Vincent Brooks – Catherine
Catherine is a game about Vincent Brooks: a man who gets caught up in a love triangle, all while navigating his personal life. Foremost among his faults is that he is afraid of commitment and any form of confrontation.
As Vincent gets stuck between his girlfriend, who is pushing him to get married, and a new secret lover, whom he can’t seem to stay away from, our main character seems like he can’t catch a break.
The narrative pushes the fact that people sometimes steamroll over Vincent, but his lack of conviction is entirely his own fault, and it profoundly affects the people around him.
Vincent gaslights his girlfriend, Catherine, into thinking nothing is wrong with their relationship when there is. He cheats on her, and even though he’s not exactly doing it on purpose, he never flat out tells his new lover, Katherine, to stop.
The game has multiple different endings depending on your choices, but even the “good” endings still make Vincent a pretty crummy person in the end. He’s a character that continually runs away from his responsibilities, never communicating to his partners what he is thinking, leaving them in the dark.
Second-guessing and being torn between decisions is a normal part of anyone’s life, but Vincent refuses to make any decision, especially when other people are involved.
