Published by THQ Nordic and developed by DigixArt, who were also makers behind Road 96, Tides of Tomorrow is a first-person RPG adventure game set in a world made of mostly water and where your actions and decisions can affect the next person to play after you. Tides of Tomorrow is now exploring the seas on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. 

Set in a fictional planet named Elynd, where a cataclysmic flood has destroyed most of civilisation, players take control of a survivor known as a Tidewalker who has lost their memories.  As Tidewalkers, players are afflicted by a mysterious disease called Plastemia, a condition that gradually turns living beings into plastic. Players must search for a cure while travelling across the sea and exploring diverse floating settlements. 

The most unique feature of Tides of Tomorrow is that the actions and decisions of someone who’s played before you affect certain story elements of your playthrough and the actions and decisions you make, then affect certain story elements for the person who plays after you. Before starting your first or a new playthrough, you pick from a list of players, and your experience will differ depending on who you choose to follow. 

You may not be able to see all the decisions they made, unless you’ve watched a friend play or even a streamer and searched for their username in the list. Each game begins with you as a Tidewalker waking up underwater somewhere in the ocean and needing to reach the surface for air. You’re then rescued by Nahe, who then explains what’s been happening, and the characters you meet throughout the game will unveil more of the story. 

You may not have memories, but you do have the ability to see what the previous Tidewalker did before you. Seeing what they did can act as clues if you’re unsure what to do next or how to get to a certain place, or you can make a different choice from theirs to change things up. Characters you meet along the way, even minor characters, will sometimes mention what the previous player did, which will affect how they interact with you. They will either be welcoming or cautious with you, so sometimes you’ll have to talk your way out of an awkward situation.

The planet Elynd looks and feels similar to Earth, populated by humans, but it seems mostly made of water due to a cataclysmic flood that occurred long ago, like the movie Waterworld. There is no actual land, trees, grass, or sand anywhere, and people have built their own islands made up of whatever scrap material they can find. Each man-made island you visit has its own civilisations and cultures, with some being more friendly and free spirited, while others are run by dictators and are heavily guarded. How they interact with you also varies depending on the actions of the previous player.

Many of the people you meet, including yourself, are affected by Plastemia, a disease that slowly turns humans into plastic and kills them. There is no cure for Plastemia, but it can be temporarily suppressed by a medicine called Ozen, which is rare and hard to find. Ozen isn’t just for story purposes, as players will need to find and collect them to not only survive themselves, but also maybe help others affected by the virus. Choosing to keep the Ozen all to yourself or give them to other characters can have rewards or consequences. 

There are a few ways to find Ozen. Players can buy them from merchants who may or may not have them in stock, from other characters, depending on how you and the previous player treated them, in compartments and more. Scraps are the in-game currency, which isn’t as hard to find, but you don’t usually find a lot, so you’ll need to spend them wisely. Each island has several compartments that might contain Ozen and scraps.

If the previous player was generous and left anything when they played, you can either take it, add more to the compartment, or leave it for the next player. Whether you are generous, greedy or in desperate need, the choice is yours to make. 

The game’s graphics have a cartoonish, plastic-punk aesthetic. The art style is bright and full of colour, though you’ll quickly realise that all the different colours you see are the mountains of rubbish and debris floating in the ocean. Sometimes it’s even dead bodies of people who were killed by Plastemia, making this bright, colourful and vibrant world feel grim, morbid and depressing. 

The graphics look impressive for the most part, showing the different civilisations, architecture, and the endless sea of water, despite all the mess in it. The important characters look great up close and are very expressive with their body language and facial expressions, but regular people look incomplete and outdated when you get close to them. Animations also look incomplete in parts, and while they don’t negatively affect the game in a big way, they can still be distracting. If you’re not too nitpicky, it’s easy to sit back and enjoy the views and sounds of the ocean and if you don’t think too much about all the rubbish and corpses floating in the water. 

Tides of Tomorrow is mainly a story-driven game where every choice matters, though it also features stealth and action sequences. The stealth segments are simple: just be patient, observe guards’ walking patterns, and don’t get spotted. If you are seen, just try again from the last checkpoint. The stealth portions aren’t as deep as other stealth-oriented games like Metal Gear Solid and Assassin’s Creed, but keeping it simple for this game helps move things along quicker.

The main action you get from this game is some naval combat with a speedboat you find early on, which is armed with a small cannon. They’re not too hard at first, but they become increasingly challenging the more you progress. You can upgrade your boat to be more durable, but it will cost scrap, and it’s not cheap.

The naval combat is simple but fun, and they don’t occur too often, which helps make the game not feel repetitive, and the hard rock music that plays during these will get your blood pumping. There is some hand-to-hand combat here and there, but it’s more of a memory game, because you can use your ability to see what moves your opponent did to the previous player and counter them. 

The game features crossplay between players on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. There is no actual multiplayer, but being able to follow a friend or a streamer who plays on a different platform gives you more variety for different experiences each time you begin a new game. If a friend plays after you, your choices will affect their game, so you can choose to be helpful by making good choices and leave plenty of scrap and Ozen to provide them an easier playthrough, or you can leave them nothing and screw them over, forcing them to work harder. 

A single playthrough can be completed in about 10 hours, which might feel short, but getting different experiences each time you begin a new game is what will keep players coming back for more. Having their choices affect your experience, your choices affect the next player’s experience, and then the next player’s choices affect the next player, and so on, is certainly an interesting concept.

After playing through a few times, however, it feels like you’ve seen almost everything, and the changes aren’t all that different, especially because the main premise and overall plot are the same each time. It’s not entirely a bad thing, and of course, this could vary with each player. 

Some players might want more, but this game, being the first of its kind, is brimming with potential if a sequel were to happen. It can expand on everything it already has, with more branching paths and consequences that have a bigger effect for the next player. 

Tides of Tomorrow is truly a one-of-a-kind game. Its unique concept, that the choices you make not only affect you but also the players after you, and that the cycle continues after that, is something that needs to be experienced. The game has some faults, but its potential can’t be ignored. Tides of Tomorrow is a game where every choice matters. 

Written by: Sammy Hanson