Catherine Trailer Impressions

There's something very disturbing about Catherine, the debut horror action adventure game from the Persona team at Atlus. Sadomasochism, paraphilia, and lucid dreaming don’t quite cut it, but then again, we don’t know if anything will. Suffice it to say, this is looking like a very "adult" game.

The first trailer for the game wasn't exactly subtle: nudity; sheep; hints of masturbatory acts; and a long, winding staircase peppered with an exotic mix of bizarre nightmarish creatures (most of them sheep.) Now, Atlas has chosen to confuse us even further with a brand new trailer revealed during this year's Tokyo Game Show.

In the new trailer, the game's protagonist Vincent--a lanky bloke with shaggy black hair who is very good at opening his eyes wide--seems to have fallen for the charms of the mysterious Catherine. However, it appears Vincent is a double-crosser--he already has a girlfriend, who, um, is also named Katherine (with a K, you see).

We then see Vincent running around his own dreams in his underwear while a sheep walks around (upright, like a human) and eventually falls to its death in an explosion of gastrointestinal tracts. It is then revealed that Vincent has been having a nightmare, from which he wakes up sweaty. Wishing to check everything is OK, Vincent briefly looks down the front of his boxer shorts.

According to a nearby translator, the words "real love?" and "life's choices!" flash briefly across the screen (perhaps indicating the choices Vincent may have to make in the game?) before we enter a montage of beautiful Japanese teens drinking and sharing a laugh around a bar table. We then see Catherine’s sensuous lips drinking pink liquid from a martini glass and a large hand caressing her shapely bottom.

After a brief erotic moment where Vincent dreams Catherine is on top of him, we see a long hallway and Vincent walking naked amongst an army of sheep in neckties. Then, a lot of things happen very quickly: the soundtrack switches to hip-hop, a man's face shatters like glass, a young woman licks her lips, the male and female gender symbols bounce across the screen as Catherine bounces on top of Vincent, the camera shows a young woman's legs opening, Vincent wears a pair of sheep ears, more sheep appear, a pair of breasts appear with the words "every night nightmare" written across them, Vincent wields a knife, black ants fall, even more sheep appear, the ominous aforementioned staircase appears, and finally, a bespectacled young woman screams.

If you, like us, are intrigued by what you just read, we urge you to check back on GameSpot for more details on Catherine ahead of its fourth quarter 2010 release in Japan on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.