Moving Pixels Podcast: Misogyny, Misandry, and ‘Catherine’

A new puzzle game from the Atlus Persona Team, Catherine blends surprisingly difficult puzzle platforming with a strong narrative on masculine anxieties and adult relationships. Most interestingly of all, the game asks players to voice their own opinions on love, marriage, and children, but does it really demand a truthful answer?

Moving Pixels podcast regulars G. Christopher Williams and Kris Ligman are joined this week by Skyler Moss from Gamepad Dojo to discuss the game’s mechanics, characterization and gender representation. Disagreements over interpretation abound as we explore Catherine‘s morality system, multiple endings, and structural cohesion in attempting to marry gameplay to a very dissimilar plot — or is marriage even the appropriate metaphor to deploy here?

Secrets are revealed, plot twists are spoiled, and the titular Catherine receives a thorough deconstruction, along with several others of the game’s colorful cast. Can Skyler decide whether to agree with Chris or Kris and escape the podcast unharmed? When the night sky turns to glamor, anything could happen.

This podcast is also available via iTunes.

More from our guest:

Skyler Moss is a contributor for Gamepad Dojo and GamerLive.TV. You can also follow him on Twitter @GamepadDojo.

More discussion of Catherine:

Review of Catherine by Kris Ligman

Catherine: A Screwfly Box Puzzle Solution by Kris Ligman

On the Clock: Narrative and Gameplay Tension in Catherine by G. Christopher Williams

The Taming of the Dude: Catherine and the Sex Comedy by G. Christopher Williams

Our podcast contributors:

G. Christopher Williams is the Multimedia Editor at PopMatters.com. You can find his weekly updates featured at the Neuromance blog.

Kris Ligman is the Associate Multimedia Editor at PopMatters.com. In addition to contributing weekly to Moving Pixels, she is an editor for both Critical Distance and The Hathor Legacy.

You can follow the Moving Pixels blog on Twitter.