Thousands of the years ago, the generation ship Mugunghwa was sent out to establish a colony. It disappeared, never reaching its destination, its ultimate fate remaining an unsolved mystery... until now. Uncover what happened to the final generation aboard the Mugunghwa by reading through its dead crew's logs, with the help of a spunky AI sidekick! Two pursuable characters. Five endings. A dark visual novel mystery based on Korean history, featuring transhumanism, traditional marriage, loneliness, and cosplay. Welcome to the future.
This is where the story could have easily become a dry history lesson with Love dumping information on us and she doesn’t…and it’s awesome. Anyone who’s played Digital knows that Christine Love enjoys non-linear storytelling and in this one she masters the art form. Not only does the style make sense story-wise, but it also makes the characters of Analogue feel real. Despite the historic inspiration, the issues brought up in their logs reflect problems you don’t have to go very far to see in 2012: family politics, marital dysfunction, dealing with ‘black sheep’ and trying to maintain position…or at least appearances to name a few.
And while tragic, our Pale Bride isn’t completely sympathetic herself. When we first see her, she’s not exactly the picture of sanity…although living as a political pawn, becoming an AI and spending millennia alone is more than enough to warp the human mind. Throughout the VN, a part of you feels sorry for you and, at the same time, a part of you wonders if she even understands just how far she’s fallen. All she can really grasp is that she isn’t alone anymore, regardless of the reasons.
Playing opposite of *Hyun-ae is *Mute: the security AI. Outside of the ship’s logs, Mute is our best representation of what happened to the Mugunghwa. Designed to have a female interface, *Mute even acknowledges that her position clashes with the world around her. Which means that, at some point before the madness began, someone reprogrammed as much of *Mute as they could in order to make sure she fit in with ‘modern society’ while being able to fulfill her primary functions.
This is more than just a visual novel. This is a well-made suspense story. This is a deconstruction of the science fiction genre as a whole. Analogue: A Hate Story isn’t just one of the best visual novels made this year; it is possibly the definitive English Visual Novel. Do not deny yourself this experience.