Tides Of Tomorrow Review

As someone that has been conned before by the whole "your choices really matter" when it comes to game worlds, I was interested to see if this could live up to the promise beyond a couple of key moments.

Ultimately, it did.

Sure, some of the more life-or-death type scenarios came with a cheeky little note that the events will only affect my reality, but otherwise the consequences felt real enough to be interesting.

To underscore this, at the end of each section of the game you'll get a The Walking Dead-style report outlining your choices and the impact they'd have on the next player, which was satisfying.

You also get categorized as you play; I was tagged as tree-hugging survivalist.

This became more meaningful as I played; my 'pro-nature' ranking meant I got some extra dialogue options, and some were blocked off because I hadn't earned my chops as a troublemaker.

A little meter acts as a ticking timebomb of illness, but unless you're out there like some sort of seafaring saint, it seems in place to give a general air of dread rather than a serious countdown.

I was an absolute bastard about chugging Ozen at every opportunity, whatever the moral implications, and I still keeled over at what felt like a pre-ordained moment for the storytelling.

I expected the novelty of the vision power would wear off, but it's been cleverly woven through puzzles and encounters in varying ways.

You can see a route through a heavily guarded area, guess someone's preferred moves in Rock, Paper, Scissors, and beat a dodge in a boxing match.

In some scenarios you'll want to watch what your predecessor did and do the opposite to avoid a nasty end.

All players can also just throw out an emote - pointing, dancing, there's a wheel of choices - so if you want to be extra helpful, you can assist your followers by indicating secrets or puzzle solutions.

I occasionally did a little jig just for the hell of it.

Ultimately, some of my favorite moments came from small, satisfying impacts I could have on the world.

One character asked me to set a law for their tiny nation; another wanted me to give my people, Tidewalkers, a new name.

If someone calls you a Fish Whisperer, that might be my fault.

I liked repairing ladders and bridges, knowing that the next player would benefit, but I also had no qualms about buying out a shop's entire stock of Ozen.

After one playthrough I felt like I'd experienced the mechanic as far as this story was concerned, and - other than a random jet ski race that made me want to throw myself into the actual sea - I kept being pleasantly surprised by it as the story went on.

You could restart the game and follow a different player to see how their choices changed what you encountered, but while I enjoyed my time on the open sea, I wasn't curious enough for a second playthrough.

It did make me keen to see what the developer could do with the mechanic next though, because I'll be there day one to try it out.

Rachel Weber is the Head of Editorial Development at IGN and an elder millennial.