Talking length, AI, Story-Link, and factions with Tides of Tomorrow developer Digixart

After spending a few years growing and expanding the world of Road 96, developer Digixart is heading in another direction for its upcoming title known as Tides of Tomorrow. Sticking with a narrative-heavy approach that places a key emphasis on decision-making and sculpting a story based on the choices you make, this project leaves behind the open road to instead take to the high seas.

Described as a 'plasticpunk' adventure where players will meet kooky characters and interact with them to shape both their own story and the narratives of other players, with launch edging ever closer and planned for April 22, we've had the chance to chat with Digixart to learn a little more about this ambitious and anticipated project.

You can see the full interview with game director Adrien Poncet below, where we discuss the recent delay, how the Story-Link feature will impact gameplay, what the studio's stance on artificial intelligence is, the general length of Tides of Tomorrow, and more.

Gamereactor: How has the recent delay allowed you to improve and enhance Tides of Tomorrow?

Poncet: We were able to improve a lot of things! It gave us more time to improve the polish and stability of the game, to better test our Story-Link scenarios, and to improve the economy balancing (which actually has an influence on the story and the choices players will make, since resource scarcity is one of the main themes of the game).

Since we're crazy people always looking to make the best thing we can, it also gave us time to add a few cutscenes to the game, add some extra boat gameplay, and rework the design of certain main characters, like Nahe, who we felt was not iconic enough.

Gamereactor: How do you balance giving players freedom while stopping them from ruining another player's run ahead of time via the Story-Link?

Poncet: We've seen a lot of players worrying about that! Actually, most scenarios related to the Story-Link feature are handcrafted. It's a complex web of possibilities, but with designer and writer input at its heart. So we could ensure that even players taking a "troublemaker" route would generate interesting and fun scenarios for future players who follow them. If the previous player was a jerk, it gives YOU the chance to fix things and come out looking like the better person. Plus, we found a balance to make sure you would still be able to control your own destiny.

If I have to put it simply: the other player will mostly impact your journey, not your destination.

Gamereactor: How large are the respective islands and how much can we expect exploration to impact how much time you spend on each island?

Poncet: The islands are quite big! You can expect to spend twice as much time on most of the islands if you decide to explore everything and talk to everyone. However, most exploration is optional: the critical path on each island is always story-driven, with branching depending on your story choices, not on how you explore the location.

Gamereactor: How abundant is the medicine to fight off Plastemia disease? Will players be forced to choose between saving NPCs and themselves?

Poncet: As I mentioned previously, the resources play an instrumental role in the game and the narrative. Medicine is quite rare and gets even rarer as you progress in the story. You can buy it, steal it, find it by exploring, or get it through narrative events. Then it's up to you to decide what to do with it. You'll need some for your own survival, but if you have more to spare, will you hoard everything for yourself just in case? Leave some for other players or for NPCs? And what happens if you don't take enough for yourself? There's some tough moral dilemmas and big consequences ahead!

Gamereactor: Can you attach yourself to the factions in the game, or are you more of a lone adventurer throughout the story?

Poncet: The player embodies a Tidewalker, part of a mysterious community rumored to come from the "old world". You can decide to play as a lone adventurer or to forge strong bonds with NPCs and other players. Each of the factions has a different relationship with the Tidewalkers, which can evolve based on your own choices and the actions of previous players.

You'll find potential friends and allies in all factions (the Reclaimers, the Marauders and the Mystics), but it will be up to you to decide to agree with them or to defy them. You can try to unite everyone or ruin the fate of a faction forever! The epilogues of the game have parts dedicated to each of the factions.

Gamereactor: What is Digixart's approach to utilising artificial intelligence in its projects? Do you have a set of guidelines in place that you stick by?

Poncet: We have many ethical issues with AI. Our games don't contain any generative AI in the final product. We use some AI as a production tool, not for art (never!) but mostly for programming support or to automate time‑consuming tasks such as data analysis. We also used text-to-speech technology to make the NPCs say our dialogue lines while we iterate on the story, before replacing it with actual voice actors!

Gamereactor: How long do you expect a playthrough of Tides of Tomorrow to take?

Poncet: A playthrough is between 10 and 15 hours, depending on how much you explore and how many levels you play (a lot of them are optional). If you have less time and want to experience the main story, you're able to complete the game rather quickly. But if you want to dive deep into the game's world, find all the secrets, and read every inspectable document, you'll have plenty to enjoy!

Gamereactor: Have you thought about bringing the game to Nintendo Switch 1 or 2?

Poncet: The game is graphically more ambitious than our previous game Road 96. We also use Unreal Engine 5 with Lumen and Nanite, which are not easily compatible with Nintendo Switch. So we focused on the PS5 and Xbox Series for now.

Gamereactor: What's one part of Tides of Tomorrow that you don't think people are talking enough about?

Poncet: We talk a lot about the Story-Link feature since that's the main "new" thing the game has to offer. I think we don't talk enough about the real-world metaphor around ocean pollution that we're trying to depict in the game - because society overall doesn't talk about this enough!

I'd also love to see more discussion around our characters. It might be hard to know them before the game is out, but I personally find most of the main characters very interesting. We also have a gallery of eccentric side characters that you'll meet during your journey: someone living in a trash bin, a weird guy named BOMBI who spends his life making BOMBS at the top of a crumbling tower, two siblings who split their boat-kingdom in half and have been attacking each other on sight ever since... and many others. I call them the "plasticpunk weirdos," and it's always a delight to meet one of them. But you'll have to discover them in the game!

Thanks to Digixart and Poncet for taking the time to answer our questions. Tides of Tomorrow is slated to launch on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on April 22, so stay tuned for additional coverage on the game.