The new trailer for Atlus’ first HD game does something impressive; it leaves you feeling like you know less than before you watched it.
Trailers come in all different types. Some trailers are funny, others are exciting and a few make you sit agog while your mind tries to make sense of what it just saw. The new trailer for Catherine is nestled snuggly in the third category, as psychological freakiness mingles freely supernatural freakiness.
It’s made even more difficult to understand by the fact that it’s in Japanese, but according to Andriasang, the trailer opens with lead character Vincent, talking to his girlfriend Katherine. That’s Katherine with a “K,” by the way, who is a different person from Catherine with a “C.” She says that he’s been acting strangely, while he’s busy having bizarre nightmares/hallucinations. Onscreen text warns that if you have dreams about falling, it’s unlikely that you’ll wake up. Presumably, the comment is aimed at Vincent, but it’s hard to be 100% sure.
Later on, Vincent meets with his friends in a bar, who tell him about a string of bizarre deaths that have happened around the town. Apparently, all the victims were men who had cheated on their girlfriends and Vincent’s friend remarks that cheaters are the lowest of the low. More onscreen text poses the question “Who will die next?” before cutting to Catherine – who is Vincent’s lover – and Vincent in bed. Catherine tells Vincent that she won’t let him cheat on her, and then asks if he’d prefer to die, or be killed.
Back in the bar, Vincent meets a pair of elderly twins, who ask him what he’s hoping to obtain, and whether he’ll be able to become the legendary man. Then the bathroom walls start bleeding while Vincent isn’t looking, only to stop and laugh at him when he looks up.
Even with the language barrier out of the way, Catherine continues to be a baffling game. But it’s an intriguing one too – kind of a mix between Twin Peaks, Fatal Attraction and The Shining. Hopefully it will eventually make its way to the West, if for no other reason than because I want to know what’s going on.
Catherine comes out in Japan for Xbox 360 and PS3 on February 17th.
