Catherine: A Thrilling Action-Adventure Game
Catherine is an action-adventure game developed by Atlus for the Xbox One platform. It follows the story of Vincent Brooks, who is struggling to choose between two girlfriends with opposite personalities named Katherine and Catherine. Throughout the game, Vincent is forced to participate in realistic nightmares while making relationship choices during the day. The game features two narratives folded one into another, with the outer layer being a TV show called "The Midnight Versus," and the inner layer being the adventures of the "Catherine" world.
The gameplay in Catherine consists of two stages, with the protagonist's activities separating them. During the day, the game follows standard visual novel mechanics, such as walking, listening to dialogues, and watching cinematic pieces. However, the action-adventure gameplay reveals itself at night, where Vincent has to climb a set of stairs by removing and climbing blocks to avoid traps. If he fails, the protagonist dies in real life.
Although the game received commercial success, its sexist and misogynistic storylines were criticized by game journalists. Nevertheless, the game is still popular, and Atlus is releasing a remaster for PS4 and Vita.
