Home dev Benjamin Rivers working on 'psychologically manipulative' dating sim

Given he was behind the intentionally eerie Home - A Unique Horror Adventure, it's of little surprise that developer Benjamin Rivers has revealed his next game will again focus on messing with your mind.

Somewhat more intriguing, however, is Rivers' revelation that his next release will be a dating sim.

Speaking to sister site PocketGamer.biz as part of an in-depth look into the making of Home, Rivers said the new game is currently in the very early stages of its development.

He also suggested he's looking to rip up the rulebook by offering gamers an entirely different take on the dating genre.

Indeed, like Home before it, the game is described as being 'psychologically manipulative'.

"It will have a lot more character-to-character conflict, and absolutely zero combat," Rivers told us.

"I am hoping to keep the process fairly short; I definitely want to get this out next year, but who knows? It all comes down to keeping the budget and sales expectations in check."

Home - A Unique Horror Adventure

No set formats have been announced, though the success enjoyed by Home - a Pocket Gamer Silver Award winner, no less - on iOS suggests he may have found a loyal fanbase on mobile.

There's every chance, however, that this as-of-yet unnamed dating sim may look rather different by the time it hits the digital shelves.

"It might mutate a bit, but I have specific goals again, like with Home, that I want to meet," added Rivers.

"There is a lot more that I haven't mentioned yet - concepts and design ideas that I'm playing with now and trying to paper-prototype to see if it even works at all."

In much the same manner, Rivers admits in the interview that Home undertook several shifts during its development, including a subtle re-write of the entire script designed to keep players on their toes.

"The real sea change that defined the game for me was when I took all the game's writing - months of it at that point - and changed it all from present tense to past tense," said Rivers.

"Everyone who played the game at that point seemed upset with me and said it didn't seem right. That's when I knew it was the correct choice."

You can read the interview in full here.