You might have caught this one during Day Of The Devs earlier this year. It’s stuck with me since because the developer Tanat seemed like a rad dude, and also because there’s nothing I cherish more than taking a bad pun and just absolutely going to town on it, marrow and all. Building Relationships is about buildings forming relationships in a Love Islandy scenario, though without the reality TV framing you might find in say, Crush House. But the real gag here is the commitment to the bit. Besides that, it’s just a really charming and fun N64-style 3D platformer.
It also features the sort wonky physics that definitely wouldn’t get Ninty’s seal of quality, but work brilliantly here, especially since your character consists largely of angles but still insists on, you know, performing motions.
The demo sees you roll around the island meeting other structures. Some of them have quests for you. Some of them just want to evangelise about bouldering. You can introduce yourself as either ‘Billding’ or ‘Cementha’. You can go fishing for minivans and collect coins, but you can also just make your own joy, especially once you find the double jump and dash upgrades. One secret criteria I use to weight a game’s soul on my scales is whether it’s fun to climb things just for the sake of climbing them; to be at advanced height - in a position of aerial bigitude. It absolutely is here. Some hidden coins don’t hurt, either, but I must insist:
Please get a sound for when I collect a coin. Collecting a coin without a jingly sound feels like getting fizzy nose then not sneezing. It would have ruined my day, but then I noticed that my house simply would not stop hopping between where their feet should be during conversations. It made it look like they really needed a piss, which spurred me onward.
Also, the camera is a little drunk. Not super drunk, but it’s definitely had a few. It’s a bit stubborn in a wonky sort of way.
The conversations are fun though. There’s several upgrade chests
RPG
PC
Indie
Action Adventure
Comedy
Visual Novel & Dating
exploration
Romance
Steam Next Fest 2024
Wishlisted