Tides of Tomorrow review: the best anti-social social game you’ve ever played
Polygon reviews Tides of Tomorrow, an apocalyptic narrative-driven adventure game featuring an unconventional multiplayer design. Rather than traditional cooperative or competitive mechanics, the game employs a semi-single-player structure where individual player actions create lasting consequences for other players—a dynamic the reviewer describes as the ability to “royally fuck things up for the next player.”
Set in a post-apocalyptic world transformed by a catastrophic event called the “Great Flood,” the game depicts humanity’s survivors inhabiting boats and islands occupied by rival factions: the Reclaimers, Marauders, and Mystics. Players navigate this submerged world while making difficult decisions centered on water resources, plastic waste, and human survival, with their choices rippling across the shared game world.
The game’s narrative adapts based on player decisions, creating a persistent story influenced by the collective actions of its playerbase rather than individual choice in isolation. This design creates what the reviewer characterizes as an “anti-social social game”—a unique approach to shared-world gaming that emphasizes asynchronous player interaction and long-term consequences. Visually, Tides of Tomorrow contrasts its serious environmental and survival themes with vibrant, cartoon-style graphics, blending whimsical aesthetics with weighty narrative content.