An oddly cozy finish of the world.
Highwater is a singular and charming narrative journey. The story is ready in a post-apocalyptic, flooded world. What’s left of humanity is relegated to small islands. The wealthy elites reside in a spot known as Alphaville and till not too long ago, have been sending out help to the remainder of the world. However now it seems that the residents of Alphaville are intending to depart Earth altogether. Outdoors of their partitions, rebel militia are forming within the wake of meals and provide shortages. Our hero, Nikos, has determined that he must journey to Alphaville, discover a approach inside, and escape with them from a world that’s clearly on its final legs.
Most of Highwater’s gameplay is what you’d count on from a story journey. You sail your small boat from island to island, speaking to folks, finishing quests, and sometimes branching off the linear story to discover some elective areas. Sprinkled on high of that, nonetheless, are some very mild tactical RPG components.
When confronted with an enemy, you’ll enter into turn-based, tactical fight. There isn’t a actual leveling system or ability bushes, so fight isn’t significantly grindy. Moderately every encounter looks like a really intentional puzzle. The linear, scripted nature of the sport implies that every encounter is effectively thought out and balanced primarily based on the social gathering you might have. Your one little bit of wiggle room is in elective weapons and buffs you possibly can equip to your characters. These are largely discovered by exploring aspect areas. More often than not, although, it is nearly successfully managing your very set assets and making use of environmental hazards to take out foes successfully. Fight is enjoyable, if slightly sluggish to maneuver between turns. That being mentioned, I did discover that the tools display screen is devoid of any type of management information. Navigating it and switching between weapons and buffs is imprecise and infrequently requires some random button pushing. The sport does let you know the controls as soon as, the primary time you open the menu, so that you higher be paying consideration as a result of they received’t let you know once more.
By far Highwater’s biggest energy is in its story. The plot is informed by means of a mixture of character interactions, together with common radio broadcasts that provide you with a way of what is going on on within the wider world. The entire story has a fantastic, albeit grim, humorousness. Satire abounds each within the plot and in random bits of newspapers and different issues you could find mendacity round. The world feels inevitably doomed and but the sport itself will not be darkish or miserable. The visuals are vibrant and upbeat and the soundtrack is chill. It feels as if there may be an unstated theme of discovering good folks doing their finest regardless of the world falling aside round them.
Highwater’s effectively informed story, and surprisingly deep gameplay, made it arduous to place down. It is not fairly like some other narrative journey sport I’ve ever performed. Fight and menu design generally is a little clunky, however finally each encounter serves as a deliberate and effectively crafted puzzle. It is a very recent tackle a submit apocalyptic story that oozes with satire, darkish humor, and a few oddly cozy finish of the world vibes.