Hate Plus (PC) Review

The story in Hate Plus focuses on the events that led up to the year zero system reset and why it occurred. It is a story filled with political intrigue, ideological dilemmas, tragedies, and romance. Hate Plus keeps the writing style of Analogue: A Hate Story, but gives the player more freedom to explore the events in whatever order they decide by having a menu that allows them to choose what files to download and in which order. This leads to an open and free exploration of the events that led up to the new society, where there is a choice of what aspects to read about first and which characters to follow. Is the steaming romance between an actress and a flower girl the most appealing aspect? Or is the political game that *Mute is heavily involved in that is truly appealing? Or does reading everything in chronological order sound more appealing? Or should it all be read in reverse? Whatever style of reading is preferred, it will most likely be available, and it is done extremely well as the logs in Hate Plus are, just like in Analogue: A Hate Story, highly enjoyable, independent-yet-connected in a way that makes it so that they connected, creating a wonderfully well-written and deep story that can be read at any pace and order preferred.

The biggest difference between Hate Plus and Analogue: A Hate Story is where the restrictions in the story reading rests. In Analogue: A Hate Story, the player was not allowed to read the story in whatever order they preferred as the story in the title demanded that by its nature. However, in Hate Plus, the pacing is instead restricted. This, as the spaceship has restricted energy, means it only allows a certain number of logs to get downloaded each IRL day. This means that Hate Plus will take around three real life days to play through due to the very nature of it. This might, at first, sound like a bad thing, but delving into the story reveals why this is. The story is extremely heavy and has many both political and philosophical depths that have to be reflected upon to fully understand, and the story would be extremely hard to grasp if taken in too large pieces at one time. However, the fact that the long waiting times are in no way optional is a weird design choice that might very well put some players off the experience. Love Conquers All should have opted to have the player choose to have this feature on or off, depending on their own personal preference and play style (it is possible to cheat to work around this, thankfully).

The tricks in the storytelling and the themes themselves are, however, no different from Analogue: A Hate Story. If the player previously liked the melancholic atmosphere, intrigues, ero-romantic stories, and tendencies of scepticism towards strict gender roles and totalitarian authorities that decide how people shall live their lives, they will most likely love the story Christine Love has prepared in Hate Plus, as well. The story offers a beautiful mix of contrasting subjects with depth and connections, weaving all the short stories found within the individual logs together into a well-spun spider web. This makes for a tale with heavy focus on delivering a message, or an idea, that it is up to the audience to explore and draw its own conclusions from. As opinion is never forced upon people, nor are fingers pointed at one set of opinions, no Mary Sue characters or totally unsympathetic and straw-men are made, which makes for balanced storytelling where the reader is never put to blame for agreeing with someone other than the one the actual author necessarily agrees with.

While Hate Plus is a seriously themed game, in true Eastern gaming style it never sees itself in a solely serious sense and does in the most mature way show that the child inside is not gone. Just as Analogue: A Hate Story had its cosplay, Hate Plus also comes with its own fun miscellaneous elements that deepens the bond between the reader and the main character. *Hyun-ae does invite the reader to enter a more personal bond to herself and the game world by heavily breaking the fourth wall by proposing to the reader to bake her a cake and even goes lengths to give them a great cake receipt. It is a very cute and childish thing to suggest, which gives *Hyun-ae a psychological depth and a personal connection towards the reader in a way that very few games have ever succeeded.

The one aspect where Hate Plus performs worse than Analogue: A Hate Story, however, is its newcomer friendliness. While it retains the log system that helped ensure that even fresh faces to the genre never felt lost, the story here sometimes go heavily over the reader's head by introducing complex terminology and references to outside sources, yet never explains the meaning of it, thus alienating some readers or creating confusion over what the characters talk about and makes some depth of the story invisible to them. It is normal in the genre, but still a little sad as Analogue: A Hate Story did a great job to avoid this pitfall.

Hate Plus succeeds wonderfully with what it wants to do - to be a great sequel that solves the mysteries left behind in the first game, and deepening the connection between the reader and the AI of their chosen path from the former title. The way the stories in Hate Plus entwine beautifully into one another into a red thread is sublimely performed and does not feel forced, which creates a natural and realistic storytelling experience. The way in which Hate Plus handles such heavy and sensitive issues that are found within with the utmost care and understanding of the subject also creates a great experience.