If you've ever thought that videogames could stand be a little more, ahem, refined (or you have an affinity for fashionable waistcoats and breeches), look no further than iOS' Regency Love, which hit iOS' App Store earlier this month. The game is named after England's Regency Period of the early 19th century, which saw King George III declared unfit to rule due to the onset of mental illness and replaced by his son George IV, the Prince of Wales.

From 1811 to 1820 George ruled England as the Price Regent (after which he ascended to the throne as King George IV until his death a decade later); due to a confluence of economic of cultural changes caused by the ongoing Napoleonic wars (as well as a number of Renaissance-esque intellectual and artistic developments from Europe, such as the introduction of the waltz, not to mention George's partronage to the arts himself), his initial ruling era became known as a time of cultural refinement in England. More to the point, this was the heyday of Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813 – and it's here where Regency Love draws a great deal of its inspiration.

Part courtship sim, part RPG (a lot of the game's dialogue systems are inspired by Dragon's Age and the Bioware formula), Regency Love basically lets players (the game's meant for women, but anyone with an interest in the time period will likely enjoy it) woo their own Mr. Darcy through dialogue choices that take into account your attitudes about societal norms (this being a time when marrying for love and out-of-social-rank was generally simply unheard of) while improving practical skills like how forthright you are, or, say, your skills in needlework.

You get the idea. There might not be any zombies trying to eat Elizabeth Bennet, but it surely beats the hell out of Austenland. The trailer has more.

Via Youtube