Worse Than Death is a high school school meeting

High school meetings exist for adults so that they can review their teenage anxieties and compare their grades. It's an opportunity for graduates to find out who's partying, who's successful and who's landed in jail. In the case of the next thriller Worse than death, it's a place for the monsters, the murders and the secrets of the hometown.

Worse than death is the latest version of Ben Rivers, the creator of the horror game Home and science fiction romance Alone with you. The game features Holly, a young woman returning home to her small town to meet her old friends. "There are always people who feel that their return is not better than they were when they left," says Rivers about the high school reunions. "It's the scariest part."

Rivers is from a small town and it was inspired by his own experiences without monsters. Everyone knows everyone's business, he says – or at least people think they know it. The secrets, however, are ubiquitous. "I wanted to create a small game that would also give the impression of digging layer by layer," he said. "It's all about people and relationships between them … there are secrets and unspoken things between characters."

For Holly, the situation is getting worse. Invisible monsters are hiding in the shadows. Worse than death Blend adventure game style puzzles with some kind of hide and seek where players must be smart about how to use their environment. Holly is not a fighter who will end her trip with an armful of rifles. Instead, she has to rely on her own ability to survive, which is defined in the game by the beating of her heart and the proximity of enemies.

"The interest of the story is to slowly reveal what these characters are going through," Rivers says. To make Holly a heroic hero who takes charge of arms is not good. "Whenever I felt that you were an aggressor, it was less like a horror game, less important to what these characters are supposed to live." "You must still be running."

Nevertheless, players should not expect to face their literal demons. According to Rivers, whenever you see the monster in a horror movie, the movie is no longer scary. The same goes for his game. At the end of the day, it's the fear and anxiety that players are feeling. "Let them do it," said Rivers. "Do not give them too much."

Worse Than Death is launching the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Steam and iOS devices this year.