Tides of Tomorrow

Tides of Tomorrow is an incredible experience with a powerful story and very interesting and innovative mechanics. The only real downside is that the choice-based gameplay might not be for everyone.

Tides of Tomorrow set out to overhaul the choice-based games genre with it's Story-Link feature and, while promising, it is a relatively shallow mechanic. Still, the original wrinkle it adds on top of a solid, albeit flawed single-player choice-based game is a welcome addition to the genre.

Tides of Tomorrow tells an exciting story through an innovative lens. It prompts players to think beyond themselves and their own stories.

Tides of Tomorrow builds gameplay around a bold new feature, the asynchronous multiplayer, that will affect both your game and the game of the Tidewalkers to follow. Between the choices of your forerunner and your own decisions, no two playthroughs will be alike. And some decisions of your decisions will raise interesting questions from the very beginning of the game: environmental, ethical, moral, sociopolitical, and even existential.

With some intriguing world-building and phenomenal choices, Tides of Tomorrow is a game that warrants some real investment. It isn't perfect by any metric, but it is good enough to draw you in and reward your time. Seeing everything through, even when it's tough, gives you a sensation of completion that very few games can achieve. With the innovative Social-Link system, there's a real opportunity to create a new sort of way for players to interact, but it hasn't been perfected just yet. Tides of Tomorrow isn't the next big game, but it is a game that will stay with people long after they finish it.

Tides of Tomorrow starts with a commendable ambition: merging the urgency of an ecological theme with an innovative asynchronous multiplayer system (the Story-Link), where every player’s decisions ripple into the worlds of others. During the first playthrough, this magic works wonderfully, supported by an excellent, engaging resource management mechanic and a truly exceptional soundtrack. Unfortunately, the illusion shatters as soon as you start a second run: an overly “do-gooder” writing style that nullifies the weight of negative choices, combined with bland supporting characters and gameplay dragged down by poorly executed filler phases (primarily stealth and minigames), prevents the title from truly taking flight. Technical hiccups aside, it remains a fascinating experiment for fans of narrative adventures, but it ultimately represents an opportunity only half-realized.

Tides of Tomorrow transforms narrative adventure games with its asynchronous multiplayer mode, offering a fascinating world and gameplay, but at the same time it suffers from significant ludonarrative dissonance.

This all culminates in an experience that does an effective job at emphasising the connection between people, achieved in a way that feels particularly clever and responsive to how your own actions affect others, as theirs do unto you. Tides of Tomorrow delivers on making you feel like you’re part of a greater whole, while also providing a story that is wholly individual and intimate.

Tides of Tomorrow has a clever multiplayer mechanic that literally and metaphorically demonstrates how our actions, and those of others, send ripples into the world. It has a strong narrative hook and interesting characters, but it can't quite stick the landing when it comes to gameplay, controls, and polish. I'm looking forward to seeing the story link system further developed in a more refined experience.

A strong narrative-driven experience that stands out for its meaningful choices and emotional storytelling. Tides of Tomorrow delivers a thoughtful, often impactful journey with clear real-world parallels, making it more ambitious than many similar titles on the market. Despite a few minor flaws, it remains a highly recommended experience for fans of choice-driven adventures.