Building Relationships is a game about roaming an island and meeting potential romantic partners. But that’s not all: You’re a building. Specifically, you’re a house who eats furniture, loves fishing, and even knows how to jump. As a house, you roll around this island at sometimes ridiculous speeds, chatting with different buildings and going on dates with them.
I saw Building Relationships at Gamescom Asia x Thailand Games Show on Saturday. It’s a funny game but, crucially, it’s not just funny because you’re a building. It’s also funny in the same way Baby Steps is: there’s something inherently comical about the moment-to-moment movement, the bonkers physics, and the sense that you’re always in control but only just.
When the seductive protagonist does find a date—perhaps with a charismatic windmill, or a friendly manor, or a “himbo” tent—the process proceeds as a mini-game. For example, as my house dined with a grand old abode, I had to put together a flat-pack table for my romantic interest to eat (because buildings eat furniture, obviously).
Building Relationships is predominantly the work of Thai developer Tanat Boozayaangool, who cites A Short Hike as inspiration. “It’s a heartfelt story wrapped around a very silly premise,” he told me.
