This is another VN that my girlfriend and I played through together. It's a shorter one, so we got through it in only 5 hours in one sitting, but it was something still very worthwhile despite the short length~.
You play an unnamed space pilot in the far future who gets a job to go out to the recently re-discovered generation ship, the Mugunghwa, that went missing a very long time ago. Your job is to retrieve the log data, particularly about the AI on the ship, and bring it back. Simple enough. Upon getting to the ship's interface, you meet the ship's AI Hyun-ae. Her text parsing feature has been worn away by time, so your forced to communicate through you answering binary prompts she gives you, as she does her best to help you complete your mission by bringing you old ship logs. The gameplay mostly consists of reading the logs and talking to Hyun-ae about them as well as also talking to the ship's other AI, Mute, about them.
It's a very interesting story that's both a cute romance (if you so choose) and an intriguing mystery. It's a super small cast of active characters; being just you, Hyun-ae, and Mute; but slowly learning about the world of the ancient past that the ship's log discuss is loads of fun. We got the ending where you leave the ship with Hyun-ae, but it has several other endings including one that plays with the nature of a VN being re-playable, which is just the kind of thing I love. The dialogue and character writing is very good, and the art is very pretty to boot, though there isn't a ton of it, ultimately. This is a very bite-sized game in many respects, and that goes for not just the run-time but the presentation as well. It does just what it needs to, and it fits the aesthetic of "interfacing with a really old space ship via a terminal" very well~.
Verdict: Highly Recommended. This is a really well put together little story. If you like sci-fi and history stuff and also enjoy a good mystery to unfurl, this is a great way to spend an evening~.
One of the few Visual Novels on the western sphere worth reading -- at least back then, when its political commentary was still novel.
You are a faceless space inspector/prospector, far past the age of humans navigating with standard non-FTL drives. The goal here is to investigate relics of the past, upon which you happen on the Mugunghwa, an ancient colony ship converted into a Joseon Dynasty period piece by its inhabitants, where women are powerless versus their husbands. An AI, introducing herself as *Hyun-Ae guides you through its secrets, though she herself has a few secrets of her own... which you will discover.
The ending sequence is rather contrived, and serves to abruptly end your investigation while hastily wrapping up a subplot related to the ship's former inhabitants, but for what its worth, it did detail the horrors of a non-democratic civilization quite effectively, even if all you were doing was sifting through logs and being a glorified email reader.
You are a faceless space inspector/prospector, far past the age of humans navigating with standard non-FTL drives. The goal here is to investigate relics of the past, upon which you happen on the Mugunghwa, an ancient colony ship converted into a Joseon Dynasty period piece by its inhabitants, where women are powerless versus their husbands. An AI, introducing herself as *Hyun-Ae guides you through its secrets, though she herself has a few secrets of her own... which you will discover.
The ending sequence is rather contrived, and serves to abruptly end your investigation while hastily wrapping up a subplot related to the ship's former inhabitants, but for what its worth, it did detail the horrors of a non-democratic civilization quite effectively, even if all you were doing was sifting through logs and being a glorified email reader.
A stirring sci-fi story of injustice told in a novel format that casts the player in the very role they're already inhabiting: someone at a computer exploring the logs of a long-dead starship.
I need to replay it, as my first playthrough was while I was still steeped in a conservative religious worldview, and I expect the story of discrimination and gay rights would hit differently now.
I need to replay it, as my first playthrough was while I was still steeped in a conservative religious worldview, and I expect the story of discrimination and gay rights would hit differently now.
This review contains spoilers
analogue: a hate story is a weird, lonely sort of space tragedy. the player controls someone sent to preserve the logs of an abandoned space station. the lure of the story is in its mysterious future feudal setting and the central tragic figure of the pale bride, a girl woken up from cryostasis and confronted with a very different world than the one she fell asleep in. a version of this pale bride exists as an AI on the ship, who greets the character upon connecting to the station, and later on another AI begins to talk as well. the two of them don't like each other much, and it's interesting trying to get glimpses of the story through the facts that were recorded and the opinions of the two AIs. also, the reactor meltdown is a phenomenal fake-terminal sequence.
i'm a bit confused by all the hate this game is getting regarding the quality of its feminist beliefs--the patriarchal dystopia that Love portrays is at the center of this story, but i think it's much more of a character study than an allegory. like, *Mute has internalized misogynist beliefs--I don't feel like having her say some crazy shit like "I can't even commit suicide like a good widow would" reflects badly on the ideology of the game, though it speaks loads about her character. at the same time, i'm no feminist theorist, and i'd be happy to learn a bit more about what other people don't like about it.
