Perfect Tides: Station to Station

Genre: Graphic Adventure

Players: 1

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Review:

Perfect Tides is a Graphic Adventure released in 2026 on PC and Nintendo Switch, and follows Mara, a freshman attending college 40 minutes away from home in 2003, dealing with the sorts of pressures and insecurities teenagers often have to contend with. This game’s story is somewhere between a “coming of age” and “slice of life” story, so don’t expect any major dramatic defining event, but instead the sorts of choices that challenge a youth and help to shape the person they’ll become as an adult.

The writing here is excellent, and Mara is a compelling character, albeit one who is deeply flawed in the way teenagers often are. She’s frequently irresponsible and crashes on a friend’s couch rather than heading home after school, slacks off at her job at the school’s library, frequently gets into arguments with her controlling long-distance boyfriend who she’s too insecure and confrontation-avoidant to stand up to when his overbearing tendencies push too far, partakes in drugs and underage drinking, and struggles with feelings of inadequacy. Fairly typical teenager stuff.

The setting doesn’t have much room for exploration, but that’s not really the point here anyway – it’s more about exploring topics and choices. Oh, and I should also note that the 2003 setting is put to full use too, with characters frequently referencing then-contemporary art and events, which adds a nice touch of authenticity.

One of the interesting things about Perfect Tides is that it doesn’t really have puzzle solving typical for the genre. Instead, players manage Mara’s growth and development a few different ways as the game progresses. Mara stores in her phone a list of people and topics that can be brought up in conversations with herself or other characters. You’ll also occasionally find or be given books that Mara can read once a day to gain new topics, or evolve her thinking on topics she already has in her repertoire. With this, the game makes use of branching story paths based on who you talk with, what topics you bring up, and the choices you make when given a decision to make. In addition to this, Mara is sometimes given tasks that also require the use of these topics, such as school assignments, and these have an in-game day they’re required to be done by, making for some light time management.

The presentation in Perfect Tides makes use of some great, chunky-looking 2D pixel art visuals with a distinctive cartoony art style that’s reminiscent of classic games in the genre while still having its own identity, and this is joined by some synthesized music with generally relaxed lo-fi beats that work well enough for the low-stakes topic matter. My one issue with the presentation is that movement and scrolling is really rough, with an especially low framerate that’s ugly and difficult to track. It doesn’t ruin the experience, but it is a blemish all the same.

Other than this, I don’t have any major complaints. There are times where it’s unclear what you’re meant to be doing or where you’re supposed to go, but it doesn’t take much experimentation to figure things out soon enough. I also feel like the game doesn’t really make it clear what the overarching goal of the game is, or rather, the general lack of one. And players who prefer structured goals to work towards may find this game too aimless for their tastes.

But overall, Perfect Tides is a delightful low-stakes Graphic Adventure that’s well-written with a great central character, with good choices throughout that make for an interesting story. If you think it could be interesting to spend time in the shoes of a college freshman in 2003, this game may be well worth checking out.

tl;dr – Perfect Tides is a Graphic Adventure putting players in the role of Mara, a college freshman trying to navigate the struggles of teenage life while shaping the person she’s growing to become through books and conversations. This is a low-stakes story that nevertheless shines with great writing and interesting characters, and players who enjoy “slice of life” and “coming of age” stories will likely find this worth checking out.

Grade: B+

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