Tides of Tomorrow

I was late to the party with Road 96, the third title from French studio DigixArt, but holy hell did I love it. I’ve finished it on Xbox, PS4, and PS5, delighting in its narrative, its characters, and its unpredictability. I told Americans to play it before the most recent election as a cautionary tale… not that the tactic worked.

Innovation is the key to evolving gameplay, and those that manage to do so successfully are what drive creativity and uniqueness in an oversaturated market. When Road 96 was first announced, I thought the idea of random, procedurally generated chapters in a narrative-driven game sounded ludicrous. As it turns out, the concept was brilliant, both in its concept and execution. So when DigixArt announced Tides of Tomorrow, a game in a similar vein as Road 96, only on a grander scale and now an a...

Tides of Tomorrow takes an engaging story and utilizes an unbelievably dynamic way of telling it that combines community with player choice for an experience like no other.

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.

Science fiction is often at its best when translating modern-day matters into futuristic allegories, heightening everyday issues into dramatic circumstances to reveal truths about humanity. Tides of Tomorrow executes this principle to great effect in both its narrative and mechanics, and I greatly enjoyed how its themes were so neatly communicated across each moment of gameplay. The unique way the story is conveyed is more impressive than the story itself, but it's still a great time for fans...

Following up on the success of Road 96, developer DigixArt is making waves once again by shaking up the narrative genre with their latest release, Tides of Tomorrow. With an innovative mechanic to help push the story forward, its asynchronous multiplayer components make the overall experience one they won't have to undertake alone.

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

Mixing together adventure, stealth and a gripping narrative makes Tides of Tomorrow a very intriguing prospect indeed. It's just a shame that its novel 'online story-link' mechanic isn't as enjoyable as it should be, leaving you feeling like you're existing in someone else's shadow rather than carving out your own path through this unique world.

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Despite a clever central mechanic that ties into its core message, Tides of Tomorrow is let down by heavy-handed storytelling, simplistic mechanics and a regular loss of immersion.

Tides of Tomorrow boasts an interesting world, and has great foundational ideas, particularly with its approach to asynchronous multiplayer. However, it feels more inconsequential and disjointed than it should, and as a result doesn't fulfill its potential.

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 finis...