Console Corner: Far: Changing Tides

In Polish, the word oko means “eye”. It's thus when I see the name Okomotive that I automatically think “eye motion”. And indeed that is what Far: Lone Sails, the company's first game, is. Players spend the majority of their time driving a steampunk(ish) rig across a dilapidated environment—pushing buttons, pulling levers, and releasing valves to keep the rig moving forward, occasionally solving an environmental puzzle. Doubling down on the idea, Okomotive released Far: Changing Tides in 2022. The eye motion chugs on.

Switching from land to sea, Far: Changing Tides sees one player take on the role of piloting a steampunk(ish) vehicle, in this case a sailboat cum mechanical paddle boat cum steam turbine. Requiring love and care, players raise the sails and feed the vehicle fuel propelling it through a watery, anthropocenic, post-global warming world. Environmental puzzles once again impede the player's left to right progress on the screen. But the rewards of speed and sitting back to watch the world go by, remain.

And that is where the pleasure of the game is found. A good balance of effort vs reward, the player must pay attention and attend to fuel, air, and heat but are not perpetually frantic with zero time to see what's happening outside the vehicle. It feels great when the sails are billowing, the engine's gears are pumping, and speed burst pushes foam in front of your makeshift boat. But it feels just as good watching the wider world sail by. The muted colors, muted music, and subtle touches to be found in environment allow the player to fully relax. And who knows, they may just see whales, neon jellyfish, or an elk.

The setting and vehicle of Far: Changing Tides are entirely new, but it's fair to say the remainder of the game remains the same as Lone Sails. The same pixel-based art. A similar sprite representing your character on screen. The same logic to game progression. A similar approach to subtle environmental themes. The same button presses—camera angles and jump/hold actions. The same use of water hoses and repair items. The game length (though Changing Tides is slightly longer). The same use of trash as fuel. Overall, the two games have more in common than different.

Which likewise mean some challenges for the player remain. For one, controls can sometimes be frustrating, particularly grab points on ladders. Jumping toward a ladder and seeing your character's sprite pass through a big chunk of the ladder's pixels but not grab it is frustrating. Doubly frustrating is accidentally grabbing a ladder when your character hasn't really touched it. There is one part of the ship, the ladders to the hold, which are particularly annoying, amplified by the fact the player must move through them quite often.

The other frustrating element, though lesser so, is the game's camera. Certain obstacles can damage the vehicle's sail, which means knowing what's coming so you can furl the sail in time to avoid damage is important. The camera view, however, provides only a limited view forward. Moreover, it automatically reverts to center view once the camera button has been released. Given that the vehicle requires maintenance to maintain momentum, it's difficult to hold the camera button and do other things. Perhaps there was a setting that I missed which gives players manual control of the camera. If so, ignore this.

In the end, Far: Changing Tides is a satisfying, meditative experience for players who enjoy watching the world go by with a bit of environmental puzzle solving. Getting the boat(ish) vehicle up to full speed feels great, but it's the wind in your hair as you cruise along, looking at the mountains and ruined buildings and ice flows and sea creatures that take deeper root. Musisc and art contemplating the experience, giving the player's mind space to expand, it's a solid indie game worth playing, particularly if you enjoyed Far: Lone Sails.