"Back in the 25th century, Earth launched a generation ship into deep space, with the goal of establishing the first interstellar colony. It dropped out of contact and disappeared, never reaching its destination."

"Thousands of years later, it has finally been found."

Recently, Christine Love released Analogueue: A Hate Story, her latest visual novel. Having completed and enjoyed her pervious game, Don't Take It Personally, Babe, It Just Ain't Your Story, I was happy to drop $15 needed to pick this up (DRM-free, no less). After completing two playthroughs, and earning two of the five endings, I can say I was suprisied at how different Analogue was from Babe.

Analogue felt a lot harder to jump into. The bulk of the story takes place in the past between different families vying for political favor aboard the massive space ship Mugunghwa (which you are investigating). Their story plays out in journal entries and other records stored on the ship's computer. Very quickly you realize the world these characters live in is one of extreme gender inequality where women are basically objects meant to seen and not heard.

This sets up a very dark tale that dwarfs the school yard drama of Babe. However, getting to, and understanding, this story was a challenge. You only have access to a handful of log entries at first, and those entries are written by several different authors at different points in the timeline. Thankfully, you're not on your own to figure out the story. You quickly meet *Hyun-ae and *Mute, two cheerful A.I.'s with opposing opinions of what life was like on the Mugunghwa. By speaking with them you gain access to additional documents and learn more about what happened to the ship's crew.

Between the two, I preferred *Mute's character. She's sly, charismatic, and a total gossip. Her commentary on the different characters from the log entires helped humanize them more and add some extra flavor to their tale. *Hyun-ae was the opposite. It's clear she despised the sexist conditions on the Mugunghwa, and most of her dialog focused on the relationship between her and the player. Yes, you can have a romantic relationship with one (or possibly both) of the A.I.'s, but I felt like more of a creeper praying on *Hyun-ae's emotions to get more information.

Outside of interacting with the A.I.'s, you play a very passive role in Analogue. Compared to Babe--where you actively influenced your student's lives--this story feels sterile. The bulk of the plot has already happened; you're just trying to figure it out. To be fair, there was a clever puzzle sequence in the middle involving the ship's computer which I really enjoyed. All this is not to say Analogue is poorly written--far from it. I was just expecting more from the mystery angel, rather than character drama.

Call it laziness, but keeping up with the who's who was hard, especially when *Mute starts in on the political intrigue. The main plot of the past revolves around the tragic life of a young girl referred to as the "Pale Bride." A sickly child, she was put into stasis and reawakened years later to find that society had completely changed. With no freedom, no love, and a pre-arranged marriage already made, her tragic tale is heartbreaking--and by far the computer log's strongest narrative.

If you've not played either "Don't Take It Personally, Babe, It Just Ain't Your Story" or "Analogue: A Hate Story" I would highly recommend starting with the former. I'm fast becoming a fan of Christine Love's style and, despite my complaints, enjoyed Analogue. If you'd like more information, you can check out Christine's official site here.