Games Like Catherine
Quick Answer
The closest games to Catherine are Catherine: Full Body, Persona 5 Royal, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Baba Is You and Patrick's Parabox. Below are 9 picks with the reason for each — what carries over from Catherine, and what does not.
What Made Catherine Work
Catherine is a block-pushing puzzle game welded to a relationship drama, and the two halves genuinely need each other — the nightmares are what the story is about. The puzzles are far harder than the presentation suggests. Nothing else looks like it, which is why the question gets asked.
Catherine is Atlus' 2011 puzzle-platformer for PS3 and Xbox 360, made by the team behind the Persona series. Vincent, torn between his girlfriend Katherine and the mysterious Catherine, spends his days at a bar and his nights climbing towers of blocks in nightmares, where falling means death. Catherine: Full Body in 2019 added a third romance route. Fans usually want either the block puzzles or the adult relationship drama.
9 Games Like Catherine
1.Catherine: Full Body
The expanded version, with an extra story path and an easier mode.
Why it fits: Atlus' 2019 remake for PS4 (and later Switch) adds a new character, Rin, new endings and a Safety mode for players who want the story.
What is different: The same game with a third love interest, Rin, new endings and remixed block puzzles.
Where to play it: PS4 and Switch.
More about this game →2.Persona 5 Royal
Same studio and art team, and the same mix of daily life and something else.
Why it fits: Atlus' 2019 expanded version of Persona 5 mixes daily life and relationships with dungeon exploration, made by the same studio.
What is different: A long RPG with turn-based dungeon fights instead of block climbing, and the social side is school life in Tokyo rather than a bar.
Where to play it: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch and PC.
More about this game →3.13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
A story told sideways with a strategy game attached.
Why it fits: Vanillaware's 2019 game, published by Atlus, tells a complex story from many perspectives alongside strategy battles.
What is different: A sci-fi mystery told by thirteen teenagers, paired with real-time strategy battles; no block puzzles.
Where to play it: PS4 and Switch.
More about this game →4.Baba Is You
If the puzzle half was what gripped you, this is the genre's peak.
Why it fits: Hempuli's 2019 puzzle game lets you change the rules of each level by moving blocks of words.
What is different: Puzzles only, no story: you rewrite a level's rules by pushing the words that define it.
Where to play it: PC, Switch, iOS and Android.
More about this game →5.Patrick's Parabox
Block-pushing taken somewhere genuinely new.
Why it fits: Patrick Traynor's 2022 puzzle game has you push boxes that contain other levels.
What is different: Boxes that contain whole levels inside them, with no time pressure and no story at all.
Where to play it: PC and Switch.
More about this game →6.Doki Doki Literature Club
For the way it uses its own presentation against you.
Why it fits: Team Salvato's 2017 visual novel appears to be a dating sim before becoming something much darker.
What is different: A visual novel with no puzzles; it looks like a school dating sim until it turns into psychological horror.
Where to play it: PC; the Plus edition is on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch.
More about this game →7.Coffee Talk
Adult relationships as the whole subject, in a much calmer game.
Why it fits: Toge Productions' 2020 game has you serve drinks and listen to customers' stories in a café.
What is different: You brew drinks for late-night customers and listen to them; nothing chases you and nothing is timed.
Where to play it: PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch.
More about this game →8.Death Come True
Live-action branching drama with the same adult tone.
Why it fits: Too Kyo Games' 2020 live-action game, directed by Kazutaka Kodaka, is an interactive film with branching choices.
What is different: A short live-action mystery where you choose at each turn; there are no puzzles to solve with your hands.
Where to play it: Switch, PC, iOS and Android.
More about this game →9.Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
A puzzle game where the puzzles and the story are the same thing.
Why it fits: Simogo's 2024 puzzle game, published by Annapurna Interactive, ties its puzzles to a mysterious story set in a hotel.
What is different: A slow puzzle hunt in a strange hotel, with codes and riddles you work out on paper instead of blocks to climb.
Where to play it: Switch and PC.
More about this game →
Where to Start
Catherine: Full Body is the best way to replay it. Persona 5 Royal is the pick for the same team's writing. Baba Is You is the choice if you want tougher puzzles.
How We Picked These Games
We looked for games that pair tricky puzzles with story, games with adult relationship themes, and games from the same Atlus team. Every pick shares at least one of those qualities.
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How These Picks Match Catherine
Catherine is catalogued here as a puzzle game and art-led game on the PlayStation 3. Eight of the nine picks share at least one of its genre tags — six adventures and four puzzle games among them. The other one — Coffee Talk — is a different genre and is on the list for one specific thing Catherine did, so read the reason before ruling it out.
Going by the "where to play it" notes, seven can be played on PC, five can be played on a PlayStation, nine can be played on a Nintendo system and three can be played on an Xbox. Baba Is You, Patrick's Parabox, Doki Doki Literature Club, Coffee Talk, Death Come True and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes are from small or self-published studios.
| Game | Genre | Shares with Catherine | Where to play |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catherine: Full Body | Puzzle, Adventure | Puzzle, Adventure | PS4 and Switch. |
| Persona 5 Royal | RPG, Adventure, Simulation | Adventure | PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch and PC. |
| 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim | Adventure, Strategy | Adventure | PS4 and Switch. |
| Baba Is You | Puzzle, Indie, Casual | Puzzle | PC, Switch, iOS and Android. |
| Patrick's Parabox | Puzzle, Indie, Casual | Puzzle | PC and Switch. |
| Doki Doki Literature Club | Adventure, Indie, Casual | Adventure | PC; the Plus edition is on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch. |
| Coffee Talk | Simulation, Casual, Indie | Different genre — see the reason above | PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch. |
| Death Come True | Adventure, Indie | Adventure | Switch, PC, iOS and Android. |
| Lorelei and the Laser Eyes | Puzzle, Adventure, Indie | Puzzle, Adventure | Switch and PC. |
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