Atlus games has come out with a new game, referred to in an MSN review as a “dating simulation and a puzzle game with a splash of survival horror,” that takes the main character, a 31-year-old “slacker” named Vincent, through a struggle for survival.
Evidently, some witch is responsible for cursing the men of the city for having been cheated on, and now young men are having terrible nightmares and dying in their sleep. If they fall in their dreams, they die. In the nightmares, they are pursued by ravenous babies or furious women, and they must somehow climb up and out of their horrible predicaments.
From The Daily:
The skinny: In the sluggish late hours of a recent episode of the “Today” show, host and overbearing mother-figure Kathie Lee Gifford quipped that men over 30 shouldn’t play video games. These supposed puerile playthings, in her opinion, distract from adulthood and its responsibilities. Gifford would no doubt take offense, then, to Catherine, a puzzle game dressed as an erotic thriller and designed exclusively for adults.
[...]
Vincent doesn’t remember how he bedded Catherine, when he impregnated Katherine or why he’s having dreams in which he must climb a mysterious blood-soaked tower of steel cubes. In fact, Vincent doesn’t remember doing much of anything; life has just sort of happened to him.
In that way, Vincent is the archetypal man-child, only outdone by his friends, each more affected and heartbroken than the last. They join him nightly in their dingy watering hole, the Stray Sheep, where the player pounds beers, plays video games and has revealing conversations.
Although the reviews provide one with the sense that the game exposes some of the perils of contemporary manhood, it is a bit disappointing that the only ones paying for cheating are men, but perhaps that is simply a nod to current reality.
As culture increasingly delves into men’s issues, expect to see more such efforts emerge in games, film, music and other forms of popular culture.
Check out the game here.
