Far: Changing Tides Review – Call Of The Sea

Each adventure involves a journey. But we often forget to take in the experience. Far: Changing Tides encourages you to enjoy the little moments in between the rush to get to the top. The Okomotive’s latest side-scrolling platformer, is an enlightening journey full of triumphs and trials. The power of this pilgrimage made me forget my ultimate goal many times.

Okomotive’s freshman release, Far: Lone Sails, followed in the footsteps of atmospheric puzzle platformers like Inside and Little Nightmares. While Lone Sails wasn’t nearly as dark or brooding as those other titles, it set a striking tone as the players navigated a giant land sled across a desolate post-apocalyptic landscape, all the while looking for a new home. Far: Changing Tides is – in many ways – more of the same, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Instead of controlling a vehicle on land, Changing Tides lets you steer a boat. This ship’s mechanics are complicated enough that they can be fun without being too overwhelming. It was fun to move the mast and hoist the sails to get wind, or to fuel my car to make it go faster across the seas. There are ship upgrades along the route, including a chain for hoisting sunken treasure and an overcharger giving short but exciting speed boosts. I couldn’t wait to uncover my next upgrade and see how it changed the way I navigated these freezing waters.

There are many roadblocks along the way and you may have to abandon ship in order to resolve environmental problems. While these moments can be quite relaxing, they are not too taxing. I did enjoy stretching out to run a windmill, examine the inside of an engine, and search for hidden secrets beneath the seafloor. Much like Lone Sails, Changing Tides doesn’t bother you with tooltips or gameplay explainers; instead, you learn about this world and how everything works through trial and error. Sometimes, though I felt lost, after fiddling with the environment for several minutes, I always found what seemed like a good solution.

There are long periods where the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful, between puzzle break. These sequences reminded me of the best moments of a long car ride, where you soak in nature’s beauty. Far: Changing Tides features striking scenery, and is accompanied by an emotional, sometimes wistful music.

Far: Changing Tides isn’t an action-packed roller coaster ride – it’s a contemplative journey that isn’t afraid to slow down and ask you to reflect on your expedition. This adventure has many challenges. It didn’t matter if I was looking at the clouds glide across a city, the wind behind me, or white-knuckling in a storm that smashed my ship with ten foot waves, the moment was captivating. It’s a journey I hope to take again someday.