You need to guide Vincent up a sheer, crumbling tower constructed entirely of cubes and other cuboids, sometimes while being chased by a monstrous personification of one of Vincent's objects of anxiety. What's causing the nightmares is a mysterious unknown at first, but from the outset, it's clear that they act somewhat as a lucid metaphor for Vincent's internal strife. It's nice to have that safe haven, because when Vincent goes home to bed each night, the nightmares start, and that's when things get really stressful. It's an incredibly pleasant atmosphere to be in, and it succeeds in replicating the quiet delight of spending a night drinking with friends with no particular occasion. The evocative soundtrack helps to foster this relaxed contemplative state, as does the game's holistic but understated audiovisual style. The ebb and flow of your social actions-chatting to your friends, ordering another drink, checking your phone intermittently, and spending time with Vincent's idle thoughts-make the ritual of whittling away time at the Stray Sheep strangely satisfying in its mundanity.
CATHERINE FULL BODY ART FULL
Full Body's inclusion of the Japanese vocal track also provides an interesting and different take on character performances if you've already experienced the English version before. Getting to know Vincent's deeply flawed but sympathetic friends, as well as peeling away at the backstories of the other bar patrons as the week goes on, helps to explore themes revolving around maturity and the nature of human relationships. Managing Vincent's connection to his phone, and, in turn, how he treats the women in his life from a distance, sways how he might later react to significant plot points and revelations. Vincent's journey is a deeply introspective one, and though the plot's major beats unfold in the cutscenes that bookend each day, the nuances of his character come through in his interactions with other people. You can skip these social sections entirely if you wish, but doing so robs you of the game's most engrossing component. Time ticks along as you perform actions in the bar, and its patrons will come and go. Vincent will regularly be contacted throughout the night (by Katherine and his new fling, Catherine), and how you choose to respond to their text messages and calls, if at all, will impact Vincent's ethical compass-represented as a meter with opaque binaries. A key component which you do have influence over, however, is your cell phone. The conversations between characters are mostly predetermined, though the onus to spend Vincent's limited time having them is on you. It's in these regular social scenarios where Vincent can confide in his friends, talk through his state of mind, sound off on his next course of action, and, hopefully, find a resolution. Every night after work, they all get together at their local bar, The Stray Sheep, to hang out. One morning, after a big night of drinking, he wakes up next to someone who is absolutely not his girlfriend, and what follows is a frantic, weeklong crusade to try and deal with the repercussions and decide what he wants to do with his life before Katherine can discover what's really going on.Ĭentral to Vincent's coping process is his aforementioned core group of friends. Vincent has recently found himself plagued by frequent nightmares of scrambling up a crumbling tower, and he's losing sleep and in a constant haze because of them. His core group of friends are in different circumstances, but they share similar dilemmas being in your thirties is hard.
Vincent is a 32-year-old man in a long-term relationship with his girlfriend, Katherine, and at a stagnant point in his life where he isn't exactly sure what he wants for his future. Eight years later, Catherine: Full Body is a remaster that demonstrates how well the game's distinctive premise and exploration of adult themes still hold up, even if its new additions to the plot don't fit in seamlessly. How did it happen? What the hell are you going to do? How on earth are you going to explain and amend the relationships with all parties involved? What kind of deep-seated anxieties might have led to this moment? In 2011, Atlus' Persona studio explored this predicament with Catherine, using a peculiar blend of social simulation and Sokoban-influenced action-puzzling. Think about the kind of confusion and dread that might race through your head at that moment. Imagine that you wake up one morning and, to your horror, discover that you had inadvertently committed an act of infidelity.
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