Catharsis Demo Launches on Steam with Starry Night and Ophelia Stages
With the demo out ahead of Steam Next Fest on October 20, Kodansha Game Creators Lab is testing a walking simulator built on painting-derived stages, where controls and gimmicks change with each painting, rather than a single art style.
Reporting from 2 sources: 4Gamer.net, Denfaminicogamer.
The demo for Catharsis ~The Last Atelier~, an immersive art adventure from Kodansha Game Creators Lab, released on Steam on October 15, 2026. It covers stages motivated by Van Gogh's The Starry Night and Cafe Terrace at Night, plus Millais' Ophelia. Each clears in about 15 minutes with no game over or time limit. The full version is planned within 2026.
The demo carries three stages: two motivated by Van Gogh, drawn from The Starry Night and Cafe Terrace at Night, and one from Millais' Ophelia. In the Van Gogh stages the player walks a night town following fragments of a certain man's memories, with a wolf and owl the player can also control. The Ophelia stage has the player ride a boat deeper into a forest.
Creator Mana's earlier build of the two Van Gogh stages drew attention at Tokyo Game Show before this wider release. The full work is described as a walking simulator through 10 painting-derived worlds, with Van Gogh, Klimt, and Monet among the painters named, and the full version is planned for 2026.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.