And it’s cute, too!
It’s been really fun to watch Christine Love rise from her Ebonics-infused, text-based fighting game beginnings in Lake City Rumble II: The New Challengers to international acclaim with titles like Analogue: A Hate Story. Christine’s knack for layering surface level charms on top of dark twisting narratives is like nothing else in gaming today, and the newly released Hate Plus may be her most insidious and lovable story yet. This direct sequel to Analogue is “…a very non-linear dark visual novel, all about transhumanism, cosplay, cake-baking, and the slow patriarchal erosion of freedoms taken for granted. (With a real-time mechanic very loosely inspired by Love Plus.) “
It’s very tough to explain the appeal of Hate Plus without giving away a lot of its secrets. The way the game weaves together different styles of illustration, the concept of artificial (and not so artificial) intelligence, and the relationship between you, your computer, and your own imagination is something you have to experience for yourself. The game is on Steam now.
