History VideoGame / Catherine

* AdultFear: On day 3, Vincent unexpectedly finding out that [[spoiler:Katherine is pregnant]]. This sort of revelation hits him like a ''truck'', and it would with any other couple if they weren't [[spoiler:planning on having kids (just yet)]].
** Picture this: You've been going out with your girlfriend for the past five years, and she's been talking about getting married and making things permanent. It hasn't been the most exciting of relationships, but for the most part you're content with it. One day, you hit up the local bar, and the next thing you remember, aside from a nightmare that you barely even remember, is that you've woken up next to a random beautiful woman, and it's implied that the two of you did...things the night before. Still not freaking out? Not only does this woman not know you already have a girlfriend, but [[{{Yandere}} she threatens to kill you if she finds out you're seeing someone else]]. It certainly doesn't help that this {{Yandere}} girl ''does'' have everything you could ever want in a girlfriend, which now throws you into deciding between your longtime lover and this new girl. And just when you're contemplating how to get yourself out of this mess, you find yourself in several situations where these two women nearly find out about each other. Welcome to the life of [[ThisLoserIsYou Vincent Brooks]]!
** [[spoiler:Katherine ends up accidentally murdering Catherine during a struggle. She reacts accordingly when she sees what happened. It's quickly revealed to just be a dream, but still.]]

* SexyPackaging / ContemptibleCover: Particularly the [=PS3=] version depicting Catherine, [[http://www.thetanooki.com/2010/12/31/atlus-to-release-catherine-demo-to-help-explain-game/ shown here]]. Cleaner covers were made for the parts of the US that would have a fit over the originals.

* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: Well, any guy who's around age 30 [[spoiler:and is a patron of the Stray Sheep, and is entangled with a woman with whom he has no intention of having children]]. Later scenes imply that the BigBad might [[spoiler:eventually spread said dreams to ''everyone'' assigned male at birth who wasn't busy fathering a family by a certain age. Given how even ''Erica'' started getting these dreams, that presumably applies to trans women, gay men, asexual men, and [[CelibateHero anyone else with the equipment for it who didn't, for whatever reason, choose to impregnate a woman and start a family]]]].

* IfItsYouItsOkay: [[spoiler: Vincent can continue to romantically pursue Rin following his UnsettlingGenderReveal, should the player choose this. While Vincent ultimately decides in-story that [[BiTheWay he doesn't think gender matters all that much after all]], it's clear that Rin is the only person who's ever prompted Vincent to consider that he isn't straight.]]

* IfItsYouItsOkay: [[spoiler: Even after discovering Erica is transgender, Tody continues to date her in both versions of the game. And Vincent could continue to romantically pursue Rin following his UnsettlingGenderReveal, should the player choose to.]]

** Full body eases this up some. The first time the caller says it subtitles will use the "Q" name because that's who Vincent thinks he's talking about, only for him to confirm he doesn't know who Rin is. Then it shifts to the spelling that Vincent thinks he's talking about. [[spoiler: He's correct about who Steve is talking about the second time, although in reality Catherine doesn't take the relationship as serious as Steve does.]]

* HornedHairdo: Catherine's MegaTwintails are gravity-defying enough to count. [[spoiler:Bonus points for being a literal HornyDevil.]]

* ClosetKey: [[spoiler: Erica]] for Toby in both versions of the game who [[spoiler: continues the relationship with Erica despite the UnsettlingGenderReveal.]] And Rin is this for [[spoiler: Vincent, who didn't know he was bisexual/pansexual prior to meeting him.]]

* ClosetKey: [[spoiler: Erica]] for Toby in both versions of the game who [[spoiler: continues the relationship with Erica despite the UnsettlingGenderReveal. And Rin is this for [[spoiler: Vincent, who didn't know he was bisexual/pansexual prior to meeting him.]]

* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: Well, any guy who's around age 30 [[spoiler:and is a patron of the Stray Sheep, and is entangled with a woman with whom he has no intention of having children]]. Later scenes imply that the BigBad might [[spoiler:eventually spread said dreams to ''everyone'' assigned male at birth who wasn't busy fathering a family by a certain age. Given how even ''Erica'' started getting these dreams, that presumably applies to gay men, trans women, asexual men, and [[CelibateHero any other guy who didn't, for whatever reason, choose to impregnate a woman and start a family]]]].

* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: Well, any guy who's around age 30 [[spoiler:and is a patron of the Stray Sheep, and is entangled with a woman with whom he has no intention of having children]]. Later scenes imply that the BigBad might [[spoiler:eventually spread said dreams to ''everyone'' assigned male at birth who wasn't busy fathering a family by a certain age. Given how even ''Erica'' started getting these dreams, that presumably applies to [[QueerAsTropes gay men]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} trans women]], [[{{Asexuality}} asexual men]], and [[CelibateHero any other guy who didn't, for whatever reason, choose to impregnate a woman and start a family]]]].

As this is happening, Vincent starts to have [[NightmareSequence strange nightmares]] in which he is wandering in a world of endless staircases and being pursued by... ''something''. A number of men have been found dead with a look of sheer horror on their faces, and a popular rumor states that if you fall in a nightmare and don't wake up before you hit the ground, [[YourMindMakesItReal you will die in real life]]. Can Vincent sort out his increasingly-catastrophic love life without hurting the people around him, or will he fall victim to his supernatural stalker first?

