It was refreshing to play Catherine, a game in Atlus’s singular style that wasn't an 80+ hour long behemoth. Easily one of the strangest games I’ve played in a good way, the integration of gameplay and story is seamless but also so unconventional. The story was always thoroughly entertaining, with well written dialogue, which can be hilarious at times, for example what some of the sheep in the nightmare have to say. The voice actors in this game absolutely kill it, particularly Vincent’s voice actor who really captures the characters indecisiveness and anxiety, while still making him sympathetic, earnest and ultimately believable.

The anime cutscenes are all excellent and some have a cool motion effect applied to them, this is present in the scene where Catherine and Katherine are arguing. Character models are surprisingly superior to those in Persona 5 Royal even though they both launched in the same year. The gameplay is commendable in its uniqueness however it was a struggle to get adjusted to initially, and can become quite repetitive at times, thankfully the climbing sequences are broken up frequently with cutscenes and time spent at the Stray Sheep. I love how sheep from the nightmare crop up in the stray sheep from time to time. New blocks are regularly introduced to help prevent monotony from setting in, this does a serviceable job in progressing the gameplay, forcing you to think more consciously about how you tackle the stages.

It would be fascinating to see Atlus do more games in this vein as it shows that they have a lot to offer beyond the JRPGs they are so practiced at. Sadly, it seems very unlikely but one can only hope.