Info about Tides of Tomorrow 🌊:

Official game description:
What if every player leaves something behind for future players?
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In a flooded world struggling to survive, you embark on a single-player mission – yet you’ll never be alone. You’ll constantly feel the presence of other Tidewalkers through the echoes of those that came before you.
The “Online Story-Link” feature allows you to feel the impact of previous players’ choices – and leave your own lasting mark for future players. Players start by selecting the Story-Link of a friend, favorite streamer, DigixArt team member, or stranger to follow on a mission to reconstruct or further deconstruct a world suffering from a disease that is ravaging the ocean planet.
Shape Every Player’s Future
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As a Tidewalker, you will explore a strange world that will look, feel, and react differently depending on the Story-Link you choose. As a deadly disease called Plastemia threatens to kill all living things, you must steel yourself to face the numerous challenges of a world on the brink of collapse.
Meet a wide range of characters and opposing factions: ruthless Marauders who control medicine and trade, everyday survivors known as Reclaimers, and the Mystics - a mysterious group who worship the past.
Features:
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*   Experience the consequences of other players' decisions while shaping the experience of future Tidewalkers.
*   Levels, NPCs and narrative choices can be totally different depending on the actions of other Tidewalkers.
*   Reveal the "echoes" of previous players - ghosts that show Tidewalkers’ actions and choices.
*   Sail through uncertain waters, gathering resources to improve your chances of survival.
*   Explore diverse floating isles set amongst unique landscapes.
*   Select different Story-Links to experience how another Tidewalker's choices can influence your playthrough experience.

Release date: Apr 22, 2026

Categories: Single-player, Story-driven Gameplay, Choice-driven Narrative, Narrative-driven Gameplay, Exploration, Character Interaction, Sailing Simulation, Survival

Feature scans:
- Steam Deck: score 50; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: The analysis of user feedback reveals significant performance issues with the game on the Steam Deck. Users have consistently reported that the device struggles to run the game smoothly, indicating that the Steam Deck may not be powerful enough to handle the game's requirements. This results in a suboptimal gaming experience, despite the game's solid concept.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: N/A
  - Story completion: 10.0h
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides some insight into the playtime metrics for the game. The quote 'I've been playing for 5 hours now and I've finished 50% of the story' suggests that the story completion time is around 10 hours. However, there is no direct evidence for the total game completion time, session length, or endgame hours. The other quotes mention the final act and gameplay elements but do not provide specific playtime details.
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes:
  - Story-Driven Explorer (buy)
    - Motivation: Engaging narratives and visual appeal.
    - Playstyle: Explores the game world and story at a leisurely pace, focusing on the narrative and visual elements.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: story-focused gamer; visual enthusiast
    - Reference games: Road 96; Beyond Good & Evil
  - Innovative Mechanic Enthusiast (buy)
    - Motivation: Unique and innovative gameplay mechanics.
    - Playstyle: Focuses on experiencing and understanding the unique mechanics, particularly the asynchronous multiplayer feature.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: innovative gamer; mechanic enthusiast
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Enthusiastic Advocate (buy)
    - Motivation: Sharing unique and satisfying gaming experiences with others.
    - Playstyle: Enjoys the game thoroughly and recommends it to others, focusing on the overall experience.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: game advocate; enthusiastic gamer
    - Reference games: N/A


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:
- Unique gameplay and mechanics (weight 0.97): The game offers a unique gameplay hook and innovative mechanics, such as the Story-Link system and asynchronous multiplayer feature.
- Stunning visuals and aesthetic (weight 0.72): The game features impressive and beautiful visuals with a unique graphic style, creating an aesthetically pleasing experience.
- Interesting story and plot (weight 0.59): The game offers an interesting and compelling narrative with a well-built scenario and intriguing background story.
- Positive comparison to Road 96 (weight 0.44): Players who enjoyed Road 96 find this game to have a similar narrative quality and structure, developed by the same team.
- Excellent soundtrack and voice acting (weight 0.41): The game features an excellent soundtrack and voice acting, contributing to the overall immersive experience.
- Impactful player choices (weight 0.4): Players appreciate the variety of choices with impact, influencing world development and creating a personal journey.
- Variety in gameplay and roles (weight 0.35): Players appreciate the variety of roles to play and the diverse activities available, enhancing the gameplay experience.
- Immersive world and atmosphere (weight 0.35): The game features an immersive world with a post-apocalyptic ocean atmosphere and strong immersion and empathy.
- Good value and optimization (weight 0.33): The game is considered a good value for the price and is well-optimized, working well in VR.

