Hatim Benhsain and Hanwen Xu are developing Tidal Rapture, a merpeople-themed game about casual relationships, self-discovery and bodily change in an underwater society. The project is funded by the NYU Game Center. [1]
The game follows a protagonist who has recently been dumped and sets out to explore intimacy while weighing whether to move to the surface. The story places that journey inside three chapters set in collaged low-poly underwater worlds, with three colorful partners each introducing a different kind of entanglement. [1]
Tidal Rapture folds its romance systems into movement and music. Swimming uses a push-and-pull motion inspired by Super Mario 64, Ecco the Dolphin and Legend of Water, while singing relies on a five-note system that players harmonize with other characters. [1]
Its entanglement mechanics are more explicit. Players control a long, sinuous organ from the character's back to thrust, entangle and tie knots with a partner's organ through phases the developers call foreplay, main act, climax and aftercare. [1]
Benhsain and Xu describe Tidal Rapture as a sex game that mixes earnestness, bizarreness and farce with hypnagogic visuals. Benhsain previously made Water Level/b.l.u.e. EXPLORATION, another project that paid homage to Legend of Water and blended samples from different artworks. [1]
