Tides of Tomorrow looks like a straightforward choice-based adventure on the surface, but it has a trick most games in this genre don't: the decisions made by other players who visited a story instance before you can directly affect how NPCs treat you. That alone changes how you need to think about every run. Add in a scarce resource economy, branching traits, and no mid-run saves, and there's a lot to get wrong early on.
Why do your choices matter so much in Tides of Tomorrow?
Every decision you make carries weight, and not just the ones flagged with a dramatic screen effect. According to TheGamer's beginner guide, even something as simple as the order in which you visit available areas can unlock exclusive story dialogues and cutscenes, or lock you out of them entirely. Some story segments can be missed with no warning.
The game also uses an online story-link system where a previous player's choices in a given instance shape how its inhabitants respond to you. If that Tidewalker was hostile to locals, expect cold shoulders and blocked-off areas when you arrive. This isn't flavor text. It has real gameplay consequences.
Before committing to any area order, think about which story beats you want to see. There's no reordering once you've started a sequence.
How should you pick your Tidewalker partner?
Before each instanced story segment, you choose a Tidewalker to follow. Their past behavior in that instance determines how NPCs treat you, which can open or close off entire sections of the map. Picking someone who antagonized the locals means you'll face suspicion and restricted access.
The practical filter: always check the yellow chest tied to each Tidewalker. According to the source, you can see whether they left ozen or scrap there before you commit. Prioritize Tidewalkers who left both resources in that chest. That bonus loot compounds over a full run.
What is ozen and how should you manage it?
Ozen is the single most important resource in the game. Since there's no cure for plastemia in this world, ozen is the only way to suppress your symptoms between story segments. The source confirms you'll need to use at least two ozen bottles after each instanced story portion, which means your supply drains fast.
Early islands make ozen reasonably available, but the back half of the game is stingy with it. The price climbs and the supply shrinks. Treat every bottle like it's your last one:
- Don't give ozen away unless the story outcome genuinely requires it
- Grab every free bottle you find while exploring
- Never assume you'll be able to buy more when you need it
Spending ozen generously in early acts feels fine until the mid-game, when supplies dry up and you're left scrambling. Hoard it from the start.
What's hidden on each island?
The core loop of Tides of Tomorrow is fairly linear: arrive at an island, experience its story, move on. But each island contains secret and secluded areas loaded with scrap, ozen, and eventually Mereid Eggs. According to the source, these hidden spots are your primary method of building up all three resources.
Missing them isn't just leaving loot behind. A run can end prematurely if your resources run dry, and the only way to prevent that is consistent exploration before you trigger the next story beat. Slow down, check corners, and treat each island like a scavenger hunt before the narrative takes over.
How do traits work and why shouldn't you ignore them?
Traits accumulate passively as you make choices throughout the story. Early on they read like a personality tracker, a way of logging whether you're playing cooperative, survivalist, pro-nature, or something else entirely. That framing is misleading.
Late in the game, certain dialogue options and content are gated behind specific trait levels. The source gives a concrete example: maxing out the cooperative trait unlocks a secret message on a computer that reveals significant lore about the world's past. You won't get a second chance to build that trait retroactively. Play with the end in mind from the first island.
Traits aren't cosmetic. Treat them as a soft skill tree that determines which late-game content you can access.
Should you bother with ocean events?
Yes, every time. Ocean events appear between island missions and cost no health to attempt. Per the source, they reliably reward ozen or scrap and can appear multiple times across a run. The catch is that they disappear once you start the next mission. Scroll through your available choices before committing to any new island, and grab every ocean event you see.
How many ship upgrades do you actually need?
Behind the steering wheel on your boat, you can spend 100 scrap per upgrade to add health to your ship. The source recommends at least two or three upgrades before the late game, where you'll face two to three enemies simultaneously firing tracing bullets. Dodging a constant barrage of tracking projectiles is genuinely hard, and extra hull health gives you the margin to survive mistakes.
You can also customize your character from the same spot. Don't skip this section of the boat entirely just because it's tucked away.
Is Tides of Tomorrow worth replaying?
The game has multiple endings, and the branching choices are deep enough that a second or third run feels genuinely different rather than repetitive. The one catch: there's no mid-run save. If you want a different outcome, you start from scratch. Given how much the trait system, Tidewalker selection, and area order can diverge between runs, that's less punishing than it sounds.
Building toward a specific trait maximum, following different Tidewalkers, and exploring areas in a new order all produce different story outcomes. The replayability is real, not just a bullet point on the back of the box.
Each new run is also a chance to stockpile resources more efficiently now that you know where the hidden scrap piles and ocean events are.
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