ps: I think there's a lot in this game I missed after reading just a little bit... harem ending?? mute as a man?? I also didn't get a chance to talk to Hyun-ae again after switching to Mute..... yeah I didn't even consider taking either of them with me... I have sympathy for them but I never thought it was even an option, and I don't feel like I really support either of them. interesting... I wonder how many people felt the way I did
i'm a bit confused by all the hate this game is getting regarding the quality of its feminist beliefs--the patriarchal dystopia that Love portrays is at the center of this story, but i think it's much more of a character study than an allegory. like, *Mute has internalized misogynist beliefs--I don't feel like having her say some crazy shit like "I can't even commit suicide like a good widow would" reflects badly on the ideology of the game, though it speaks loads about her character. at the same time, i'm no feminist theorist, and i'd be happy to learn a bit more about what other people don't like about it.
ps: I think there's a lot in this game I missed after reading just a little bit... harem ending?? mute as a man?? I also didn't get a chance to talk to Hyun-ae again after switching to Mute..... yeah I didn't even consider taking either of them with me... I have sympathy for them but I never thought it was even an option, and I don't feel like I really support either of them. interesting... I wonder how many people felt the way I did
Plusy: możliwość wyboru ścieżki historii, dość interesująca historia
Minusy: w ogólnym rozrachunku historia była nudna
Minusy: w ogólnym rozrachunku historia była nudna
A visual novel I picked up on a whim and felt focused enough to finish reading playing in one sitting. I haven't played many visual novels, but the way A Hate Story presented its story was great. You piece together a story of what happened in a space colony by reading diary entries of different people, and you unlock different "threads" of diaries as you read through them. You make assumptions about one character based on what someone writes about them, and then get a different angle when you read that character's diary entry. I don't want to get too into it since it's fun piecing together exactly what's going on, it's far from a typical "scifi space colony" story. Check it out, it's got the hottest AI this summer.
CW for Analogue: A Hate Story: torture, sui*, spousal abuse, gaslighting, child death, incest, alcoholism
A weird echo of Digital: A Love Story with a really unfortunate and poorly researched attempt to make a feminist game that barely even reaches the capacity of second-wave feminism. I played this at launch and then replayed recently for KRITIQAL's game club. What this game expresses about when and why patriarchy exists or the fact that it's told in this strange grab bag of feudal Korean "Asian stuff" is bewildering to me now as it was then. The ratio of logs to character interactions makes the historical narrative, the characters themselves (why is there both a direct prompt system and a push notification thing?), and dramatic setup for the player character on the dead ship feel completely flat. The route split happens before there is any space for either character to make more sophisticated thoughts and arguments about the game's core moral dilemma and it feels like the game shoots a better or more concise thought before anything can take off. There's some exciting stuff here in the UI that I just like more over in Digital where I don't have to deal with this strange cynnical "aren't you completely compromised picking a girl in the game where there are only route choices centered around the women" thing here.
A weird echo of Digital: A Love Story with a really unfortunate and poorly researched attempt to make a feminist game that barely even reaches the capacity of second-wave feminism. I played this at launch and then replayed recently for KRITIQAL's game club. What this game expresses about when and why patriarchy exists or the fact that it's told in this strange grab bag of feudal Korean "Asian stuff" is bewildering to me now as it was then. The ratio of logs to character interactions makes the historical narrative, the characters themselves (why is there both a direct prompt system and a push notification thing?), and dramatic setup for the player character on the dead ship feel completely flat. The route split happens before there is any space for either character to make more sophisticated thoughts and arguments about the game's core moral dilemma and it feels like the game shoots a better or more concise thought before anything can take off. There's some exciting stuff here in the UI that I just like more over in Digital where I don't have to deal with this strange cynnical "aren't you completely compromised picking a girl in the game where there are only route choices centered around the women" thing here.
Great premise for a visual novel! It's been a while since my own playthrough, but I remember loving it. The presentation is simple but well constructed, and the same can be said of the story as well.
The increasing dread I felt as I read through the logs and pieced together the timeline is unparalleled
only played this bc i heard it was misogynist and i was not disappointed. fun little game, i enjoyed the non chronological storytelling a lot
A memorable VN about being a historian exploring a ghost ship. Has a lot of characters and events to keep track of, and the themes around marriage were pretty well explored.
