I was never one to bash dating sims (or visual novels, I have difficulty drawing a line in unfamiliar territory), but I didn't see them as artistically motivated. Porn has a place in media, but the whole visual novel style was just flooded with cheap hentai junk to be worth paying attention too. Don't think me a hater, Pheonix Wright does something entirely different, and it does it well, but that series is the exception rather than the rule. Katawa Shoujo (the surprisingly well written and non- pornographic 4chan game) was quite well received, but I never personally felt like I would enjoy one until I noticed Analogue: A Hate Story on Steam. It had a funky title, low price, I'd never heard of it, and Steam doesn't carry what I would have previously considered a dating sim, so I was intrigued. Even if it wasn't any good, it looked like a good source of potential hipster points to polish my internet ego. Thankfully, there was a refreshing amount of substance to the game.
The player is given the job of sifting through the computer records of a centuries- old derelict community spaceship to discover just what happened to it. The first bit of interactivity is, realistically enough, a command prompt window. Sci-fi computer hacking is serious business now, I suppose. It's actually a (mostly) intuitive mechanic that points you in the right direction when you make mistakes, but not knowing the exact order in which to type a phrase can stump one on occasion. If one happens to be as much of a luddite as me, anyway. It's a unique mechanic for this decade, though, and it forms a good segue into the meat of the game when you make contact with the resident AI, replacing the screenful of code with an assortment of pixels. Which happen to arrange themselves into an attractive young woman, natch.
At this point, the mechanics start to set in when *Hyun-ae asks your name, and finds that you can only interact with her network via yes/ no dialog prompts, leaving her with exposition duty and many opportunities to talk about herself. It works very well at characterizing *Hyun-ae and giving the player opportunities to react to the elaborate backstory and former inhabitants of the ship. Said backstory is the real plot, as given through the diaries and correspondence of the two most prominent families from the ship's community of approximately six hundred years ago. As the plot elaborates, *Hyun-ae's role in it becomes much more prominent, as does that of another quirky software with a contrasting personality. Thought if I continue further, you won't have to bother seeing it for yourself, which you should.
Without delving into spoilers, the plot is told in a unique fashion that offers the contrasting viewpoints of two well fleshed out characters on gender roles and eastern culture, all without forcing a viewpoint on the player. Nor do they force an identity on the player. Responding to the characters can establish your gender, origin, and opinions. Everything I expect out of a competent RPG was woven seamlessly into a visual novel. The romance between the player (more the player than player character, I point out) and the female lead can feel a bit forced, but having the opportunity to empathize with the characters after the characterization they are given is quite satisfying, and the game doesn't suffer any significant faults in design or presentation.
The reason I felt the need to sing this game's praises publicly (metaphorically speaking, Internet patrons) is that I let go of a bias because of it. If you thought that dating sims were never really for you, but you can appreciate a well constructed narrative with unique player involvement, you should give it a try. It is quite short and appealingly cheap on Steam. Plenty of people reading this may have no such bias to begin with, and may have played it already. If so, please tell what you thought below. Which character did you sympathize with more? Did you think the reading- based gameplay holds up in a modern game? Was drssing *Hyun- ae as a maid adorable or ridiculous?
The player is given the job of sifting through the computer records of a centuries- old derelict community spaceship to discover just what happened to it. The first bit of interactivity is, realistically enough, a command prompt window. Sci-fi computer hacking is serious business now, I suppose. It's actually a (mostly) intuitive mechanic that points you in the right direction when you make mistakes, but not knowing the exact order in which to type a phrase can stump one on occasion. If one happens to be as much of a luddite as me, anyway. It's a unique mechanic for this decade, though, and it forms a good segue into the meat of the game when you make contact with the resident AI, replacing the screenful of code with an assortment of pixels. Which happen to arrange themselves into an attractive young woman, natch.
At this point, the mechanics start to set in when *Hyun-ae asks your name, and finds that you can only interact with her network via yes/ no dialog prompts, leaving her with exposition duty and many opportunities to talk about herself. It works very well at characterizing *Hyun-ae and giving the player opportunities to react to the elaborate backstory and former inhabitants of the ship. Said backstory is the real plot, as given through the diaries and correspondence of the two most prominent families from the ship's community of approximately six hundred years ago. As the plot elaborates, *Hyun-ae's role in it becomes much more prominent, as does that of another quirky software with a contrasting personality. Thought if I continue further, you won't have to bother seeing it for yourself, which you should.
Without delving into spoilers, the plot is told in a unique fashion that offers the contrasting viewpoints of two well fleshed out characters on gender roles and eastern culture, all without forcing a viewpoint on the player. Nor do they force an identity on the player. Responding to the characters can establish your gender, origin, and opinions. Everything I expect out of a competent RPG was woven seamlessly into a visual novel. The romance between the player (more the player than player character, I point out) and the female lead can feel a bit forced, but having the opportunity to empathize with the characters after the characterization they are given is quite satisfying, and the game doesn't suffer any significant faults in design or presentation.
The reason I felt the need to sing this game's praises publicly (metaphorically speaking, Internet patrons) is that I let go of a bias because of it. If you thought that dating sims were never really for you, but you can appreciate a well constructed narrative with unique player involvement, you should give it a try. It is quite short and appealingly cheap on Steam. Plenty of people reading this may have no such bias to begin with, and may have played it already. If so, please tell what you thought below. Which character did you sympathize with more? Did you think the reading- based gameplay holds up in a modern game? Was drssing *Hyun- ae as a maid adorable or ridiculous?