Common complaints:
- Numerous bugs and glitches (weight 0.28): Players have encountered various bugs and glitches, including issues with dialogue, movements, and game progression.
- Weird and frustrating dialogue options (weight 0.19): The dialogue options in the game are described as weird and occasionally frustrating, affecting player immersion.
- Limited gameplay and linear story (weight 0.19): The gameplay is criticized for being limited and the story for being flat and linear, reducing player engagement.
- Political correctness and NPC issues (weight 0.15): Some players find the game too politically correct and have issues with the representation of female NPCs.
- Lack of seamless travel (weight 0.1): The game lacks seamless travel, which can disrupt the flow and immersion of the gameplay.
- No incentive for multiplayer (weight 0.1): There is no incentive for players to help each other, making multiplayer aspects less appealing.

Gameplay feedback:
- Asynchronous multiplayer interactions (weight 0.66): The game features extensive asynchronous multiplayer mechanics, allowing players to interact with the actions and traces of other players. This includes seeing visions of other players' actions and following their storylines.
- Story-Link system (weight 0.61): The Story-Link system allows the world to be shaped by other players' choices, creating a dynamic and interconnected experience. This system is central to the game's unique mechanics.
- Choice-driven gameplay (weight 0.54): Players experience run-based and choice-driven gameplay where their decisions have significant impacts and consequences, shaping the game world and story.
- Narrative-driven gameplay (weight 0.41): The game emphasizes a linear and interactive story structure. The narrative is a core aspect of the gameplay, driving player engagement and decisions.
- Role-playing and survival aspects (weight 0.34): Players can engage in multiple role-playing options and survival mechanics, including character progression and various activities like piracy and infiltration.
- Boat driving mechanics (weight 0.26): The game includes boat driving and racing sections, adding variety to the gameplay mechanics and providing unique challenges.
- Lack of consequences for actions (weight 0.11): Some game mechanics lack consequences for hurting other players, which can affect the overall gameplay experience and player interactions.

Performance notes:
- Frequent glitches and bugs (weight 0.2): Players reported various glitches and bugs, particularly related to dialogue and character movements.
- Limited graphical settings (weight 0.19): Players have noted that the game lacks sufficient graphical settings options, including resolution scaling adjustments.

Recommendations:
- Recommend to friends (weight 0.11): Players found the game enjoyable enough to suggest it to their friends.
- Similar to Road 96 (weight 0.1): Fans of the game Road 96 are likely to enjoy this game as well due to similarities.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Enjoyment (weight 0.18): Players appreciate the game's unique mechanics, such as the Tidewalker and 'Online Story-Link', along with its engaging story and humorous dialogue. The visually stunning universe, solid writing, and great soundtrack also contribute to the overall enjoyment.
- Excitement (weight 0.16): The game's unique gameplay hook and asynchronous online idea generate excitement. Players are also thrilled by the immersive world, exceptional artistic direction, and the concept of unpredictability in the narrative.
- Disappointment (weight 0.13): Disappointment stems from the art style, performance issues, and flawed game mechanics. Players also express dissatisfaction with the lack of gameplay depth, linear nature, and certain narrative elements.
- Frustration (weight 0.11): Frustration is primarily caused by control issues, performance problems, and bugs that disrupt gameplay. Additional frustrations include navigation difficulties and the inability to turn off subtitles, which affects immersion.
- Excited (weight 0.04): Players are excited about completing their first run and discovering Easter eggs and references within the game.
- Admiration (weight 0.04): Players admire the game's story-link system, narrative depth, and beautiful visuals. The excellent voice acting also contributes to this admiration.
- Anger (weight 0.02): Anger is caused by the perceived lack of fun and action in the game.
- Fascination (weight 0.02): Players are fascinated by the game's unique concept of shared responsibility and the impact of their decisions on the game world.
- Interest (weight 0.02): Interest is sparked by the concept of following other players and influencing the development of the game world.
- Empathy (weight 0.02): Players feel empathy due to the nuanced moral choices and strong immersion in the game's narrative.}