In The Name Of Love('s Next Game): Ladykiller In A Bind

I am constantly frustrated by videogame names, as too often they're oblique, or cliché, or unsearchable. Christine Love knows how to do it right. The creator of Analogue: A Hate Story just announced her next project: My Twin Brother Made Me Crossdress As Him And Now I Have To Deal With A Geeky Stalker And A Domme Beauty Who Want Me In A Bind!!

It's short name is just as good: Ladykiller in a Bind. It's an erotic visual novel about social manipulation.

Christine Love is the very excellent game designer and writer behind Digital: A Love Story, which Kieron raved about back before any of us were born but when he was still very old. Since then Love has made the similarly excellent (and long-named) Don't Take It Personally, Babe, It Just Ain't Your Story, and Analogue: A Hate Story and its semi-sequel Hate Plus.

As Kieron wrote about Digital: "I can’t think of a better love story in the western medium." Ladykiller in a Bind looks to be taking another glance towards romance, though this time with a different spin. Speaking to Polygon, Love outlined some of her goals:

"Sort of like dating sims or the Persona games' social links, but with a much more honest portrayal," Love wrote. "Really, dating sims are inherently about manipulating other people — pick the right dialogue choices based off what you think they expect, learn about their interests so you can give them perfectly tuned gifts, make decisions based off whether you'll impress them or not — but like to pass it off as being about romance.

"Well, fuck that. You can still do that in Ladykiller in a Bind; we're just not going to pretend that it's anything other than manipulation. It'll have consequences."

Which is typically acerbic, and maybe means we can all continue stretching "Love On Love" puns for another decade or so. The game doesn't have its own site yet, so go here and wait.