Perfect Tides Review

Perfect Tides is Meredith Gran's first game, which was made by Three Bees, Inc. It has the style of a writer who knows more than most about feeling awkward emotionally. Gran is famous for the long-running comic series Octopus Pie, which was funny, awkward, and incredibly honest about being a young adult.

Perfect Tides feels like a continuation of that creative lineage. Gran's skills in writing characters are brought to life in an interactive way in this game. The game came out in 2022 without much of a splash, and people slowly learned about it through word of mouth instead of showmanship. People knew about it not because it was well-made or technically amazing, but because it felt real.

It's a first game, so it has some rough spots. But those rough spots also make it feel real, like nothing was taken away to make it more desirable.

At first glance, Perfect Tides looks like a romantic trip back to the good old days of point-and-click adventure games. It takes some of that genre's general structure, but its goals are different. However, the game isn't really about tasks; it's more about exploring your feelings.

It's about Mara Whitefish, a girl who is almost sixteen years old and grew up on Perfect Tides, a small, remote island in the early 2000s. The setting is meant to be restrictive. Life doesn't seem to be going forward because there isn't much to do or anywhere to go. This quiet stagnation shows how Mara feels inside and sets the stage for a story about love, self-doubt, creativity, and the desperate hope that running away will make everything better.

You don't feel rushed as you read Perfect Tides. It tells you to stay in pain, boredom, and longing for a while, believing that these feelings have meaning on their own.

The story of Perfect Tides takes place over the course of a year, with seasons that represent small changes rather than big ones. Mara is smart, artistic, and very afraid of being alone. A lot of her time is spent thinking about how she acts, replaying talks, and picturing different versions of herself who are more sure of themselves, loved, and interesting.

People from other places might think the island is beautiful, but it feels like a prison to her. Things will finally make sense to her after she goes to college or moves to a new place. The story looks at her connections with family, friends, and online groups, showing how being a teenager in the early days of the internet made it hard to tell the difference between your private and public selves.

As a teenager, you can be painfully aware of your own flaws and totally unaware at the same time. The writing is sharp and often uncomfortable. It's not clear whether Mara is a hero or a lesson. Just like everyone else, she has flaws that are funny sometimes and painful to see other times.

Perfect Tides has a standard point-and-click interface that puts more emphasis on exploring than on giving instructions. You take Mara to different parts of the island and let her connect with things and talk to people she meets. You can look at something, touch it, or move, and the cursor changes accordingly.

The things you collect are kept in a bag. There aren't many clear goals. People don't always tell you what's important or what to do next. This choice of style fits with the game's themes.

At this point, life seems pointless, with lots of small jobs that seem important at the time but don't make sense when looked back on. To make progress, you need to take your time and walk, look around, and interact with the world. A lot of the story also happens through Mara's online contacts, like in chat rooms, message boards, and fan fiction, where she can meet new people and express herself.

People treat these times the same as real-life conversations, which shows how important online life was and still is to being a teen. In Perfect Tides, the puzzles are clever and often not in the usual way. There are a lot of puzzles that you don't have to solve to get to the finish.

Instead, they affect the relationships you have and the scenes you see in the end. There is no way to fight, and there are no normal experience points. Emotions, not numbers, are used to measure growth. You have choices that affect Mara's journey in ways that aren't always clear at first.

These choices can be obvious or hidden. This method fits with the story goals of the game, which stress that small, seemingly unimportant actions can often lead to big changes in a person's life. That being said, this style can also be quite annoying. The game doesn't always give clear hints about what's possible, and some of the most important parts are hidden by conditions that are hard to understand.

You can finish the game without even understanding that some choices were there, which can make the ending feel abrupt or unfinished. It feels really good when the puzzle idea works. Keep in mind that growth is an ongoing process. That's why a lot of the optional trades are about being kind, forgiving, or taking care of yourself.

After you finish these tasks, you'll be able to see scenes where Mara and the people around her really grow emotionally.

These scenes give the story more depth and a satisfying ending. But if people don't talk to each other clearly, this strength can be lost. Some problems use logic that seems to come from old-school adventure games rather than making sense in the context of the story.

If you miss one action at the wrong time, you might miss whole story arcs, which might feel punished instead of reflective. This level of difficulty makes the game more fun to play again and again, but it also risks hiding the emotional core of the game behind extraneous roughness.

Perfect Tides is really about the people who live in it. Mara is meant to be a tough main character. She only cares about herself, always thinks the worst, and can't always feel other people's pain. But the game takes her inner life seriously and cares about her. Her writing shows how her constant worry and overthinking shape her view of the world.

It's clear that her fears are irrational, but it's also clear why they seem real to her. The secondary characters are written just as well. People Mara knows—friends, coworkers, and family—all feel like fully realized people whose lives go beyond her point of view. There are a lot of changes that happen over time, and Mara doesn't always notice them.

This feeling that the main character is not the center of attention adds a level of reality that isn't often found in games with personal stories. Ideal Tides has simple, kid-like art that goes against the game's serious topics. The figures are drawn in a way that makes them look off, almost silly. This style choice makes Mara's story seem less dramatic by showing that she doesn't always know what's going on.

The settings are simple but effective at capturing the quiet solitude of the island and the closeness of private areas. There isn't anything too fancy or detailed, but everything fits with the story. The images never try to be the main focus; instead, they let the writing and emotional beats shine through.

Sound is a big part of what grounds Perfect Tides in its time and place. The music is quiet and doesn't usually take over, so it doesn't make you feel anything. Background noise and quiet times are good ways to show loneliness and self-reflection. There are thoughtful references to early internet culture, like dial-up connections and online chats, that make you feel nostalgic without being over the top.

These sound details help you get into the story and feel like you are in a certain time in history that is marked by change and uncertainty.

Perfect Tides is not a game that is meant to be fun by being hard or showy. Its purpose is to make you feel something, even if that something is bad. The puzzles aren't always easy, and there are times when you don't get any help, which can be annoying, especially when they get in the way of some of the best parts of the story.

But these flaws don't take away from the game's good points. It tells the truth about how hard, angry, and lost being a teen can be. You understand it's too late to fix everything when you become an adult. It's the little changes that make you an adult. You have to play the game over and over because it doesn't give you simple answers or neat solutions. It knows that people will make mistakes and that practice is often the best way to learn, rather than just getting it right away.