Analogue: A Hate Story (PC) Review

By Luna Eriksson 26.03.2015

Review for Analogue: A Hate Story on PC

When starting up Analogue: A Hate Story, the very first impression is that of an average sci-fi experience, with spaceships, robots, and all other things that exist in that typical setting. However, nothing could be further from reality. Just minutes in, the game starts to open up its metallic shell and shows a world full of emotions, intrigue, and deep, dark secrets that run through the dystopian society presented, with deep and meaningful characters that are easy to feel for. What is it all about? Cubed3 reveals all in this review of an overlooked PC classic.

There is a lot to say about Analogue: A Hate Story, but where to begin? What is of highest importance to mention? It might just be simpler to start from the root and explain the setting and world. Analogue: A Hate Story takes place hundreds of years in a future where humankind has started to explore outer space in search for new colonies. One investigator has been given the mission to find an old spaceship that was destroyed centuries ago and find out about what happened to cause its sudden demise. With that, the premise is set.

Screenshot for Analogue: A Hate Story on PC

The story, told through the logs within the spaceship and its computer system, is a deep and dark, yet beautiful, one about a patriarchal feudalistic dystopian society in which women were barely allowed to talk, as well as about some of the individuals within the chambers of power and all of the political intrigue between these people. It is a tale about mystery, lies, broken dreams, and hate, which is normally just found within medieval historical settings, yet it is done extremely well within this sci-fi visual novel and creates a wonderful mix between the medieval and strong emotional themes of romanticism, and the curiosity of the future and its possibilities found within modern sci-fi literature. It is not all sunshine and rainbows presented to the reader, though, yet it is hard to stop playing, even in its most upsetting moments. The instinct might be to just want to scream or cry over the horrible fate bestowed upon some of the characters, but being able to stop reading will not be possible.

The most important ingredients that make Analogue: A Hate Story into such an addictive read are the characters found within. They have depth and are very well developed, as well as very realistic. This is beautifully done by giving them a very balanced mixture of both good and bad personality traits and the author is not afraid to even put characters meant to be seen as the good ones into bad light. This all helps to make for wonderful reading, with several unexpected twists and turns.

While serious most of the time, this also doesn't take itself too seriously to the point where it grows stale, and there are several cute jokes and sequences in it that even though they might appear whimsical at first, mix into the darker nature and character development quite perfectly. Even the cosplaying part offers a lot about the main character and helps develop her. This humour helps give proceedings a distinct personality.

Screenshot for Analogue: A Hate Story on PC

The way the yarn is told is very ingenious and helps keep the story on track. The story of the spacecraft, its inhabitants, and the society within, is told through ship logs that are gradually unlocked by reading and discussing the entries with the AI folk encountered. This means things do not need to be done in a chronological order, instead in whatever way works best from the storytelling perspective and in a way that makes sure that no secrets or clues are given away prematurely due to perceptual reasons. The storytelling feels natural, yet extremely well thought out at the same time, creating a flowing experience that never grows dull.

Besides making the storytelling feel more fluid, the log system also helps to cater for newcomers to the genre by always offering the possibility to easily go back and read up on information missed and, therefore, ensure that no information of importance is ever missed.

Screenshot for Analogue: A Hate Story on PC

Another great aspect for fresh-faced players is the fact that it is a relatively short visual novel, no longer than six hours. Also, unlike many other high quality works within the genre, it does not require a lot of prior knowledge about a wide range of subjects to understand what is going on, which makes for a great "first visual novel" for anyone who is interested in getting into the genre without getting a dumbed-down iteration. Even though the game does not require a lot of knowledge about subjects prior to starting off, this does not stop it from discussing deep and important subjects such as politics, social injustice, philosophical questions, and even gender roles for the player to take their stance in and explore throughout. While easy, Analogue: A Hate Story does still offer everything found in most other high tier contenders within the genre and, therefore, will also appeal to veterans.

Screenshot for Analogue: A Hate Story on PC

Cubed3 Rating

9/10
Rated 9 out of 10

Exceptional - Gold Award

Rated 9 out of 10

Analogue: A Hate Story does a great job of catering to both newcomers and veterans alike with its deep and emotional story that can be dug through at any pace preferred due to its storytelling style. The lack of a requirement of prior knowledge to understand what the characters talk about is also a great bonus within a genre where this is nearly the normality within quality titles, and it will prove to be a great relief to newcomers. Analogue: A Hate Story is a great entry point to the genre without offering anything less than might be expected by veterans. With a deep story, great characters, and a creative way to tell its tale, Analogue is a definite buy.

Developer

Love Conquers All

Publisher

Love Conquers All Games

Genre

Adventure

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  9/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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