One of the bygone ways of game discovery, for me at least, is walking through GameStop or Walmart and just picking things out that had cool covers (or more often, ignoring the ones with forgettable covers- sorry Nier and Spec Ops: The Line!). These days, I either walk in to GameStop or check one of the online storefronts with a game in mind; money is too tight to just browse. Sometimes, however, a game's cover will catch your attention regardless of why you came into the store- such is the case with Catherine, and its re-release, Catherine: Full Body. The cover of Catherine: Full Body depicts a man, to quote myself in the podcast episode, "drowning in titties", and that was enough to make me wonder what the game is, regardless of my general aversion to games that try to titillate. The discovery that the game was made by Atlus just made me want to play it even more, despite not knowing what to expect at all.
Going in fairly blind turned out to be the right choice. Catherine: Full Body started out as a pretty interesting game, from the inciting event of the main character Vincent Brooks cheating on his girlfriend Katherine with a young woman named Catherine to the introduction of the game's many puzzle levels where Vincent is forced to take up the seemingly endless climb to his own salvation. But what lies under the surface is a surprisingly coherent and interesting social commentary on a pertinent issue in modern-day Japan, leaving me much more satisfied with the game's plot than I initially thought would be possible. There are many layers to the story and cast of characters in Catherine: Full Body, and blatant transphobic issues aside, I really enjoyed my experience with it.
Joining me in episode 69 of Tales from the Backlog to discuss Catherine: Full Body are Rick Firestone from Pixel Project Radio and Ryan Juengling from List Off!. It's always a pleasure to chat about games with these guys, and both have been featured many times on Tales from the Backlog in the past. Check out Rick on Pixel Project Radio and Ryan on List Off!, and all three of us making appearances on each show!
You can listen to episode 69 of Tales from the Backlog (Catherine: Full Body) in the player below, or you can follow the links to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or search "Tales from the Backlog" in your favorite podcast app!