''Weaving Tides'' is a puzzle adventure video game developed by the Austrian developer Follow the Feathers. It was released on
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...
,
MacOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...
and
Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a tablet that can either be docked for use as a home console or used as a portable device, making it a ...
on May 27, 2021.
Gameplay
In ''Weaving Tides'', players take control of a character who rides a dragon. The dragon's tail allows the player to do things like pulling an object, or connecting different parts of the world together. The focus of the game is using these weaving mechanics to interact with the world and solve puzzles. Combat is focused around using the dragons tail and diving beneath the world to stun and defeat enemies. There also are dungeons where the player makes their way through, completing puzzles and fighting enemies and eventually fighting a boss.
Development
The game started development in 2017, after the developers' previous game NIVA, was completed in 2016. The project was funded with 150.000€ by the Vienna Business Agency in 2018. The developers say the game is inspired by games like ''
Bastion
A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...
'', ''
Tearaway'' and ''
The Legend of Zelda
''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-releas ...
'' series. On April 30, 2020 a Kickstarter campaign was created, which gathered 301% of its funding goal, resulting in 54.182 €, and a temporarily available free demo was released alongside it. The game was featured in the 2020 Wholesome Direct indie game showcase. The game was originally set to launch in Q4 2020, but was delayed into 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
. Weaving Tides was featured in Nintendo's Indie World Showcase in April 2021.
Reception
Weaving Tides was released on Steam (PC, Mac) and on Nintendo Switch on May 27, 2021. It received a "Strong" rating on
Opencritic
OpenCritic is a review aggregation website for video games. OpenCritic lists reviews from critics across multiple video game publications for the games listed on the site. The website then generates a numeric score by averaging all of the numeric ...
.
''Nintendo World Report'' enjoyed how the gameplay focused around weaving, and wrote that they were "surprised by just how varied the enemy types were". While enjoying the game's puzzles, ''TechRaptor'' felt that the game's pacing was dragged down later "There's also a forced stealth segment in one of the later chapters that, while not difficult, is really slow and not much fun to play".
Awards and recognition
During the development as well as post-release Weaving Tides was honored with various awards and nominations and was selected for several renowned showcases, including:
* Official Selection EGX Rezzed, Leftfield Collection - London, UK - 2018
* Winner ReVersed, PC Indie Pitch - Vienna, Austria - 2018
* Finalist Best International Indie Game Poznan Game Arena - Poznań, Poland - 2018
* Finalist Best Art Game Access Conference - Brno, Czech Republic - 2019
* Finalist Innovation BIG Festival - São Paulo, Brazil - 2019
* Official Selection Indie Arena Booth @ Gamescom - Cologne, Germany - 2019
* Official Selection FM4 Indie Area @ Game City - Vienna, Austria - 2019
* Best Adventure DreamHack Winter - Jönköping, Sweden - 2019
* 2nd Place (Pro Category) Game Development World Championship - online - 2019
* Official Selection Digital Dragons - online - 2020
* Finalist Excellence in Visual Art DevGamm - online - 2020
* Official Selection Indie Arena Booth @ Gamescom - online - 2020
* Finalist Innovation Ludicious - online - 2020
* Winner SAGA Awards - online - 2020
* Finalist Crowd-Funding Campaign of 2020 gamesindustry.biz Indie Publishing Awards - online - 2021
* Finalist Innovation Taipei Game Show - online - 2021
* Finalist Excellence in Visual Art DevGamm - online - 2021
* Finalist Best Game Design (Winner TBA) Develop:Star Awards - Brighton, UK / online - 2021
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official website
2021 video games
Adventure games
MacOS games
Puzzle video games
Video games about dragons
Windows games
Indie games
Nintendo Switch games
Video games developed in Austria
Kickstarter-funded video games
Single-player video games
Crytivo games