Previews

Risky proposition

Catherine must have been a tough game to pitch for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and it's just as hard to describe in words. It's part horror, part comedy, part platform puzzle game with some role playing adventure elements thrown in, all mixed with a story revolving around love, sex, responsibility and freedom. Players step into the shoes of Vincent, a thirty-something guy with a fear of commitment to his long-term girlfriend Katherine, who escapes his daily pressures by spending regular nights out drinking with friends.

But things take a sinister turn one evening when Vincent's easily seduced by a beautiful woman called Catherine. He wakes up beside her the following morning nursing a headache, unsure how the previous night's events played out. Did he and Catherine just have some innocent fun, or did something serious happen between them? Should he tell his girlfriend, and will he ever see this mysterious woman again? Little does he know the extent of the trouble he's about to find himself in.

Choose your path wisely

Vincent's dizzying, surreal journey takes place over nine in-game days. His waking hours are filled with a mixture of impossibly stylish anime cut-scenes and visits to the Stray Sheep bar, featuring adventure-style gameplay elements like chatting with friends and fellow drinkers, and reading and responding to text messages.

As events unfold, players must make a series of moral choices that impact which of multiple possible game endings they receive. As in real life, almost nothing is black and white, and it's up to players to decide the value of honesty and the importance of facing up to their actions? Either way, someone's going to get hurt, and possibly even die.

The stuff of nightmares

The bulk of traditional gameplay takes place during Vincent's sleeping hours as his fears, doubts, and growing guilt about commitment and fidelity follow him into his dreams, manifesting themselves as nightmares featuring horribly disfigured monsters and a ticking clock. These sections challenge players to climb a giant tower, pulling and pushing blocks to create new pathways, while the cubes below disappear one line at a time, meaning Vincent will fall to his death if he doesn't ascend quickly.

He'll slip on icy blocks, be blown up by exploding ones or impaled by hidden spikes, while power-ups scattered around the environment offer lightning bolts that zap people obstructing the path to safety, and extra retries, which are much-needed given the challenging nature of the puzzle gameplay. Each level ends with Vincent being chased by a scary boss plucked straight from his inner turmoil and twisted into a horrifying form.

Based on what we've seen to date, Catherine is an outrageously unique title that's stunning to look at and cleverly blends the everyday with the surreal. While we don't know how Vincent's tale will turn out, we can't wait to poke around in his troubled psyche some more when the full game launches.