Good first then bad. Good: The art style is amazing and made me want to love this game. Glitches arent overwhelming for an indie title. The atmosphere is immediately creepy and sucks you headlong into the awesome geiger art like world. Bad: The features are repetative. There are very few enemy types and the puzzles are all almost identical, revolving around... here is the worst bit... your 3 weapons. This is n FPS game with 3 weapons. This wouldn't be bad if they were interesting, or you had to use them strtegically. But, by the 5th level where you fight the same 4 enemies with the same 3 guns and solve the same two puzzles, well, no amount of awesome atmosphere can make up for haw dull that is. Would have been an amazing walking game, like firewatch.
Loved the 90s Torment. Still my favorite game. This... I love it less. There is always danger in comparing something new to nostalgia, always some nit to pick. Frankly, though, the designers begged for it by calling this the 'spiritual sucessor' and naming it toment. So here goes: Story: Yes, Tides is a story driven game. The world, the pacing, the descriptions, all top notch. Plus, the way they marry sci-fi and magic is quite fancy. The environments, hard to talk them up without spoiling the story, so I wont. suffice to say they are intricate and always decorated with interactable flavor of the world, much like PST. As for the characters, they feel true. They feel like full fledged people. The last cast off isn't as compelling a character as the nameless one, but the supporting cast is quite good. Just like PST, It's esentailly a book shaped like a game. A kind of moral choose your own adventure. Sadly, It won't ask you to re-evaluate your values and perception of reality the way PST did. Thats asking a lot, I know, but it is the 'spiritual sucessor.' Expect an excellent but not terribly challenging Sci-Fi story. Combat: Like PST, you can get through the whole game never slamming anyone with that uber hammer you paid a bazillion of the game currency for. This is fantastic. You can be a true pascifist and still feel satisfied at the end. On the other hand, if you do choose to fight, the combat feels weak. The tactical decision making is obvious... always. Tankers tank, healers heal and dps go dps. If there is a thing to use in the environment, use the thing. The move/action system they landed on leaves little room for player originality. The combat feels dumbed down, even compared to PST fighters, and that's saying something. Other: Graphics, AI, and sound... Its not hard to beat a 90's game. They do resoundingly. Final thoughts: Worth your money, but don't expect the same level of wow you got in PST or any type of combat challenge.
