Vincent, the lead character in Catherine, isn’t the only person trapped in a nightmarish world where babies with chainsaw arms chase inhabitants up a block tower. The world, well the Nightmare World, is populated by sheep. Vincent appears human, but actually he looks like a sheep to the other sheep-le. Once you’re in this world, you only see yourself as human and everyone else (sans grotesque monsters) as sheep.

Before a rickety elevator takes Vincent to a block puzzle, he can talk to the sheep. One sheep sells Vincent items. The others offer Vincent tips, often shown as block stacking tutorial videos, on how to climb to the top of the tower.

Once you’re on the tower its every man or sheep for themselves. You’ll see other sheep as you climb up the tower, but they aren’t helpful anymore. These sheep will annoy you and may even knock Vincent off. Only one sheep-le can stand on a block. Vincent can retaliate by pushing sheep out of the way. You’ll probably have to do that in later levels because sheep start off in inconvenient places and are more aggressive later in the game.

There is another group of "sheep" tied to the story in Catherine. Helping these sheep out may affect the story. Don’t worry the sheep you kick off the tower and die in real life aren’t the same sheep.

Catherine comes out for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on July 26. A downloadable demo will be available next week.