“A man who arises from a nightmare every night.”

A Famitsu scan of Atlus’s first ever HD title has been leaked to the public.  The game is titled Catherine and will be released on both the Playstaion 3 and Xbox 360.  You may notice a similarity in style with the Persona series since the same talent is in charge of this new title:

• Producer/Game Director:  Hoshino Katsura
• Character Designer: Shigenori Soejima
• Composer: Shoji Meguro

Little is known about the game at this time but its genre is listed as action adventure and the horror aesthetic is geared more toward an adult audience.

I feel like some characters from No More Heroes broke into the third Kalpa and started wrecking up the place.  With such a talented staff, a new genre and the promise of HD you can bet I will be eagerly awaiting news on Catherine in the future.

***UPDATE***

A new image of a fold-out ad for the game reveals the title is planned for a Winter release this year:

***UPDATE***

I made this post last night and upon waking up I learned that Persona fans have found a connection between Persona 3 Portable and Catherine.  It seems that Catherine’s protagonist, Vincent, appears in club Escapade with actual dialog art.  For the full transcript of the conversation between Vincent and both leads in P3P click here.  Thanks to Drew for linking me to this!

Vincent is the man described in the leaked Famitsu scan above who continues to awake from a nightmare about falling. He believes if he hits the ground in the dream, then he will die. Vincent is in a relationship with a woman but cheats on her. I am not sure if Catherine is his girlfriend or the girl he cheats on her with — I imagine the latter. The dreams that plague him every night may be a punishment for his sin, or so he believes.

It seems that Catherine’s darker storyline is, as promised, much more adult, bringing Persona fans out of high school and into the shoes of a man tormented by his dreams, desires, and mistakes. I welcome the change and can’t wait for more news about Catherine later this week when the issue of Famitsu is officially released.