Catherine: Full Body

Released on July 7, 2020 by Atlus and developed by Studio Zero for the Nintendo Switch, Catherine: Full Body combines fast-paced block puzzles with an erotic visual novel.

A good friend of mine gave me the Katsura Hashino directed Catherine: Full Body for the Nintendo Switch for Christmas. He loves the Persona series, also directed by Hashino, and had seen the game had gained a reputation as a more mature title. It was a kind gift...of a bizarre game.

 

Or I don't know, I guess this is normal?

Catherine: Full Body centers around an early thirty-something named Vincent. Vincent is essentially a manchild, working some tech job, living in a dirty, beer-can strewn bachelor pad apartment. He's been dating the same girl, Katherine, for years, forgoing deeper romantic commitment with her to spend most of his nights at the local bar with his friends. Suddenly, though, he starts having very visceral nightmares. In these dark dreams, he's surrounded by anthropomorphic sheep, with whom he's forced to climb a quickly crumbling tower made of blocks. There's a spike-filled pit down below--and if Vincent falls off the tower and dies in his dream, it seems that he might just die in real life. The thing is, in the morning, he can't remember what he's dreamed--only that it was stressful, and that it negatively affected his sleep. He also can't remember how a stunning woman named Catherine got in his bed. That's right...Catherine with a "C." It seems that, unbeknownst to even himself, Vincent is having an affair...and thus, Catherine: Full Body begins.

 

Me when I finished the intro to this review.

You ever watch The Bachelor or Grey's Anatomy? If so, apologies, because I'm about to act like a huge jerk...
You know how really basic people's favorite shows are The Bachelor and Grey's Anatomy? You know how those same people generally post very, very basic romantic musings on social media? Why won't guys commit? Why do guys always cheat? Why don't guys value your heart? And women? Why are women shrews who just want to trap guys in relationships? Why don't women like nice guys? Why do they always go for the bad ones?

This is those posts, but a game!

Well, get ready for a lot of that here, told through a very horny lens. Vincent is an idiot who doesn't know how to talk to his girlfriend. The plot of the game could have been resolved if he'd just been honest and asked some very common sense questions early on in this game. I often felt like Catherine: Full Body was immersing me in the kind of drama that I've purposefully avoided throughout the entirety of my life. There are times where I felt like I was stuck in a dumb person's Facebook feed. Apologies to dumb people, but I don't care about this kind of self-inflicted drama. There are times in this game that you even have to answer questions like, "Has cheating ever caused problems in your relationship," or "Do you think marriage leads to happiness." It all feels very silly, and the game's horniness doesn't help.

Then again, maybe the game just set so much of its story in the shower because it was sponsored by Bed Bath and Beyond.

Yes, Catherine: Full Body most definitely wants to get it on with something. Sexy imagery dominates, with the game chock-full of bedroom scenes, shower scenes, etc. The camera is about as leering as possible. While there is a lot of swearing, there's somehow no full nudity here, though for some reason, you can pick up a pair of glasses in the bar bathroom that allow you to see any character you come across in their underwear. Thankfully, the game is at least both misogynist AND misandrist in its perspectives, as not only are both women AND men objectified, but both are essentially boiled down to their stupidest, most stereotypical types--men are horndogs who just want to sleep with women and be free to do what they want, and women are shrews who just want to enslave men in boring relationships.

As you should. 

These story portions of the game mostly just involve the player watching series of animated cutscenes. Thankfully, these anime-style cutscenes, are very well-animated and look great, and the voice-acting is solid. In between them, you're also at least given some autonomy, as you can wander around the bar from a third-person perspective, talking to your friends and other bar patrons, checking messages on your phone, and even playing a fun arcade game. These sections are pretty limited in their scope, but thankfully, neither the visual novel, nor bar exploration are the major facet of Full Body's gameplay. The main reason to play this game is also thankfully the longest portion of the game: the puzzle sections.

Give me block puzzles or give me dea...I guess the other stuff in this game.