In this house we love Hyun-ae
I like the idea of Analogue with reading through ship logs of history with a cute android though I feel the monotony of reading letters vs. the time you have to interact normally with the A.I.'s can make it a slog. Hate Plus improved that in someways but I wish the integration of main storyline relating to the present was a big more prevalent.
You know how when you're a history major and you gotta read these frustrating letters from these frustrating bigots and you're pacing around the room at 3 am because you're so mad and you have to write a coherent thesis about it? That's sort of the intended reaction Analogue A Hate Story aims for.
Naturally, I'm a sucker for it.
Naturally, I'm a sucker for it.
Fooled around with this for the longest time, thinking I'd get invested in it soon enough. Didn't happen.
If I’m honest, it got me interested in making games. Kudos
A unique approach to visual novels in that the story is nonlinear, told after the fact through a series of journals that you can read at your leisure. Interesting to see Korean Culture (very old style and traditional) injected into a futuristic setting (spaceship). I enjoyed it.
*Mute story.
This review contains spoilers
Don't let anyone trick you into thinking this game is a clever social commentary with interesting moral complexity or yadda yadda yadda. It's not. No themes or messages in this game ever elevate beyond the complexity of a middle schooler writing a history paper on why feudal patriarchy is bad. I don't think anyone really needs to be told this stuff, and if you do then this game can not help you. Get therapy.
What this game IS is a genuinely interesting and tragic story about a girl who was dealt one of the worst hands in life you can possibly imagine. It's a cool subversion of the classic "person gets put in stasis until their disease can be cured." This game asks, what if society basically collapsed after the person was put in, and the world they're waking up to was far, far worse than the one they left.
Hyun-ae is a very interesting character, and her story alone is enough to justify the few hours going through this game. That said, don't come here looking for a particularly progressive take on gender roles compared to what you would get from most modern societies these days.
What this game IS is a genuinely interesting and tragic story about a girl who was dealt one of the worst hands in life you can possibly imagine. It's a cool subversion of the classic "person gets put in stasis until their disease can be cured." This game asks, what if society basically collapsed after the person was put in, and the world they're waking up to was far, far worse than the one they left.
Hyun-ae is a very interesting character, and her story alone is enough to justify the few hours going through this game. That said, don't come here looking for a particularly progressive take on gender roles compared to what you would get from most modern societies these days.
A cruel attempt at political allegory with the sophistication of a MAL review. Borrows a lot of its non-linear structure from Digital: A love Story but loses all of that game's subtlety and specificity in exchange for two anime brides sending you push notifications.
This is predominately a game about patriarchy and the subjugation of women (drawing from Korean history I admittedly do not know much about), and yet at the same time a shotgun love story about doomed AIs literally begging to become your waifu. The easy out would have been to complicate any of these endings as less than happy, but they are played entirely straight. You saved her life, she is your property now.
Analogue makes a lot of big swings at complicated social issues but completely falls apart with even a mild interrogation, as its understanding of sexism is individual affect and an ambiguous, sudden shift from women being free to suddenly not free. The player, of course, is a neutral godlike force who decides if sexism is good or bad. It is at best naive and at worst a cynical reluctance to engage with internalized misogyny (this is most acutely represented by the completely lack of resolution to Mute's rampant misogyny, which gets quietly ignored for the sake of a secret harem ending).
I haven't played Hate+ yet which seems to be slightly more empathetic towards its cast (though also seems to have its own unique problems). There are some interesting interface decisions here that save it from being a complete wash for me, but replaying Digital made even those aspects feel underbaked (seriously, just play Digital, it's a much better game). One of the more bewildering experiences I've had with a game in a long time. Extremely skeptical now of everyone who told me this was good.
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Content warnings: miscarriages, sexual violence (brief mention), incest (brief mention), body mutilation, underage marriage, confinement, pervasive sexism/misogyny, lesbophobia.
This is predominately a game about patriarchy and the subjugation of women (drawing from Korean history I admittedly do not know much about), and yet at the same time a shotgun love story about doomed AIs literally begging to become your waifu. The easy out would have been to complicate any of these endings as less than happy, but they are played entirely straight. You saved her life, she is your property now.
Analogue makes a lot of big swings at complicated social issues but completely falls apart with even a mild interrogation, as its understanding of sexism is individual affect and an ambiguous, sudden shift from women being free to suddenly not free. The player, of course, is a neutral godlike force who decides if sexism is good or bad. It is at best naive and at worst a cynical reluctance to engage with internalized misogyny (this is most acutely represented by the completely lack of resolution to Mute's rampant misogyny, which gets quietly ignored for the sake of a secret harem ending).
