Two or three years from now, I’m probably not going to remember Tides of Tomorrow’s story, but I doubt I’ll forget the Story-Link system Digixart created for it. It involves a new form of storytelling in this narrative-driven adventure and encourages a sense of mindfulness. We’re not only shaping our own decisions and direction for our Tidewalker character, but others’ stories for better and for worse. While it is easy to feel the limitations, it’s engaging in a way that makes me hope we’ll see this concept reappear and evolve. The world is in a bad place in Tides of Tomorrow. Our character is a Tidewalker who awakens in the midst of an ocean filled with plastic, close to drowning. A person named Nahe pulls us from the waters. Our character can enter the Tides of Time to see what the other Tidewalker player we chose to follow at the start of the game experienced and use that to shape our path and possible decisions. Nahe explains we are a Tidewalker who can see visions of the past and share messages and experiences with each other. However, it also means we come into the experience as an amnesiac who doesn’t remember their past or the old world before the flood and suffer from the Plastemia disease that is taking over our body and brain. Our goal is to try and find a way to cure Plastemia and perhaps leave the world a better place with the time we have left by uniting Reclaimers, Marauders, and Mystics as prophesized. Basically, think of it as Digixart’s commentary about microplastics. Tides of Tomorrow is a first-person adventure game that involves a lot of selections to shape our journey. After Nahe drops us off at the Reclaimer’s Scrap Harbour town in search of an Ozen merchant who can get us the treatment to buy us time, we’re left to explore and make our way toward Eyla. Of course, getting that treatment isn’t as easy as it seems, and it leads to our involvement with different factions in different places in the world and shaping someone else’s game. There are some environmental storytelling elements, in the form of notepads we can pick up to read and see messages about people and the world and brief encounters with minor NPCs. While there might be some platforming, stealth, and racing elements, it’s more about exploring and interacting with people. Oh, and collecting Scrap. We end up spending so much time looking through trash cans and finding Scrap. The story itself is fine. It’s not earth-shattering or amazing. A lot of it feels like commentary on how microplastics completely infiltrated and polluted everything on the planet. It presents a “what if” scenario that imagines the worst. Spoilers aside, it also gets into the concept of technology and what can happen if certain people gain access to things that could affect and aid the world, but would use it in a way that could harm many at the same time. Images via Digixart It’s the Tides of Time elements that are the main mechanic in Tides of Tomorrow that make the game stand out and feel unique. When we’re exploring, we can choose to see a major or minor vision to glimpse what someone else did at that point. This might act as a tip to show where to go or something we should do. When we engage in conversations, a notation will highlight the response from the player we’re following. Early on, we can even tap into one of those vision responses to get us into the club to meet Eyla sooner, offering an option that might not exist otherwise since we can gain that prior knowledge. It also means we can stop by a Donation Box to leave or take things like Scrap or Ozen for the next person and stack rocks on piles as a sort of marker. All of these choices shape who we are, how the story goes, and what we leave behind. While we pick one person to start, when we start making decisions about where to go next after Scrap Harbour, we might find we could continue following the established previous Tidewalker, or swap to someone else. So like when I finished the first area, I could continue following one person to the Reclaimer settlement called Marketland or keep see what someone else did and go to the Marauder’s island called Pleasureland. That’s also handled in an interesting way. When we first set our character’s appearance and start a game, we can pick from a number of other Tidewalkers floating around. Each one’s dominant traits will appear. So we might see someone was Pro-Nature and Cooperative or a Troublemaker Survivalist. As we play, notifications also alert us as to how our actions are classified and we can check in to see if we’re currently set as Pro-Mankind (favoring humans), Pro-Nature (supporting Mereids), or a Troublemaker who just wants to do whatever we want and not benefit anyone. Seeing the Survivalist trait means that person didn’t leave donations or make choices that would help the Tidewalker coming after them, while a Cooperative player did leave items in Donation Boxes, make kind choices that would leave things for whoever comes after, and would stack rocks as a means of leaving a trail. At certain story points, we’ll also see how our decisions in an area will shape things for later and get hints about what someone else experienced. So for example, after my encounter at Scrap Harbour, a brief summary appeared before I headed to the Pleasureland that said people who followed me might find Ozen since Obin got a shipment and Eyla would tell people my character was caring. The thing about Tides of Tomorrow is that it sometimes doesn’t feel like it is at 100% at its best when it involves elements that aren’t tied to the choose your own adventure segments. Digixart experimenting with other types of experiences don’t always turn out well here. For example, in Pleasureland there’s a racing segment that didn’t feel all that fun due to the controls and execution. (I have no idea how the person I followed did so well.) But worse is that the first-person platforming can feel awkward sometimes, which is exactly what you don’t want in situations where it’s also suggesting you need to be stealthy while sneaking around someone else’s spot. Images via Digixart There are also times when I wished Tides of Tomorrow looked and ran a bit better. For example, the NPC characters we meet may move awkwardly. Nahe sort of glided past me to get back on her boat after she dropped me off at Scrap Harbour, rather than walk past, and Eyla moved awkwardly when I was exploring a lab segment with her at another point. Some textures and character models don’t always look great, though it seemed this was more of an issue for minor characters than major NPCs like Odin or Nahe. Tides of Tomorrow feels like an interesting experiment from Digixart, a studio that already established itself with the similar sort of first-person adventure Road 96. It promises that your choices will matter, and they will to the next person. Just like someone else’s decisions affected your own experience. The Story-Link system is fascinating for sure, and I’d love to see it used again. It’s just that the story itself and some gameplay elements can feel a little. If you’re already a fan of Digixart’s work, then you’ll likely find this new adventure and its gameplay mechanic fascinating. Tides of Tomorrow is available on the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. The post Tides of Tomorrow Involves Thinking About Others appeared first on Siliconera.