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Sega Brings Catherine To PC Without Enhanced Edition Content
As Sega was teasing just last week, Atlus' narrative puzzle game Catherine has been announced for PC and is already out now on Steam. This marks the first time that modern Atlus games have been ported to the PC, something that the Japanese developer behind games like Persona and Etrian Odyssey has been traditionally reluctant to do. But it still makes for a very odd announcement, as Sega has brought over what they have dubbed as Catherine Classic, eschewing the game's upcoming revisions and porting the 2011 game to PC.
In terms of upgrades, the PC version boasts 4K support, an unlocked framerate, and customizable button mapping. Unlike the original release, you can also choose between English and Japanese voice acting. What it doesn't include is anything in Catherine's announced remaster: new character Qatherine, new story events, new patrons in the Stray Sheep pub, online play, extra difficulty modes to make it easier or harder, different character models like Joker from Persona 5, a bigger emphasis on competitive play, etc. For those, you will have to wait for the Full Body edition, which comes out next month in Japan and has been announced for release at some point in the west.
It's definitely a strange sequence of events and speaks to how fragmented Sega's structure is. While Sega Europe seems to have spearheaded this port, releasing it weeks before an enhanced version hits other platforms has lead fans to contemplate whether they'd just rather wait. Despite being a wholly owned subsidiary of Sega, Atlus has never seemed on board with the company's PC initiatives, and thus likely didn't play ball with the idea of releasing Catherine: Full Body on PC. That said, Sega Europe did say to expect more Atlus games on PC in the future, so hopefully the timing works out better on those.
When the remastered version does leave Japan, it seems like it will only arrive on PlayStation 4 and not include a Vita release planned for its home market. This likely comes down to the Vita's market health outside of Japan and Sony ending production on Vita carts in the west. The game's website updated today with information stating that the western release is only coming to PlayStation 4, with no other versions listed.
It seems appropriate that the twisted tale of protagonist Vincent's love life and neuroses ends up being fairly complicated itself.
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