14 DAY TRIAL // Pixelated psychological romance adventures are not something you find a lot of, and indie developer Benjamin Rivers intends to solve this aching problem.
Benjamin Rivers is responsible for the 2012 minimalist horror game Home, released for PC and iOS, a unique adventure set in a pixelated world that challenges players to solve a murder mystery with a twist, allowing them to determine what ultimately happens.
Now the time has come for a follow-up to that game, and the GDC 2014 teaser trailer illustrates the mood of the upcoming Alone With You, a game about discovery, escape and love.
Players will step into the shoes of a stranded astronaut, being stuck on a distant uninhabited planet after a terraforming expedition suddenly goes south. His only companion during his escape journey is a creepy but optimistic artificial intelligence.
Rivers has not revealed much about the game out of fear of spoilers, but he has clarified that it will not be a puzzle or action game, but a narrative-driven experience focused on the choices that players make over the course of the game.
"The goal of the game (from my point of view) is to take the idea of a dating sim and turn it on its head a bit. Most dating games are about an objectified quest to 'win' a character's heart. Alone With You doesn't take that approach," Rivers was quoted by Eurogamer.
Home was a horror game without monsters, and Alone With You plans to be a dating sim without any of the usual trappings associated with them. Both games have in common the fact that they have a strong emphasis on player choice.
They aren't puzzle driven, they simply rely on making choices, this time around the indie game maker challenging himself to deliver a more traditional core gameplay experience, in terms of exploring the environments and directly controlling a character.
The creator stated that his goal was to provide a gender-neutral experience, as such the suited up protagonist's gender will remain undisclosed, allowing players a wide range of romantic options.
"Whether you're male, female, transgendered, straight, gay, etc - I want you to feel like you can play this game," Rivers stated.
Alone With You is currently in very early development, and no information regarding the platforms the game will be available on or a prospective release window has been made available.
Benjamin Rivers is planning to offer more details on the game during this year's Game Developers Conference, taking place next week in San Francisco, and interested gamers can visit the Alone With You website for updates.