The original Half Past Fate has been released on the Switch for almost a year now, and our review praised it for its impressive pixelated visuals and engaging dialogue, albeit with a few more mini-searches. The same can be said for its follow-up, Half Past Fate: Romantic Distancing, a short (same story) in which two strangers find themselves at the beginning of a global pandemic, forced to communicate through phone calls and video chats. It’s a cute, somewhat uplifting tale, but really recommended only for those who liked the main game and it’s absolutely itch for more of the same.
You play as two characters throughout the story: Stephen, a music lover and Robin, a salesman at a local tech store. The two meet and agree to accompany themselves on a local show, before being placed in confinement by the government to contain the spread of the virus. Suddenly, trapped in their respective homes, the two chat on video on their laptops, taking virtual tours of their homes and listening to music, building a deep affection for each other over about 60 days.
All of this is condensed into one incredibly short experience: we are talking about 1 hour maximum, but your playing time will probably be around 30-40 minutes. In all fairness, the developer made it clear that this is a short game and that its price reflects the execution time. However, there is an unmistakable sense of disappointment when you are really getting to know the protagonists and simply … ends. It is frustrating, to say the least, as it seemed that there was much more potential with the story being told.
The gameplay remains the same as its predecessor: most of the tale consists of dialog boxes while the two characters interact with each other. For brief periods, you can also stroll and enjoy the views (which still seem beautiful, by the way), although some of the main game locations are reused here. There are some cases where options for dialogue are presented, but they had minimal impact on the story as a whole (like choosing which burrito to ask Stephen).
Ultimately, we have to ask ourselves a crucial question when it comes to Half Past Fate: Romantic Distancing: Do we really need it yet? other reminder of the really terrible situation we are still in? The story being told here is edifying, but it is also full of terms with which we have become very familiar over the past year: social distance, flattening the curve, remote meetings … we could continue. Games are – perhaps more than ever – a means of escapism, and the new Serenity Forge title deviates a little also close to reality to our liking. We would probably recommend other developers to try again in a few years, when the dust settles.