Quite a surprise for me to learn that Catherine was mostly a puzzle-solving game, rather than a Visual Novel or similar.
The story is rather simple, with Vincent's long-standing girlfriend beginning to talk about making things permanent and the emotional turmoil it brings up in him, not sure if he wants to go that step yet. And then temptation arrives and complicates things. A definite emphasis on the emotional aspect of a hurdle in a relationship, which is quite nice. It's not a huge deal that involves the entire world, it's just the story of a problem in a relationship. Unfortunately, it does go a bit of a bigger spectrum, as more of the nightmares' meanings get explored.
Majority of the game will be spent doing the puzzles, though. The story is told as nothing but scenes, akin to a visual novel, before going back to the puzzles. Though you can also talk to sheep, whom you can help deal with their own problems. And you'd better, or they'll die...
The puzzles of moving blocks to head upward is pretty difficult. While talking to some sheep can have them come up with 'techniques' on how to move blocks to head up, it feels like the game expects you to know these before you play the game. And even when knowing the techniques, the game suffers from Fake Difficulty later on, with anything involving a lot of ice blocks or random blocks.
The English voice actors are decent, though I personally have to say that I feel like Troy Baker works more for Vincent late in the game, when he's more confident and not early on, fretting about things. And I have to say, I found Laura Bailey to be a terrible decision for the tempting Catherine. I personally found her voice to be too childish, which really made any 'sexy' scene with her come across as very uncomfortable...
If I could add alterations to the game, it would include an option to turn voice acting off entirely or have Dual Audio. The other would be to remove the separation of Catherine and Katherine, as - while the pronounciation is identical - the subtitles result in telling you which girl is being talked about, which ruins the suspense or shock value of certain scenes.
Overall, a definitely addicting game, despite the obnoxious difficulty at times. But if one is terrible at three-dimensional thinking or puzzles overall, I'd suggest to just look online for the scenes.
Wonderful Concept
Quite a surprise for me to learn that Catherine was mostly a puzzle-solving game, rather than a Visual Novel or similar.
The story is rather simple, with Vincent's long-standing girlfriend beginning to talk about making things permanent and the emotional turmoil it brings up in him, not sure if he wants to go that step yet. And then temptation arrives and complicates things. A definite emphasis on the emotional aspect of a hurdle in a relationship, which is quite nice. It's not a huge deal that involves the entire world, it's just the story of a problem in a relationship. Unfortunately, it does go a bit of a bigger spectrum, as more of the nightmares' meanings get explored.
Majority of the game will be spent doing the puzzles, though. The story is told as nothing but scenes, akin to a visual novel, before going back to the puzzles. Though you can also talk to sheep, whom you can help deal with their own problems. And you'd better, or they'll die...
The puzzles of moving blocks to head upward is pretty difficult. While talking to some sheep can have them come up with 'techniques' on how to move blocks to head up, it feels like the game expects you to know these before you play the game. And even when knowing the techniques, the game suffers from Fake Difficulty later on, with anything involving a lot of ice blocks or random blocks.
The English voice actors are decent, though I personally have to say that I feel like Troy Baker works more for Vincent late in the game, when he's more confident and not early on, fretting about things. And I have to say, I found Laura Bailey to be a terrible decision for the tempting Catherine. I personally found her voice to be too childish, which really made any 'sexy' scene with her come across as very uncomfortable...
If I could add alterations to the game, it would include an option to turn voice acting off entirely or have Dual Audio. The other would be to remove the separation of Catherine and Katherine, as - while the pronounciation is identical - the subtitles result in telling you which girl is being talked about, which ruins the suspense or shock value of certain scenes.
Overall, a definitely addicting game, despite the obnoxious difficulty at times. But if one is terrible at three-dimensional thinking or puzzles overall, I'd suggest to just look online for the scenes.