Everlove: Rose explores video-game romance

Everlove: Rose
(Silicon Sisters; Android, iOS; rated 12+)

Make no mistake, this is a game. Puzzle elements and hidden-object searches are key components. But Everlove, from Vancouver’s Silicon Sisters, is interactive fiction, asking players to make dialogue choices that will shape the story being told. And what a romantic tale it is. Players become Rose, a modern-day woman who, in the process of undergoing past-life-regression therapy, finds herself transported into the life of a medieval ancestor. While there, Rose is cast in an adventure that’s sophisticated enough to be interesting, but not overly genteel. There are romances, and depending on how players react and respond to conversations, those relationships can flourish or wither. Cleverly designed, well written, and curiously subversive, Everlove is a game for those who didn’t know they were gamers.