Genre: Unknown, speculated as Action Adventure
Console: PS3, Xbox360
Vincent, a listless 32-year-old with a marked lack of motivation in both his work and his personal life, has just hooked up with Catherine. A charming 22-year-old with blonde hair and the sort of looks that a lot of men would kill for. It's not a bad catch for someone like Vincent, but he hasn't been able to bask in it that much, thanks to the nightmares he's been having ever since he met her. Every night, it's the same thing: Vincent's climbing up an endless stairway, running into talking sheep and giant hands, and if he stops, he knows he's going to die. In real life. Like a lot of other young men have been doing lately.
So goes the basic plot to Catherine, an action adventure game announced by Atlus over in Japan this week. The first game Atlus has developed in-house for high-definition consoles, the title is being handled by most of the staff behind the company's Persona series -- producer/director Katsura Hashino, character designer Shigenori Soejima, and sound composer Shoji Meguro.
"Before we storm the hi-def consoles with one of our RPGs, we wanted to try making something new," Hashino told Famitsu magazine this week. "These are the results, and it's pretty weird...or, I should say, pretty neat! What's unusual about it is how geared toward adults it is... It may wind up being a love-or-hate kind of game, but to those who find it fascinating, I hope we can provide them with a novel and interesting experience."
Atlus isn't saying much about what exactly Catherine's gameplay is like, although both the cutscenes and the 3D-based action scenes will use a muted anime style. The game itself is due out this winter for the Xbox 360 and PS3 in Japan; Atlus USA hasn't announced an American release yet. Stay tuned for more.
There's a rumor that it takes place in the Persona 3 and 4 continuity. Vincent was supposedly one of the people you could pick up in Tartarus in FemC's playthrough.
