PC_Powerplay-Iss_275_2019

GAME REVIEW W

W

hat next, Persona 5 on PC?
It’s hard not to believe that’ll
happen someday soon, now that I have
got Catherine in my Steam library.
It’s been an exciting few years for
previously console-only cult classics
coming to PC, especially from the likes
of SEGA. Catherine is a real oddity:
Part-relationship and life simulator,
and part-pretty good block-climbing
puzzle game.
What’s appealing is its unusual subject
matter. You’re Vincent, a 30-something
in a long-term relationship with
Katherine, who wants to settle down,
and for Vincent to find a better-paying
job. Vincent, though, wakes up next
to another girl called Catherine. After
cheating, he begins to experience
nightmares where he’s in his underwear,
climbing towers of collapsing blocks.
The main part of the game is
climbing and pushing the blocks in
order to ascend these towers, dealing
with occasional modifiers like slippy
blocks made of ice, or blocks that
are traps. It’s about figuring out your
next few moves in advance: building
a staircase to reach the next rung of
the column, or pushing out a few base
blocks to make the entire tower drop
down by one.
At the end of each set of levels, a kind
of boss creature appears, manifesting
as one of Vincent’s worries: a giant
screaming demonic baby, for example,
or a giant evil butt (seriously). It can
be incredibly tricky, and it’s possible to
push enough blocks away to make it
impossible to reach the exit at the top.
Luckily, there’s a rewind function to
take back your last few moves.

The life sim element of the game

breaks up these intense puzzles. Before

Vincent sleeps, he hangs out with his

friends in a bar. Here he interacts with

his pals, some of whom admonish

him for his cheating, as well as the

interesting patrons of the bar who all

have their own stories.

I like Catherine as a puzzle game, but

I don’t love it. The towers are repetitive

to climb, and a couple of the modifiers

are really annoying: being knocked off

a specific block by a boss’s super ability,

for example, or encountering enemies

who can knock you down as well.

I actually think Catherine is slightly

stronger as a life sim, where you can

pore over Vincent’s situation, and make

decisions based on what you think is

right or wrong. You can text back both

Katherine and Catherine, and whatever

you choose to put in the text from a

number of predetermined options will

push a good or evil slider a certain way.

CHEAT CODE

You don’t shape the story, really —

mostly just the ending — but the

subject matter is so unusual that just

being asked these things by a game

is refreshing. Its portrayal has some

WHY

SHOULD

I CARE?

+ You just have a

lot of love to give,

man.

+ Your life is

already an uphill

battle.

+ You have a

werid fetish for

partners with the

same name.

Catherine Classic

Cheat on your partner and pay the price in an offbeat mix of puzzle game and life sim.

DEVELOPERATLUS• PUBLISHERSEGA

http://www.catherinethegame.com

VERDICT:

An odd hybrid of

life simulator and

puzzle game where

both flawed halves

somehow work well

together.^7

problems. By never remembering the

times he sleeps with Catherine, he

doesn’t really have to take responsibility

for it. Likewise, Katherine’s depiction in

the game frames commitment as being

this incredibly scary thing that’s being

inflicted on Vincent.

Catherine, meanwhile, represents

the opposite of that—she’s interested in

Vincent and designed to be the object

of his lust, allowing him to throw aside

the things he’s afraid of and cheat. Both

women are depicted as controlling

figures in his life and not much more.

It’s such a strange combination, to have

these puzzles and life sim elements

awkwardly welded together, but it just

about works. While my opinion of its

themes changes the older I get, I still

find being asked questions like, ‘Who’s

responsible when someone cheats?’ by

a game exciting. SAMUEL ROBERTS

Cheating lands you in

this cheery place.

SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI

3: NOCTURNE

IlovedthismoodyJRPG,

whichislikeamore

grown-upPokémon,

featuring Dante fromDMC

for some reason.

PERSONA 4

ThePersonagames

blend RPGs and life sims

together in a way that’s

really interesting—and

this game’s small town

setting is a neat backdrop.

PERSONA 5

Thelatestentryinthe

series is considered its

best yet, and Phil spent

over100hoursbingingit

onhiscouchtodealwith

mag deadlines.

PERSONA SHOPPER OTHER ATLUS

GAMES THAT SHOULD COME TO PC