Info about Highwater: Official game description: Highwater is a whimsical, 3D adventure game with an isometric turn-based puzzle-combat system set in a flooded, post-apocalyptic world. Navigate by boat, discover islands, find new allies to help battle foes, and experience a humorous tale about friendship in this melancholic and atmospheric escape. Amid the Great Climate Catastrophe, the flooded region of Hightower has become a kind of safe zone between the two dry regions: the nearly global ravaged land of the War Zone, and the fortified city of Alphaville, where the ultra-rich live behind giant walls. With life on Earth becoming untenable for humans, and rumors of an escape to Mars floating around, Nikos begins a risky journey, picking up friends along the way. First to Hightower, then beyond to cross the impenetrable border of Alphaville, battling insurgents and stealing food along the way. Will Nikos and his friends manage to sneak onto the rocket in time? GAME FEATURES: -------------- Rich, Story-Driven Adventure ---------------------------- Earth may be flooded, but it’s one heck of a view on the water. With a sense of humor, determination, and some great tunes, Nikos and friends will work together to explore the water-filled environment around them and embark on an adventure to evacuate to Mars and start a new life. 3D Exploration & Discovery -------------------------- Float along the vast waterways freely in your boat and explore the many different islands of a beautiful world where you’ll encounter danger, interact with fellow citizens, gather resources, and fight for a chance to escape to a new life. Turn-Based Combat With A Twist ------------------------------ Take on your enemies in a classic turn-based combat system where careful tactics and puzzle solving will help you come out alive. Interact with the environment and items around you: knock down a tree, push a shopping cart into an enemy, or duck behind a turned over car to gain the advantage. Original Radio Tunes -------------------- The world may be ending, but there's still time to enjoy some good tunes. As you cruise along the water, Highwater Pirate Radio is the key source not only of unique and original music, but also for commentary on your ticket to survival. Release date: 14 Mar, 2024 Categories: Action-adventure, Turn-based Combat, Puzzle Solving, Exploration, Single-player Story, Environmental Combat, Party-based Combat - Hardware Profile: No data Feature extractions: - Community Price: No data - Playtime Metrics: No data - Time-to-fun: No data - Player Archetypes: No data Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category. Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews. What players like: - Compelling story, characters, world (weight 0.91): The game features a compelling narrative, memorable characters, and excellent world-building. The story explores themes of hope, friendship, and survival, enhanced by well-written dialogue and a melancholic atmosphere. The music and sound design are also praised for complementing the narrative and world. - Excellent music and radio integration (weight 0.91): The game features an exceptional soundtrack with bittersweet alternative and indie music, enhancing the atmosphere and complementing the game's themes. The radio, featuring a returning host and pirate radio tunes, adds significantly to the road trip atmosphere and is considered one of the best aspects of the game. - Strategic, engaging turn-based combat (weight 0.85): The turn-based combat system is enjoyable and strategic, encouraging players to use character abilities, manage equipment, and utilize the interactive environments to their advantage. Encounters can be resolved peacefully or through strategic thinking rather than relying solely on powerful weapons. - Unique, beautiful post-apocalyptic setting (weight 0.79): The game is set in a unique and beautifully rendered post-apocalyptic world, where a climate catastrophe has turned Earth into an archipelago. The visuals combine low-poly elements with a rich color palette, creating a distinct and visually pleasing atmosphere. - Witty humor and social commentary (weight 0.12): The game incorporates witty humor and comedic situations, offering a sarcastic look at society and politics. It also includes musical numbers integrated into the narrative and references to local newspapers and books. - Additional stories unlock post-game (weight 0.1): The game features additional chapters and stories that add narrative depth and provide a bonus after completing the main story. These additions offer further exploration of the game's world and characters. - No bugs encountered (weight 0.04): Reviewers reported encountering no bugs during their playthroughs, indicating a stable and polished game experience. Common complaints: - Camera and control issues (weight 0.68): Several reviews mention issues with the game's camera and controls. These issues include awkward camera angles, obstructed views during combat, unresponsive cursor clicks, and inverted camera controls that cannot be remapped. These problems contribute to a frustrating and clunky user experience. - Combat: slow, repetitive, uninspired (weight 0.66): The turn-based combat is a major point of criticism. Reviewers found it slow, clunky, repetitive, and lacking strategic depth. Many felt it overstayed its welcome, overshadowing other aspects of the game and negatively impacting the overall pacing and enjoyment. - Limited, uninspired exploration (weight 0.43): Reviewers express disappointment with the limited exploration opportunities and uninteresting world design. The world feels empty, islands are similar, and the lore is uninspired, making exploration monotonous and unsatisfying. Players are often restricted to linear paths with little room to stray. - Game feels unfinished, unpolished (weight 0.42): Multiple reviewers describe the game as feeling unfinished, unpolished, and rushed. This is evidenced by subpar writing, a lack of voice acting, wonky controls, technical flaws, and a general sense that the game is not fully realized. Some reviewers felt it was a downgrade from the developer's previous titles. - Poor writing and translation (weight 0.15): The game's writing and translation quality are criticized. Reviewers found the dialogue annoying, the plot simple and artificially lengthened, and the translation shaky. Some felt the story was disorganized and the ending unsatisfying. - Unhelpful, confusing map (weight 0.1): The in-game map is described as unhelpful and confusing for navigation. Invisible walls and restrictions on sailing too far from islands further hinder exploration and make it easy to lose track of objectives. - Disappointing radio station quality (weight 0.08): The radio station, a feature from previous games, is considered less genuine and of lower quality. The music is bland, and the interruptions to songs and dialogue are frequent. Some reviewers found the radio host annoying. - Game-breaking bugs (weight 0.04): Some reviewers experienced technical issues such as combat encounters failing to activate and game freezes, requiring a restart. These issues detract from the overall player experience. - Unclear UI elements (weight 0.04): Some reviewers found the UI unclear, such as difficulty in checking enemy movement range before attacking. The color used to indicate which characters can equip certain weapons is too light, making it easy to miss. Gameplay feedback: - Strategic turn-based combat with environment (weight 0.4): The game features turn-based combat on small arenas, where players strategically use character-specific abilities, weapons, and environmental elements. Battles lack RPG elements like leveling or skill progression, focusing instead on tactical decision-making within the environment. Combat serves primarily to advance the plot. - Boat exploration in flooded world (weight 0.27): Players navigate a flooded, post-ecological disaster world by boat, exploring islands and ruins to gather resources, uncover the story, and encounter friends and foes. The core gameplay loop involves traversing the water, sometimes accompanied by a radio broadcast, to find collectibles, equipment, and engage in battles. - Environmental interaction and character abilities (weight 0.09): Characters can utilize a variety of attacks, including melee and ranged weapons, and can even hack robots. The environment offers interactive elements like toppling trees and pushable carts, as well as defensive scenery and boosters to enhance character stats. - Simple gameplay, unexplained mechanics (weight 0.09): Some reviews express that the gameplay is simple, with limited variation in weapons and items. Some players found the battles, perks, or special abilities unexplained or difficult to decipher. - Story driven exploration (weight 0.06): The game involves making new friends and solving mysteries as the story progresses. The player controls a character who seeks partners and overcomes obstacles in a post-apocalyptic world to pursue a new life. The game features exploration, puzzle-solving, and combat, enriching the game's depth and prompting reflection on humanity and society. - Optional exploration, minor photography (weight 0.04): Exploration is optional, allowing players to find collectibles, weapons, and consumable boosters for battles. The game also includes a photography mechanic, though it's a minor addition. - Forced slow dialogue (weight 0.02): The game contains forced slow pop-up dialogue and credits. - Third-person exploration (weight 0.02): The game uses third-person exploration, a departure from the