the other sheep, save his game, learn techniques or spend coins on special items. While playing in easy difficulty, players can push the Select/Back button to correct a single block move.
Throughout the game, the choices the player makes during these sequences will affect the development of Vincent's character and the route the story takes place. These can occur in several ways, such as how Vincent types out a text message to one of the girls, or how he responds to certain questions. The game will feature multiple endings based on the route Vincent takes, and has over twenty hours of gameplay. The game also features a non-linear morality system much more subtle than most other games. Instead of choosing Vincent's reaction at major plot points, the morality meter is affected by responses to seemingly insignificant questions posed by non-player characters, which in turn dictates how Vincent reacts to unexpected situations. Babel Mode features four large stages playable with up to two players, while Vs Colosseum features two players simultaneously playing a stage in order to reach the top first.
Category:Games released in 2011
Category:Games by Atlus
Category:Games that are rated M
Category:Games released on the PlayStation 3
Category:Games released on the Xbox 360