Atlus are a legendary publisher in my book; given to totally tongue-in-cheek press releases full of self-reflexive nods to the industry (such as their faux-announcing all future Atlus games would be released through the ESRB [http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=65269]) and generally taking it upon themselves to deliver gaming mana from Japan to the RPG starved multitudes of the western world.

Catherine is Atlus’ latest genre-blurring effort, dissimilar Persona 4 (their previous RPG, and my favourite) in all but the real-world/other-world parallel.  It follows the mis/fortunes of Vincent, a fairly normal Japanese guy in this early 30s as he struggles to come to terms with his long-term girlfriend Katherine wanting to make the transition from being married to her job to being married to him.  Whilst in the early throes of this dilemma he meets what is clearly Katherine’s moral and physical opposite, and I imagine the central thrust of the game’s narrative will be concerned with Vincent (and your) choosing to either remain faithful to Katherine and take the plunge, or shirk responsibility in favour of instant gratification. 

Running constantly parallel to Vincent’s struggle is the mysterious spate of young men waking up dead.  Combined with the running theme of sheep imagery and references (curiously, Catherine’s curly hair vaguely resembles the horn of a ram) and, I hope, a suitably ridiculous sub-plot involving Vincent’s two friends, Catherine suggests a wonderful hodgepodge of visual novel, dating sim, murder mystery and intriguing gameplay.

Speaking of which, from what I can tell from the demo, gameplay consists mainly of a bizarre action/puzzle hybrid taking place in Vincent’s nightmares.  You scramble up a tower made of interlocking blocks, and the challenge comes from the pushing, pulling, and scrambling around you have to do to ascend - in time to avoid being skewered by the groaning, nightmarish monstrosity climbing slowly out of the abyss below you.  Of the two stages you clamber around in your all-too-short a stay, one is a fairly straightforward tutorial, the other a more challenging albeit very similar set up.