Christine Love, creator of "dark visual novel" Analogue: A Hate Story , has been tweeting and tumbling about "Hate Plus" for months. Slight problem: it was never entirely clear exactly what it was. And while, as a deeply disorganised person, I wholly approve of the haphazard approach to game promotion, it's nice to get official word that Hate Plus will be a full sequel to Analogue, delving further into the history of the spaceship Mugunghwa.
"Hate Plus is a sequel to Analogue: A Hate Story that continues directly from the end of that game, and explores, over the course of three days, the events leading up to year 0," writes Love. "If Analogue was the backstory of *Hyun-ae, then Hate Plus is the backstory of *Mute." In case you're not familiar with naming conventions of Hate Story's regressed-future world, the asterisks signify that they're AIs.
Set thousands of years in future, Analogue starts when you find a long-lost colonial spaceship. Through its logs, you learn about a society that had become deeply traditional and patriarchal, and discover the affecting fate of the mysterious Pale Bride. Also there are AIs. And cosplay.
Love states that Hate Plus will feature new art, music, an improved UI and more writing than Analogue - which had a lot of writing. It will also let you import Analogue's save file, carrying on from whichever ending you chose in that game. Hate Plus is due out in Summer.