Back in 2011, Atlus released Catherine, a combination visual novel, dating simulation, and puzzle game that tells an immersive story about guilt, regret, and infidelity while challenging players with creepy yet clever puzzle elements. Now, the game comes to Nintendo Switch as Catherine: Full Body, which adds tons of new features to the base game such as a new character, five new endings, new cutscenes, graphical upgrades, and new modes.
In Catherine: Full Body, players take control of Vincent Brookes, a systems engineer that has enjoyed the bachelor's life despite being in a long-term relationship. When Vincent's girlfriend Katherine reveals that she is ready to take their relationship to the next step, Vincent immediately feels trapped, and fears that the laid back life he once led is coming to an end. While struggling to make sense of his future, Vincent meets Catherine (with a C) who appears to embody everything that he is about to lose. She is spontaneous and playful and is the exact opposite of Katherine. Unfortunately, Vincent gives into temptation and engages in a one night stand with Catherine, starting an ill-advised affair.
As his relationship with Katherine develops, Vincent began experiencing nightmares where he is forced to climb high towers in order to escape his subconscious. In between cutscenes where the story of the game plays out, players face challenging puzzles where they must move blocks and help Vincent escape death both in the subconscious and in real-life. Although the puzzles start out easy, they become challenging as the game goes by with special blocks that crank up the difficulty to the next level. On higher-level puzzles, players will encounter cracked blocks, ice, bomb, and black holes, among many others, which makes the puzzle aspect of the game both addicting and challenging.
Throughout the game, players will also encounter other men, who were transformed into talking sheep and will share some techniques that players can use to move blocks and find an escape back into reality. A new feature that was added to the Switch version of Catherine: Full Body is the ability to pause while solving a puzzle, which allows players to take a quick breather and look over some techniques that were previously taught by the sheep men. This tiny addition to the game makes the puzzle section a bit more manageable, especially when players find themselves stuck on a difficult puzzle.
Apart from the pause option, Catherine: Full Body also allows players to undo their last move when they mess up a puzzle. At first, players are given three undo moves, but players can increase that number by picking up pillows, which can be found all over the puzzle towers. Similar to the pause feature, this simple tweak increases the chances of players to solve a puzzle and avoid that game over screen that is not only frustrating but also horrifying at times.
The puzzles in Catherine: Full Body can get frustrating to solve, even with its smooth integration with the Switch's Joy-Cons. There are moments that players will find themselves in a state of panic especially with all those monstrosities waiting beneath. Sometimes the puzzles can be frustrating but the game does offer a new Safety Mode that lets an AI take over until players want to retake control. This new feature is extremely convenient when dealing with difficult puzzles, and is a welcome addition for players who only want to enjoy the game's story without solving a single puzzle. Although skipping puzzles takes away the challenge of Catherine: Full Body, it will still allow players to stay immersed in the game's story and experience Vincent's wild and creepy adventure.
Storywise, Catherine: Full Body retains the immersive narrative of the original game. In the revamped version, Atlus introduces Quatherine, who is an amnesiac pianist that becomes Vincent's neighbor and gets entangled in his relationship problems. Despite not being featured in the original game, Quatherine's storyline is deeply woven into Catherine: Full Body, making this version of the game a must-buy for those who have only played the 2011 release.
Apart from the new character, Catherine: Full Body also features tons of new cutscenes not found in the original, and five new endings that increases the game's replay value. However, some of Catherine: Full Body's story can sometimes feel outdated and problematic.  Of course, one other controversy that the original game faced is the outdated notion of a bachelor's perspective when it comes to handling relationships. However, one important thing that Catherine: Full Body did is to not portray Vincent as a good guy and his actions and choices were never justified.
All in all, despite not being a game that is often affiliated with the family-friendly Switch, Catherine: Full Body is a well-developed port to Nintendo's hybrid system. Given all the new features added to the game combined with the seamless controls and the excellent English voice acting of Michelle Ruff, and The Last of Us2 stars Troy Baker, and Laura Bailey, Catherine: Full Body is the definitive edition of the popular Atlus game. Some story elements may be outdated, but the game still offers an immersive story with well-fleshed out characters. It may not be a game for everyone, especially given its sexual nature, but it is a must-buy for players who are interested in a challenging puzzle game mixed with a mature and at times, creepy story.
Catherine: Full Body is available now for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PS Vita. Game ZXC was provided with a Switch code for this review.
Catherine
Catherine is a mature adventure puzzle game for multiple platforms that was developed by Atlus and published by Sega. The game features an adult-themed romance story, challenging puzzles, varied stages, and a quirky aesthetic.