* UnwinnableByMistake: [[spoiler:The solo version of Axis Mundi, the fourth and final stage of Babel]], is this in North American versions of the game. Averted when playing in pairs.

* WidgetSeries: It's a ''block puzzle game'' about ''infidelity''. That's Widget even by ''Atlus'' standards.

* WhamShot: In-Universe. Vincent enters Rin's apartment upon hearing an explosion. As he checks on her, her towel falls off [[spoiler: revealing her male genitalia.]]

* WeddingFinale: If you decide to have Vincent stay faithful to Katherine and have your Karma Meter all the way on the law side, he manages to reconcile their relationship and eventually proposes to her. At the end, the two wed at the Stray Sheep with the Boss supervising the whole proceedings.
** Also happens in the Catherine New Ending, but with the ending slides chronicling their life and future family together as well.

* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: Well, any guy who's around age 30 [[spoiler:and is a patron of the Stray Sheep, and is entangled with a woman with whom he has no intention of having children]]. Later scenes imply that the BigBad might [[spoiler:eventually spread said dreams to ''everyone'' born biologically male who wasn't busy fathering a family by a certain age. Given how even ''Erica'' started getting these dreams, that presumably applies to [[QueerAsTropes gay men]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} trans women]], [[{{Asexuality}} asexual men]], and [[CelibateHero any other guy who didn't, for whatever reason, choose to impregnate a woman and start a family]]]].

* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: Well, any guy who's around age 30 [[spoiler:and is a patron of the Stray Sheep, and is entangled with a woman with whom he has no intention of having children]]. Later scenes imply that the BigBad might [[spoiler:eventually spread said dreams to ''everyone'' born biologically male who wasn't busy fathering a family by a certain age. Given how even ''Erica'' started getting these dreams, that presumably applies to [[QueerAsTropes gay men]], [[TransgenderTropes trans women]], [[{{Asexuality}} asexual men]], and [[CelibateHero any other guy who didn't, for whatever reason, choose to impregnate a woman and start a family]]]].

** [[spoiler:Also, just about all of Erica's friends know about her being {{transgender}} and obliquely reference it throughout the story.]]

* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: Well, any guy who's around age 30 [[spoiler:and is a patron of the Stray Sheep, and is entangled with a woman with whom he has no intention of having children]]. Later scenes imply that the BigBad might [[spoiler:eventually spread said dreams to ''everyone'' born biologically male who wasn't busy fathering a family by a certain age. Given how even ''Erica'' started getting these dreams, that presumably applies to [[QueerAsTropes gay men]], [[{{Transgender}} trans women]], [[{{Asexuality}} asexual men]], and [[CelibateHero any other guy who didn't, for whatever reason, choose to impregnate a woman and start a family]]]].

* {{Transgender}}: [[spoiler:Erica, who was assigned a male gender at birth and went by Eric up until she graduated from high school.]]

* OneSteveLimit:
** Averted. There's ''K''atherine, whom Vincent is dating when he meets 'girl of his dreams' ''C''atherine... You don't even get the benefit of different spellings with the katakana in the Japanese version. [[spoiler:In the English version, when Vincent challenges Mutton/Dumuzid to earn K/Catherine back, the localization team edited the subtitles to read "her" when he says the name to keep which one he's fighting to win back ambiguous.]]
** Possibly [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by [[spoiler:Steve, who calls Vincent to tell him to stop seeing C/Katherine. Vincent confronts both girls, but neither of them appears to know anyone named Steve (well, Katherine does, but that Steve is a baby). Vincent points out how odd this is, given that "Steve" is a relatively common name]].

** Fail to pursue Rin's route, [[spoiler: and he disappears from the story, leading the rest of the game to carry on exactly like it originally did without his inclusion, the only indication of his status being that he speaks on the phone with Erica.]]
** Likewise, if you DO pursue Rin's route, [[spoiler: the original plot revolving around Catherine's true identity is phased out entirely.]]

** Fail to pursue Rin's route, [[spoiler: and he disappears from the story, leading the game to carry on exactly like it did without his inclusion, the only indication of his status being that he speaks on the phone with Erica.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: On day 6, if you answer the questions a certain way, [[spoiler:Rin basically disappears from the story, with no indication of what happened to him.]]

* DummiedOut:
** [[https://tcrf.net/File:Catherine-PS3-PC-UI.png Tutorial icons for a PC version]] have been found in data, but their placement and name suggests such an idea was scrapped very early, and it may have just been for development builds. However a PC version was eventually released nine years later.
** There are early placeholder versions of the pictures Catherine and Katherine send Vincent on his cell phone. Notably, [[https://tcrf.net/File:Catherine-Cell-Image-1-Early.png the early version]] of one of the Catherine pics has her wearing an American FlagBikini, which was changed to [[https://tcrf.net/File:Catherine-Cell-Image-1-Final.png vertical red-and-white stripes]] in the final version.
** Bizarrely, there's [[https://youtu.be/bvu0l1yay00 a remix]] of the Wild Pokémon battle music from ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' in the files. This isn't the only reference to ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' in the game's files: there's also [[https://tcrf.net/File:Catherine-Ranking-Test.png a placeholder ranking test]] that uses the names of ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' characters.

* PinkIsErotic: The game has a predominant use of pink Anderson is about a man caught in a love triangle between Katherine [=McBride=], his loyal and steadfast girlfriend, and Catherine, a gorgeous and carefree woman.
* PlaguedByNightmares: Vincent's nightmares about his girlfriend act as the game's main setting.