developer's previous 2D side-scrolling games. - Random character combat (weight 0.02): The game contains random character combat. Performance notes: - Inconsistent technical performance (weight 0.08): The game's technical performance is inconsistent. Some players report lag and bugs, while others describe it as technically sound. This discrepancy suggests that the issues may be hardware-dependent or intermittent. - Good hardware optimization (weight 0.05): The game is optimized to run well on a variety of hardware configurations. Reviewers specifically noted good performance on both low-end PCs and at 1440p resolution. - Excellent loading times (weight 0.03): Many reviewers have praised the game's short loading times. This contributes to a smoother and more enjoyable player experience. Recommendations: - Mixed reception; many flaws (weight 0.43): Many reviewers express mixed feelings, with some outright recommending against playing due to various flaws, bugs, or a feeling of incompleteness. Others suggest it may appeal to specific audiences or be worth considering on sale. There is no clear consensus, but the negative reviews cite significant issues. - Enjoyable for niche audiences (weight 0.39): Some reviewers found the game enjoyable, especially those who appreciate the series, post-apocalyptic settings, narrative-driven experiences, or turn-based combat. However, several suggest waiting for a sale, indicating the full price may not be justified. The game is considered average overall. - For franchise fans (weight 0.07): The game is recommended for those invested in the franchise or familiar with the developer's previous works. Reviewers suggest playing this game first before other related titles to fully appreciate the series' lore and evolution. - Oppressive world, weak ending (weight 0.05): The game effectively presents a story and oppressive world, prompting reflection on authoritarian relationships and systems of deprivation. However, the ending reveals too much, diminishing its impact. The narrative and world-building are strong points, but the ending is a weakness. - Atmospheric, Steam Deck suitable (weight 0.04): The game's melancholic atmosphere and movement are considered positive aspects. It is also noted as a suitable game for playing on the Steam Deck, suggesting it is well-optimized for that platform. - Simplistic art direction (weight 0.02): The art direction is described as simplistic, lacking detailed staging. This suggests a potential area for improvement in terms of visual presentation and artistic depth. Other player notes: - Part of the 'Nostalgiaverso' series (weight 0.16): Highwater is the third game in the 'Nostalgiaverso' mini-saga by Demagog Studio, connected to Golf Club Nostalgia and The Cub, but playable as a standalone title. The games share the same world, but each has different gameplay mechanics. Highwater features isometric turn-based combat. - Story about escaping flooded Earth (weight 0.08): The story focuses on Nikos and a group of refugees navigating a flooded world, trying to escape to Mars due to Earth's climate catastrophe. Players encounter various characters during Nikos's adventure, presented in a low-poly aesthetic. - Radio station enhances narrative (weight 0.05): A radio station provides narrative context and alternative music throughout the game. Highwater Pirate Radio replaces Highwater Radio Nostalgia from previous titles. - Lacks polish, poor execution (weight 0.05): Some reviewers felt that the game lacks polish and suffers from poor execution despite having a good concept. This suggests potential issues with the gameplay mechanics or overall presentation. - References various cultural figures (weight 0.03): The game features references to various cultural and artistic figures and concepts, such as Rimbaud, Francis Fukuyama, Charles Chaplin, the Fibonacci sequence, Eadweard Muybridge, and Georges Méliès. - Includes two extra stories (weight 0.02): The game includes two extra stories: ARC, which offers an in-depth playthrough of a cutscene, and Aftermath, which deals with the people left behind. - Initially released on Netflix Mobile (weight 0.02): The game was initially released on mobile phones via Netflix before being released on other platforms. - Collectibles lack reading material (weight 0.02): Collectibles are magazines or books with covers and titles to set the mood, but without actual reading material. - Autosaves at key moments (weight 0.02): The game saves automatically after leaving an area, completing a fight, or picking up an item. - Subjective art style (weight 0.02): The game's art style is subjective and depends on personal preference. - "Funny" take on drama (weight 0.02): The game presents a "funny" take on a very dramatic situation. 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