Over the years, Atlus has cemented itself as one of the premier Japanese video game developers and publishers, releasing such hits as the Persona series, Etrian Odyssey, Shin Megami Tensei, and of course, Catherine. A dark and provocative thriller, Catherine, released in 2011 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, revolves around the life of average joe Vincent Brooks, a 32-year-old afraid of commitment, especially when it comes to his responsible and career-driven girlfriend Katherine, who’s pushing him to get married. After a chance encounter at his favorite bar, Vincent finds himself waking up in bed with another woman, strangely also named Catherine. After his moment of infidelity, Vincent becomes plagued with wild nightmares and discovers something more sinister may be behind Catherine.
Full Body is an enhanced port and remake of the original 2011 title for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita (only in Japan) released in 2019, with a Switch port coming very soon. It adds several new endings, cutscenes, playable characters, (in the DLC), and new love interest, the sweet and innocent Rin. Rin is an enigma throughout Full Body – she moves in next to Vincent and becomes the pianist at his favorite bar, the Stray Sheep.
Atlus’s relationship with platforms is a bit convoluted – the Persona series as well as the original Catherine has always only been on the Sony-owned PlayStation family of consoles, while the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona Q lines have only been available on Nintendo’s handheld Nintendo DS and 3DS consoles.
Recently, fans of Atlus’s Persona 5 have taken to social media with #BreakFreePersona, movement dedicated to asking Atlus to port Persona games to consoles other than the PlayStation family. With Persona 4 Golden’s recent release on Steam, as well as Catherine Full Body’s upcoming Switch port, Atlus fans on Twitter are more riled up then ever, and if you peruse Atlus’s tweet replies you’ll find pages and pages of fans using #BreakFreePersona to ask for Persona and other Atlus RPGs on the Switch or even debating the movement itself.
“I am a strong believer in ‘never ever give up on hope’. You want what you want and if you don’t let us know it we’re never going to be able to make it. It’s important to always voice your opinion. Keep telling us what you want,” said Atlus Communications Manager Ari Advincula to IGN in February. This quote is what started BreakFreePersona, and to those who use the hashtag, it’s a symbol of hope, that if enough fans push for it, it might just happen.
Catherine: Full Body is currently available on the PlayStation 4, and will be available on the Nintendo Switch on July 7. You can check it out here.