Florence and the Effort of Love
Love is difficult.
This statement is broad and complicated, and betrays a personal understanding of value. Love has become, in many ways, the binding force of our lives. It is complex and messy and not easily defined, and yet in society it is too often presented as the greatest pursuit.
Florence, a visual novel new to the Nintendo Switch eShop but a port of a 2018 mobile game, is a unique visual novel that explores the difficulties of love. Presented from the point of view of the titular character, Florence follows a girl named Florence as she navigates a relationship across a year and change in her mid-twenties. Florence is bored but passionate, trapped in an uninteresting job with only a few prospects, her life a day-in and day-out of the same typical human behaviors: brushing teeth, eating lunch, working, sleeping.
When Florence meets Krish in a chance meet-cute, we are presented with the unfolding relationship, from its most saccharine moments to its inevitable downfall and dissolution.
Florence is a unique game, even among others in the visual novel genre. It’s short and sweet and at the price point of $6 you don’t have to think too hard…