I haven't played Hate+ yet which seems to be slightly more empathetic towards its cast (though also seems to have its own unique problems). There are some interesting interface decisions here that save it from being a complete wash for me, but replaying Digital made even those aspects feel underbaked (seriously, just play Digital, it's a much better game). One of the more bewildering experiences I've had with a game in a long time. Extremely skeptical now of everyone who told me this was good.
---
Content warnings: miscarriages, sexual violence (brief mention), incest (brief mention), body mutilation, underage marriage, confinement, pervasive sexism/misogyny, lesbophobia.
Despite having not many visuals, and not exactly being a 'novel', it is one of the best visual novels. I just love everything about this game.
The Mugunghwa, a massive generation ship sent from Earth to found a colony but that cut off contact and was thought to be lost forever, has finally been found -- with all of its inhabitants being long dead. To unravel the mystery of how that came to be, you are sent on a small spaceship to try and connect with the Mugunghwa, your mission being to download data from the ship and find out what transpired aboard it.
Analogue's story takes place as you untangle the ship's logs with the help of the two onboard AIs, and is largely successful in building up an atmosphere of dread: the more logs you read, the more it becomes evident how degenerate society among the ship became. While it's no kinetic novel, it's still rather simple as far as VNs go, so it's a pretty approachable game for people who have never touched the genre before.
The main issues I see with the game are twofold: first, this is one of those horror stories that hit much closer to home if you're a woman, to the point of potentially being triggering at times. Second, and perhaps, most important, the juxtaposition of dystopian future with anime tropes feels quite jarring: the AIs are moe to the point of creating a disconnect, and the horny parts of the writing are not only bad, they stick out like a sore thumb. I'm glad Love found it in her to write straight-up smut, because it feels like that's what she wanted to go for from the start.
But hey, still a solid VN. Just never made me feel like playing the sequel.
Analogue's story takes place as you untangle the ship's logs with the help of the two onboard AIs, and is largely successful in building up an atmosphere of dread: the more logs you read, the more it becomes evident how degenerate society among the ship became. While it's no kinetic novel, it's still rather simple as far as VNs go, so it's a pretty approachable game for people who have never touched the genre before.
The main issues I see with the game are twofold: first, this is one of those horror stories that hit much closer to home if you're a woman, to the point of potentially being triggering at times. Second, and perhaps, most important, the juxtaposition of dystopian future with anime tropes feels quite jarring: the AIs are moe to the point of creating a disconnect, and the horny parts of the writing are not only bad, they stick out like a sore thumb. I'm glad Love found it in her to write straight-up smut, because it feels like that's what she wanted to go for from the start.
But hey, still a solid VN. Just never made me feel like playing the sequel.
It's a really cool story but the replayability to get all the endings and achievements could be waaaay better.
computer can I get a printout of Oyster smiling
A sci-fi visual novel about a girl placed in a society unfamiliar to her, revealed by you sifting old ship logs while hearing the opinions of two contrasting AIs with contrasting sympathies and opinions.
Analogue is pretty well executed aside from some jankiness in the UI, and the story, while not being a pants-blower-offer, offers some compelling human drama and opportunities to question your ethical feelings towards the events.
As far as visual novels go, it's simple and a little short (2-3 hours?) but it's enjoyable. It would make a good VN for someone new to the genre.
3.5 - Good: Good but not a standout
Analogue is pretty well executed aside from some jankiness in the UI, and the story, while not being a pants-blower-offer, offers some compelling human drama and opportunities to question your ethical feelings towards the events.
As far as visual novels go, it's simple and a little short (2-3 hours?) but it's enjoyable. It would make a good VN for someone new to the genre.
3.5 - Good: Good but not a standout
linux is the primary partition on my desktop computer are you intimidated yet
quien diria que misoginia coreana pudiese ser tan engaging
It's a very short venture, but Analogue: A Hate Story is a pretty good dive into cultural abuse and societal issues around patriarchy. In those ways it's excellent in terms of brutally describing the situation where a fish-out-of-water is thrown into a disgusting cage that ebbs away her freedom. It also juggles a couple themes regarding hate and understanding each other, although not nearly as fleshed out. Which is really my only endemic issue, it's a bit too simple. Both characters have motivations and opinions on the subject but neither is really fleshed out personality wise, it's very safe.
Even still, I do recommend Analogue: A Hate Story as a nice quick read.
Even still, I do recommend Analogue: A Hate Story as a nice quick read.