It didn’t have to be like this, you know. I could have played Lucas Molina‘s Roguemance, a game about procedurally-generated dangerous dating and love in a dangerous space-time, in the week after Valentine’s Day this year, when it came out. Or I could have played it three weeks ago, when I scuttled all my other social responsibilities to go on six consecutive dates — that would have been fitting. Instead, I play it now, for no other reason than… I just sort of felt like it, I guess. Which now that I write it out isn’t a terrible metaphor for love and dating either — if not necessarily one that says great things about me.
Anyway, this review will be of the shortie variety, for two reasons: a) Roguemance is a fairly compact game, mechanically and aesthetically both, and b) I didn’t discover that my usual screenshotting methods weren’t working until like two hours in. The former more than the latter, obviously: I would never let my personal failures and hangups determine how seriously I’m willing and able to engage in any commitment.
(Spoiler levels: Narrative, nah. Mechanical, lil’ bit.)
(Game source: Patreon funds.)
After the break: Good, now that we’ve got that sorted out, it’s Roguemance time.