Catherine Classic: Classics are called Klassic for a Reason

So I make the habit of writing about games that I rate 5/5 stars as there should always be justification on why I made that choice. Catherine Classic is the best edition of the three versions out (Catherine for Xbox/ PS3 is different from Catherine Classic for PC, and Catherine Full Body is the other version). The flow of the story, gameplay, characters, and competitive scene are what keep this game near and dear to my heart and why I can say this is a perfect game in my eyes.


Catherine is a story about Vincent Brooks, and his issues with his romantic life. He has Katherine who is his long time girlfriend who has been pressuring him into settling down with marriage, and there is Catherine who is a new girl that has come into his life who shows him what life is not being tied down. While he decides what path is the right one, there have been reports of a nightmare that has been killing people in their sleep. Throughout the game he answers questions about his beliefs of relationships and traverses up block towers to complete nightmares in this cross-genre game so he can discover his path to traverse down with his romantic life.

This game caught me by surprise, I played it as more of a bet saying this game was going to be “hot anime garbage.” When playing it, I was weirdly entranced with the story and cast of the game. Vincent, who is probably the biggest scumbag I have ever played as in a game, was oddly relatable in some areas. I was also growing up so I was thinking of some of these questions and concerns that he was experiencing. The rapid nature of his story and the quick, adrenaline rushing of the puzzles. It just felt like a natural combo, and it got me hooked. Over the years I tried to do a play through, and it ages like a fine full-bodied wine.

So let’s start with the gameplay, where a majority of the game is a puzzle game and the other half is a social simulator. Puzzles are a simple concept: climb up the tower by moving blocks without the floor falling beneath you. This brings a sense of “oh shit I need to get moving” as you are on this invisible timer. There is also one level a night where you have a boss chasing you as another layer of challenge. The puzzles never hit a moment where it felt impossible to complete as you had multiple paths to victory, and that satisfying “edge” sound made when you move blocks just hits differently every time you complete a complex formation to climb up to the next area.

The social simulator happens between nights, where you talk to other individuals about their struggles in their relationships within the bar and inbetween stages each night. Each character is diverse with their issues and almost feel lifelike in how they approach their struggles. Some people view women as objects, others feel failure for how their last relationship went. Each character feels full of soul and well created within the game.

Speaking of characters, the whole cast from side characters to main cast are well written and work well in their intended roles. Katherine is vastly responsible and values her order in life, while Catherine shows the freedom of being with whoever you want, whenever you want. They both show how and why you would want to live your life that way. Them not delivering it as a good versus bad system, but as an order versus freedom system is amazing as it shows none of your options are technically wrong. Your friends also give input and ask you questions that can affect the outcome of the story too. Each with their own demons they face, and you learn how they overcome or fail to in the story.

Now the best part that even I didn’t know for a long time, the competitive and speedrunning scene. You can play online and local best on the PC version of the game (which is where the classic version of this game resides). This game plays similar to a fighting game according to some, but it is a game of either knocking off your opponent or being the first to climb up the tower. There are stage lists and certain rules for how you play the games out, and it is a great world to explore as some of these people are still kicking in their groups. The speed running area is for the “Tower of Babel” mode that gives you randomly generated paths to climb up. So many compete for the best times on those 4 stages. I would also give that mode a run.

It’s hard to put into words why this game works and is such a complete 5/5 star experience. A social simulation, horror, puzzle game is a weird combination that works way too well. I would definitely give this game a shot as I bet you have not played anything like this. You will be entranced by the story, cast, and gameplay for years to come and always find a way back to enjoy this game whenever you pick it up again.

After finishing this game I can say that this is one of my favorite stories and general characters from Atlus. I think for the most part Vincent while a douche is a very enjoyable character and making him grow as you see fit is nice, and characters like Jonny,Orlando and Tobias are a realistic and enjoyable group of friends for him. as someone who is a novice at puzzle games I still found this game pretty fun and I got the hang of at the latter part of the game. it's a fun game and you should play it if you enjoy other Atlus games

I abandoned this for absolutely no reason other than I have other games to play. Speaking of other games to play I'm totally lacking in that department so if anyone would like to reply and recommend video games that I'd like to play to me please do because I can't find anything at all that suits my interests and it's getting annoying because playing video games is what I do and I can't find anything that's gripped me lately. I can't even think of any games coming out that I have any vested interest in and it's getting quite quite frustrating to the point that I'm beginning to freak so pleeeeease helpppp

Catherine foi um jogo que me surpreendeu, nunca tive nenhum interesse por jogos que envolvam puzzle, é simplesmente um gênero que não me agrada, mas com Catherine foi diferente, a gameplay é extremamente intuitiva e divertida chegando ao ponto de você ir dormir pensando em subir bloquinhos ( é sério kk), ao mesmo tempo os momentos em que você passa interagindo com os personagens e se envolvendo na trama são incríveis, essa estrutura de escolhas que determinam a rota da história é muito bem feita, você realmente se sente dentro da história. Creio que os momentos no bar foram meus favoritos, veja, a pandemia debilitou muito essa parte da minha vida em sair com os amigos para conversar beber e curtir, e Catherine me fez sentir bem ao passar tempo no bar me divertindo com aqueles personagens excêntricos e cheios de problemas para contar. O elenco todo é muito bem apresentado, todos os personagens com suas labutas e problemas descarregados em uma mesa de bar logo antes de serem obrigados a subir bloquinhos por sua vida. A trilha sonora é belíssima, tanto as que você pode escolher no bar quanto as que você escuta nos momentos de puzzle ou em cutscenes, algumas como as do bar contam com trilhas clássicas de outras franquias da Atlus o que é muito interessante. Sem entrar em detalhes os finais de Catherine são magníficos, todos fazem muito sentido com as escolhas que você vai tomando ao decorrer do jogo, é uma história muito bem amarrada em minha visão, ela não deixa pontas soltas na trama, sem dúvidas esse foi um dos jogos que joguei na vida.

It's a super fun game puzzle game, but the story gets weird at some parts with very... unfortunate implications and kind of a weird message...? I heard they fixed some of it in Full Body, but I haven't looked at it at all yet. The voice acting, animation, music, and character designs are excellent. Graphics hold up very well despite the base game being made in 2011. However hearing "edge" constantly made me want to die. I'd say give it a shot if you like other works by Atlus, puzzle games, and can overlook some weird shit story-wise. Erica deserved so much better and Jonny was my favorite.

Muito bom! A gameplay de puzzle é unica e desafiadora, os dialogos do jogo são excelentes, os Npcs do jogo são bem bacanas de se dialogar, principalmente os do bar, achei bem bacana tb a forma q eles vão desaparecendo conforme tu progide no jogo devido aos pesadelos, o bar tb é bem bacana de se jogar, alem de dialogar com os npcs da pra beber, trocar a musica q toca no bar, descer o cagao, responder as mensagens, jogar o minigame da Rapunzel. A História tb é boa, tem uns twists muito bons e cria umas situações muito boas que contribuem pra fazer o jogador sentir empatia pelo protagonista. A tematica central do jogo tb é boa, 8.8