After you get through each day's story (the game takes place over ten days) and bar segment (once you walk out of the bar door, the day ends and you go home and go to bed), Vincent goes back to his apartment and starts dreaming...and that's when the puzzling begins. Full Body's block tower puzzles are grand brain-teasers, and stand in stark contrast to the game's goofy storyline. Vincent starts on a low level and must climb his way up, as the tower slowly crumbles from bottom to top. Towers are composed of stacked lines of blocks, and Vincent must push and pull them around to climb upward, and escape his bloody fate. As the nightmares grow more complex, so do the towers, with new blocks and traps introduced as the game progresses.

 

Also, there's this demon baby.

The rewarding puzzle gameplay is a perfect mix of the fast and frantic with the methodical and cathartic. At first, the quickly deteriorating towers might cause the player to panic, but once you get into a rhythm, everything slows down, and each bit of elevation gained feels like a major victory. I often found myself fist-pumping when I'd get to the top. I never grew bored with the puzzles, either. The game does a great job of mixing things up, and including some fun power-ups and tools, like a serum that allows Vincent to skip up two floors of blocks. 

 

 The better to get away from demon baby.

The later puzzles are also absolutely devious, often requiring maximum brain-power to progress even past the first few floors of blocks. Thankfully, the game also includes an undo function. If you accidentally push or pull a block in the wrong direction, or if you realize the strategy you're pursuing isn't going to work, you can undo your moves a limited amount of times. You get an undo for each block you move, though this limits out at three--thankfully, you can collect "pillows" throughout stages, which increase your maximum amount of undues for that level only. Each night's stage is broken up into multiple levels, with later nights' stages often including four or five. There's plenty of puzzle gameplay here, and the ability to save frequently, so that progress from level to level is never lost.

Ewe don't know what ewer missing!

I'd be remiss if I didn't also praise the dark atmosphere of the puzzle stages. The developers added a lot of religious imagery, and a nightmarish dungeon vibe that really enhances and invokes not only the feeling of a nightmare, but dark, grand fantasy. The puzzle aspect of the gameplay thankfully makes up about 60-70% of the game, and while the controls can sometimes be just a little too loose, the undo option literally undues any frustration. These segments are an absolute joy.

Hmmm...hang out with sheepmen as you climb a death tower, or hangout in this dingy bar with these old ladies?

But again, the puzzle sections aren't the entire game. You'll have to get through the visual novel sections as well...which maybe you'll enjoy? I know I didn't love them, but if you're into that sort of puerile drama, more power to you, and I'm sorry I called you dumb! I have to give the game credit too, for as juvenile as the story feels, and for as reductive as it makes the characters, and for as annoying it is that the game gives you choices for things that don't feel to matter, while forcing you to helplessly watch Vincent bumble through his drama without having a choice to make him act smarter, at the end, there are actually some mature story points.

Wait, you didn't come here to make me a sandwich? WHAT GIVES?!

Yes, it turns out all of those questions you answer throughout the game actually have an effect on the game's ending...or, I should say, endings. Full Body has 90 minutes of vastly different endings, and these actually have more...adult things to say. I wish the entire game had the endings' more mature and well-reasoned tone. 

 

Wait a minute...does Super Rapunzel just have the same exact gameplay as the block puzzle sections, but with lo-res graphics? Are you trying to cheat me, game?!

Either way, though, Catherine: Full Body, which is an updated version of a 2011 PS3/Xbox 360/PC-release called Catherine, which includes all the former games' DLC, plus new content, won't be for everyone. If you enjoy Tetris-esque, brain-teasing puzzles, though, and don't mind the other stuff, this is your game. Thankfully, Full Body also includes options to try puzzles, and compete against others at puzzles, without even venturing into the story.

And you can even play as the bar server!

I have to say, though I didn't appreciate the majority of the game's story or perspective, I blasted through its 15 hours of gameplay, and I don't regret it. Great gift, Brandon!

OVER!

SCORE: 6.8/10