This past year, the world of gaming experienced its latest sweeping cultural phenomenon: The battle royale genre’s rise to mainstream consciousness from the depths of the niche modding underground. The massive success of Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has prompted developers large and small to rush to carve out their own piece of the battle royale pie, iterating on the genre with various gimmicks and novel sets of mechanics. Last Tide might’ve just landed on something that genuinely innovates on the genre: plunging the entire game underwater.
Digital Confectioners, the developers behind Last Tide, found a cult hit success in their 2014 game Depth, an asymmetrical multiplayer combat game that’s also set underwater. Depth pits a team of divers in search of treasure against a team of sharks who are hoping to hunt them down. Players could choose to be either divers or sharks, though the game also offered AI-controlled opponents. It’s a game that has earned praise for its clever use of asymmetrical PvP gameplay and its steady stream of new content and updates.
Last Tide, on the other hand, is a completely different animal. Though both titles take place underwater, the gameplay experiences they offer contrast sharply against each other. In Last Tide, 100 divers fight for survival, struggling to take down opponents while locating equipment and evading sharks. This time around, sharks aren’t playable characters — instead, they constitute what in other battle royale games is often called “the storm,” or the rapidly shrinking area that lies beyond the perimeter that bounds the game’s safe zone.
This difference dictates a significant change in the tempo of competition between Depth and Last Tide. “Depth plays at a very frenzied pace throughout the length of the game, and to compensate for the amount of focus required the matches are not very long,” said Neil Reynolds, game director at Digital Confectioners. “In contrast, Last Tide is more methodical and offers bursts of excitement every time enemies are encountered or equipment upgrades are found.”
Last Tide, however, picks up on one of Depth’s greatest strengths: Its verticality. This is the defining feature that sets Last Tide apart from other battle royale games; not only does the aquatic setting shape the aesthetic look and feel of the game, but it also greatly affects how players interact with their environment. “Free vertical movement opens so many more options in combat in terms of strategy and mobility,” Reynolds said. “Players have to be aware that virtually all points of an object can be potential peek points instead of just being able to cover a couple of choke points.”
Another major takeaway from Digital Confectioners’ experience developing Depth is their belief in the importance of robust post-launch plans for new content. They plan to continue introducing new diver gear and implement more game systems like events, cosmetic items, and social features. In addition, they’re constantly keeping an eye on their Discord server for feedback from their growing community to make sure they’re meeting their players’ needs. “We take our community’s suggestions seriously and try to make that clear through the direction we take our game as it grows and evolves,” Reynolds said.
Last Tide is worth checking out for players who are tired of the battle royale games collecting dust in their Steam libraries. Digital Confectioners is committed to keeping the genre fresh, and the addition of free movement might be just what the game needs to feel new again.
Last Tide was released on Steam on Aug. 27. To find out more about the game, visit lasttide.com. Visit the store page to add it to your wishlist.