We’re back with a lot of news about Tides of Tomorrow. We’ve released a new trailer breaking down our unique feature, Online Story-Link, and we’ve just opened pre-orders! Our pre-order bonus is the Delta Agent DLC – a special Tidewalker and Boat skin.
Tides of Tomorrow is a plasticpunk narrative adventure. Players embody Tidewalkers, mysterious beings who are linked with one another. You’ll see echoes of past players through the Tides of Times, a mysterious vision ability. Your journey takes you across a bizarre, flooded planet filled with colorful characters, dangerous secrets, and tough moral decisions. You’ll have to find a way to save the world from a deadly microplastic disease — or doom it forever.
In my last blog post, I introduced the basics of the asynchronous multiplayer storytelling we’re building for the game. Since then, we’ve branded the feature so it’s hopefully easier for players to understand how it works. Let’s jump into all I can share about Online Story-Link and how we think narrative adventure gamers are going to have fun with it.
Tides of Tomorrow isn’t a traditional multiplayer game. It’s single-player, but choices from other players influence your journey. Calling it asynchronous multiplayer felt too technical, while Story-Link better captures the idea simply.
Your story links to those of previous players. Their decisions shape your world. You could call it a strand-type game like Death Stranding, but here, interactions have deep narrative consequences.
At the start of your playthrough, you pick a Story-Link seed generated by someone else’s playthrough. That seed contains everything they did: where they traveled, the choices they made, the resources they left behind, and more. From this data, the game determines how the narrative will evolve for you in each chapter of the game. Your own Story-Link data updates every time you finish a level. Other players can then choose to follow your path, and their stories will be shaped by the decisions you made.
Each level is built from a complex web of branching narrative, states, substates, and systemic elements that shift based on player actions. You’ll experience the very concrete consequences of the previous player’s choices — NPCs will talk about them as a real character who was there recently and impacted their lives.
In a sense, the story Tides of Tomorrow unfolds collaboratively. Your personal journey will be one of infinite possibilities, shaped by your decisions and the influence of those who came before you.
An early example is the Pleasureland level. You participate in a boat race where you try to beat the previous player’s time (you’ll even see their ghost, like in a racing game), but that last player’s performance also affected the story. If they won the previous race, Tidewalkers have become celebrities in Pleasureland, and you’ll be welcomed as a hero… but can you live up to the hype?
One of the game’s core themes is resource scarcity amid an environmental crisis. You’ll often have to choose between hoarding precious resources for yourself or leaving them for others in need. These decisions directly affect future players. If they run out of resources, they might even die from Plastemia (the fictional disease caused by plastic pollution).
But in Tides of Tomorrow, death isn’t the end: it’s the beginning of a new chapter in your personal journey.
To help you understand the kind of players you’re following, we’ve added a Trait System. This isn’t a simple good vs. evil reputation system — it’s about confronting different worldviews. Do you prioritize humanity or the natural world? Do you focus on your own survival? Are you helping other players? Or are you just here to stir up trouble?
Your traits evolve based on your choices and become part of your Story-Link. You’ll see the dominant traits of the players you follow, giving you a sense of who they are and what their decisions might lead to.
Will you align with their morals, or try to undo their actions?
For example, a troublemaker might be unpredictable and fun to follow. Maybe they robbed a merchant who now hates Tidewalkers — but that gives you the chance to fix things and come out looking like the better person.
People often ask us: What about the very first player ever? Who are they following? Well, the first players will be… us, the dev team. That’s our little bit of black magic. We’ll also partner with streamers before launch so you can use their Story-Links on day one.
Preorders are now available on PS5. If you’re a fan of our games and want to support us, check out Tides of Tomorrow at PlayStation Store.
