#hate plus

the games I love the most!!! 🖤

Ooh great question!! Honestly all yuri could use more attention and love; I thought that I was a major yuri fan before starting this tourney, but I'd never heard of a few of the popular submissions like Butterfly Soup before, not to mention a lot of the other submissions! I have a few games that I'd like to highlight though which are not quite yuri enough to be in the tourney (in my mind) but are still something that I think a lot of yuri fans will like.

Analogue: A Hate Story and Hate Plus

These two games were made by the writer of Ladykiller in a Bind which was submitted to the tourney. Christine Love writes a lot of games with queer themes and these two are no exception! While this game used to be more popular (I think?) it's 13 years old now, so I think it deserves more love!!

In this story, you are an investigator trying to discover what happened to the derelict spaceship Mugungwha. Talking to two different AI girls built into the ship, you discover the tragedy of what happened on the ship.

Not quiiiite yuri because you can play as either a man or a woman, but the story is very different depending on your gender because of the way the two AI girls respond to you. The girl pictured, Mute, has traditional beliefs based on the Korean Joseon Dynasty and is too homophobic to have a romantic ending with a girl player in the first game, but is starting to warm up to you in the second. Hyun-ae, the other AI girl, falls in love with you whether you're a boy or a girl, but has interesting dialogue regarding overcoming internalized homophobia if you are a girl. Additionally, there are sapphic stories discovered within the ship's log, explaining part of the history of what happened to the ship. Both games are amazing visual novels with interesting interfaces; I've heard people complain about the amount of reading you have to do, but that's part of what a VN is to me fdhjkfd so that was part of what I liked so much about it.

Crystar

A magical girl action RPG. Rei Hatada goes on a quest to save her sister Mirai from the depths of purgatory, making friends and plunging into despair along the way. This game is often maligned for having boring combat, but I found it really relaxing and fun to play; not overly difficult but with enough challenge to keep it enjoyable. The music, art, and story are where it really shines though, and it feels almost like a visual novel to me.

The whole game is focused on girl/girl relationships: mainly sisterly or platonic, but some with romantic subtext. Kokoro, one of Rei's friends, had a boyfriend in the past, but flirts with Rei throughout the game, talking about how she is just her type. Warning that Rei is a teenager, while Kokoro is in her early twenties, but their relationship is portrayed on equal footing and I greatly enjoyed it.

Each and every girl in the game gets time to shine, and mysteries about their pasts unfold as you go through the game. Crystar is similar to the Nier/Drakengard series' (and in fact was inspired by them) in that you need to play through the game a few times to see alternate endings. Each playthrough is different and more mysteries are explained as you go.

I also really love the message that Crystar has: that tears and emotion matter, and your tears are not a sign of weakness, but that you have gone through sorrow that makes you stronger. Plus, if you really like complicated sister relationships, Crystar has you covered. I'll never forget the Rei and Mirai relationship, as well as another sister relationship that I'll keep secret for spoilers. It's such a lovely game that I hope more people will play it!!

We're making a *Hyun-ae plushie!

In the year 4989, *Hyun-ae finally escaped from the wreck of the Mugunghwa in the care of her dear space investigator. Now she's ready to make the jump from the starship computer desktop to your own actual IRL desktop, thanks to her brand new cyborg body with super-advanced huggable "plushie" technology to help as your sidekick in whatever new investigations come your way... or to watch carefully over any cakes you end up baking.

You can preorder her here right now!

---

I'm really excited about this one! In collaboration with Makeship, we're making a super cute plushie version of *Hyun-ae from Analogue: A Hate Story. My personal rule with merch has always been "I wouldn't ever sell something I wouldn't be excited to have myself," so we worked closely together to make sure she looked perfect. I'm really happy with how she's turned out!

The way Makeship works is that they take crowdfunded preorders and only make that many, and they'll need to get 200 orders to make it happen. It'll cost $29.99 and orders will be open until September 23.

Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9

Esperia ~ Uprising of the Scarlet Witch ~

Meg’s Monster

Graveyard Girls

Analogue: A Hate Story/Hate Plus

Bistro Days

Dust to Dusk

Kind Words

Legends of Ethernal

Love Choice

Lucid9

Synergia

Vestaria Saga series

Please Be Happy

Journey

Neon White

Hindsight

Florence

If Found...

Don’t Escape series

Deep Sleep Series

The Spirit and the Mouse

The Messenger

Return of the Obra Dinn

Rakuen

Serment - Contract with a Devil

The Letter - Horror Visual Novel

Virgo Versus The Zodiac

ConnecTank

The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass

SPOOKWARE

Knock-knock

Wolfstride

This Way Madness Lies

Deluge: Threnody of Crashing Waves

Cooking Companions

Helltaker

Young Souls

Ghostrunner

Long Live The Queen

SeaBed

Astalon: Tears of the Earth