Catherine: Full Body Reviews
If approached with an open mind, Catherine can be a thorough lens on the consequences of actions, both in games and in life. That quality doesn’t play much of a part in whether it’s “good” or “bad”, but it (as well as damn near everything else in the game) certainly pushes it firmly into one of a kind, and I would argue that and the other elements described in this review makes it absolutely worth experiencing.
In the same way you visit your hometown after being away for a decade and notice all the changes in familiar places, Catherine: Full Body’s alterations may come as a surprise to those who held the original in high regard. After the initial shock wears away, however, it’s clear to see the wisdom behind the choices made, and Atlus, yet again, achieves greatness.
Catherine: Full Body will have everyone talking, from it’s incredibly vibrant yet gritty design, it’s fascinating tale of love, devotion, lifestyle, and deviancy. It’s risk/reward style of prodding it’s own audience into making conscious decisions, and it’s impeccable style in anime-like scenarios, that mix well with it’s incredibly challenging gameplay. Catherine: Full Body is no nightmare, but a dream come true for devoted fans of the original, and truly a welcoming experience for new fans, alike.
Catherine: Full Body gave me a truly unique experience that I haven’t had before with any video game, especially because I hadn’t played the original release. It was definitely one of the darkest and most intense stories I can remember.
Apart from an excellent action puzzle game, Catherine explores and questions masculinity in a few very interesting ways --that's why it's so disappointing that it never commits to its own findings.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Catherine: Full Body is a complete package. It has something for everyone: a solid and replayable campaign mode; an arcade mode that features more puzzles; competitive and co-op modes, and most important of all, a surprisingly good puzzle game. Although some bits in the story are problematic, Catherine’s visuals, as well as the story’s mature themes dealing with commitment, relationships, and infidelity, are generally entertaining.
By and large, Catherine: Full Body does most of what you want to see from a remastered game. It makes improvements upon some of its more notable flaws, adds some more content and does a great job of meshing all of it together. Is this enough to convince people who found the first game too difficult or frustrating to come back and give it anther shot? I hope so, but I am not entirely convinced. That being said, there is enough new content here that those who enjoyed the original or never played it in the first place should enjoy what Full Body has to offer.
Catherine: Full Body is a moderately successful remaster. The new gameplay elements have convinced me, the help against the high difficulty is subtle but easy to reach and the many small changes in detail and the Easter-Eggs for connoisseurs of the original brought me a lot of joy while discovering them. I find it all the more incomprehensible that the graphics and textures were not screwed up again and that the voices of the characters are still asynchronous, which threw me out of the enjoyment of the story again and again. Due to the very strange mix of puzzle game and visual novel, there ist still no alternative to Catherine: Full Body and it is still a lot of fun.
Review in German | Read full review
Whether you played the original or not, Catherine: Full Body should be high on your list if you want a game that truly reflects real life and all its absurdities.
Catherine: Full Body is the full Catherine experience and presents some of the best moments of gameplay and storytelling from any game I’ve played to date. The game’s newly added scenes and features will make it feel new to those who have played before, but if it’s your first time than you are playing the best version imaginable.
Regardless of whether players have experienced Catherine before, Catherine: Full Body fulfills its goal of giving players a reason to revisit this one-of-a-kind tale. The willingness to distance itself from traditional black-and-white romantic tropes allows the game to tell a captivating narrative, breaking the fourth wall and allowing players to act as if they found themselves in Vincent’s predicament. The addition of Rin has allowed for exploration of a different side of love, asking more thought-provoking questions that seek to uncover what true happiness means to the player. In the end, Catherine: Full Body is essentially, more Catherine, and fans of the original could not ask for more.
As a game, Catherine Full Body plays very well and the flow between interactive fiction and puzzle solving is surprisingly seamless, offering a great hook. In that sense, the game has aged well and holds up as a great visual novel. But in terms of the story the game tells across it’s vast, branching narrative, there are question marks around some of the content in the game. Both in the way it defines the relationships we share as human beings and how it normalises some individual behaviour in those relationships.
It's the quintessential way to experience Catherine, especially for those who may have missed out on this gem of the decade. The story, a relatable one of regret, commitment, and facing the music, should resonate with those looking to get emotionally invested in a great, timeless romance.
There’s no doubting that Catherine: Full Body is wacky and bizarre, but those qualities are embraced in a mighty enjoyable way. It is as stylish as it is thought-provoking with an extra layer of childlike hilarity that ensures you’re kept entertained, whether that’s when divulging in the game’s narrative or during Vincent’s nightmarish climbs. Is it mainstream? No. Will everyone enjoy it if they give it a chance? Yes. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, but Catherine: Full Body explores the more mature aspects of human intimacy and the many, many pitfalls that come with love and growing up in ways that not many other games manage. Add to that a solid story, enjoyable block-based puzzling, and some fresh additions built entirely for the new release, and you’ll quickly find that Atlus are onto another winner here.
With a new love interest, a new ending, hours of new content and a gameplay system that's unlike anything out there, Catherine: Full Body is a brilliant remaster of a cult hit.
Catherine: Full Body is an indelicate yet thoughtful game, a messy and at-times eyebrow-raising precis on gender and relationships, but a unique and worthwhile experience all the same.
With nearly perfect gameplay and entertaining stories, Full Body will prove to be the perfect blend. If you're a new player or even just a fan of the original, Catherine has never been more worth picking up.
I was a fan of the original Catherine, and I’m pleased to find the changes are mostly for the better. If you like puzzle games, specifically ones about finding patterns through the noise, and don’t mind potentially uncomfortable questions about mature topics, I highly recommend picking up Catherine: Full Body.