A new narrative-driven sci-fi adventure RPG called Sky of Tides will be released later this year, in which players will explore a world called Numen, where a looming war threatens to turn the life of the protagonist, Rin, upside down. It’s an atmospheric, isometric world that seems to rely on both the tropes of classic isometric RPGs and the language of branching visual novels.
To me, however, Sky of Tides looks a bit like a visual novel gotten really high from Disco Elysium. Which is very welcome – I’m curious to see if the gameplay formula developed by Disco Elysium will bring something interesting forward when separated from its wildly original setting.
You play as Rin D’Lorah, the daughter of a missing researcher who uncovers a conspiracy. She will then go on an adventure to find her father and meet all sorts of strange people on the broken planetoids that were once the world of Numen. It’s a narrative game more than anything else, an adventure, but Rin’s stats, the course of the story, and the world around her are all affected by your dialogue choices.
Most interesting to me are the RPG mechanics, which seem to be somewhere between skill-use RPGs with a pinch of Disco Elysium: “Dialogue choices you make are reflected in your character stats, which help unlock more dialogue options and unique customization items.” unlock. Increase your intelligence, humor, courage, compassion and happiness, but be careful what you say, the people you meet along the way aren’t afraid to say something back,” say the developers.
Lofty Sky Entertainment previously worked on a hybrid action game and comic called Shuyan Saga (opens in new tab) which featured 3D combat scenes interspersed with storytelling in comic panels. I never saw it when it was released in 2017, but it was pretty well received by those who played it.
You can find Sky of Tides on Steam (opens in a new tab) where it will release later this year.
