State of Play’s Tides of Tomorrow Takes On An Exciting New Approach To Multiplayer Storytelling!
With the release of this year’s State of Play presentation for PlayStation on 4th June 2025 came the announcement of several jaw-droppers, including Thief VR Legacy, Romeo is a Deadman, and of course, Marvel’s Tokon Fighting Souls. While all of these are enough to get the blood pumping, our attention has been snagged by the brightly coloured multi-player, Tides of Tomorrow, which promises a new type of experience with regards to an ever-expanding narrative adventure.
While the trailer shows off stunning graphics in a distinctly neon-fauvist cartoon style, it also gives an insight into the dystopian setting and, most interesting of all, the choice system that will be introduced to the multiplayer aspect. The game takes a unique spin on how other players’ choices will shape and affect the world, so that you will have to pick up the consequences if you arrive on the scene a little later. The idea is, quite frankly, eye-opening for the potential to make a world truly seem real, but can Tides of Tomorrow pull off such a grandiose idea with the correct amount of organic world growth?
The World is Dying
Tides of Tomorrow takes place in the post-apocalyptic world of Elynd, a planet subjected to a great flood (think Kevin Costner’s Waterworld). On the waves, huge atolls float, and the people struggle to survive a deadly Plastification disease. You, as the player, are a Tidewalker, and as such, you’re able to sense the echoes of previous players’ choices, getting the full scope of a situation very quickly, which will aid you in your own fast decision-making. In this way, you too can shape the world around you, and the delightful part is that other players can then choose to follow the story you create, adding on to the chain themselves to change the face of it.
Kevin Bard, DigixArt’s Producer, had this to say about the game at a recent interview:
In Tides of Tomorrow, for the first time, your story changes based on the players you choose to follow. This innovative twist unlocks a whole new range of possibilities for storytelling and gameplay.
The developers at DigixArt are known for their ability to weave a strong narrative with poignant player choices, as seen with their other renowned project, Road 96. It is safe to say, with the comments of the developers being so centred on the nature of these choices, therefore, that expectations are high for this game to be high-stakes and thrillingly dramatic. Will you choose to help the rebels if the rebels are in the moral right but are pretty much dead in the water thanks to the troll-like actions of some rando? Can you save them if the odds are against you? Or will you choose to ignore them? What would that choice do to another player?
A Larger Scope
The trailer shown at State of Play for Tides of Tomorrow included a segment where the player, on a mission, had already missed their opportunity to pick up an artefact of some description. As the player is able to see the name of the other Tidewalker that beat them to it, they’re then able to branch off and hunt down this other person if they so choose. The introduction of this new story element opens up the world in this way to make it seem truly organic and alive. It encourages true exploration, and the intrigue doesn’t just stay on the atolls either.
With the use of a submarine, also shown in the trailer, you can plunge into the watery depths and see the monsters living in the deep. What this will do for your own stocks, or the story, is something that other players will have to find out as you go on your merry way, truly leaving an impact on everything you touch. The game truly offers such a massive scope for gameplay, and it stood out in the State of Play onslaught for the uniqueness of its approach to these player interactions and the sheer variety of gameplay opportunities within something so heavily narrative-driven.
High Hopes
DigixArt’s trailer sets its audience up to expect a living organism of a game with Tides of Tomorrow, something that will grow and change depending on the type of people that join. It allows you, on paper, to meet new people, make new friends, or explore moral choices and conundrums with your own group of misfits. The world of Tides of Tomorrow is diverse and off-kilter in the way that it’s in trouble, allowing you to interact with people, do stealth missions, salvage for resources, and even enter a fighting ring if you so choose. All this within the range of a gorgeous, eye-catching art style and a story premise that is simple and strong for that simplicity.
Tides of Tomorrow is due to release on 24th February 2026 for the PlayStation 5.
