Perfect Tides: Station to Station

“The main mechanics - which involve reading books and experiencing life events to expand your understanding of various subjects, and then writing essays using your newfound knowledge - fit the theme perfectly, and are a big improvement on the inventory puzzles from the first game.”

“The expansion of gameplay mechanics by encouraging you to talk and question everyone to improve your knowledge is such a wonderful tie-in to her passion for writing and completing projects.”

“The gameplay is more polished than the first game, and uses some creative mechanics to create empathy with Mara.”

“There's a wonderful bit of emotional sincerity we get by being privy to the innermost thoughts of one of the most paranoid and self-conscious characters in fiction, the kind we've all embodied at some point when we interpreted someone else's words or lack of words as clear signs that you've upset them forever and all is lost.”

“For the 30+ years I've been playing computer games, not once has a game invoked such a powerful emotional response in me.”

“Stunning pixel art, great music, and genuinely jaw-dropping sequences that blew me away. Perfect Tides: Station to Station is hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure whilst perfectly capturing the emotional rollercoaster of college life.”

“The game is deeply funny in ways that we really ought to see more of in games outside of your discos and pentiments; it's self-effacing, witty but not pretentious, absurd, and wonderfully human.”

“The thing that makes the game work is its incredible specificity - the precision of the setting, the characters, even the prose, which manages a perfect balance of sympathy, humor, and insight.”

“More complex both narratively and in terms of gameplay mechanics, this sequel to the amazing original brings all of Meredith Gran's wit, humor, and biting observations about people and the human condition that the first did, but spread across an even wider cast of characters.”

“My first thought was of course "there is no way this game has the money to license a Queen song" and sure enough it didn't, but instead the DJ broke the fourth wall and asked me, the player, to provide the song myself and use the timing of the text box to sync it up to the game.”

“More attention has been given to the music of the storytelling, the rhythm and pacing of moments and how they feel, than in any other game I can think of.”

“All of it is backed by clean, expressive character art, kinetic animations, beautiful environmental detailing, and a superb soundtrack that echoes the music of the game's timeframe to really draw out the nostalgia.”

“The visuals are gorgeous and the facial expressions and body language are wonderful.”

“At the same time, STS is on par with the original in many other ways: the graphics are incredibly beautiful, the animations are full of life, the music is superb, and the script is laugh-out-loud funny at times.”

“Perfect Tide's choice of the classic adventure game genre and old-school pixel art graphics was not just a cheap aesthetic choice, but a perfect complement to the hyper-specific depiction of a generation coming of age right between the innocence of early internet culture and the grimness of post-9/11 society.”

“An exceptionally well-written and atmospheric game.”