If an NPC hates you in this adventure from the makers of Road 96, it's probably because another player was mean to them earlier

"We should make Road 96 but with boats! Boat 96!" joked the developers at Digixart when planning their follow up to their excellent procedural road trip, Road 96. And their next game does indeed have a lot of boats—but it's also a pretty big departure from their previous game.

Instead of NPCs changing your adventure, this time other players will: in Tides of Tomorrow, you enter an asynchronous multiplayer world where the actions of another player can have an impact on your own story, and your actions may affect them, too.

In the post-apocalyptic waterworld of Tides of Tomorrow, you travel from island to island in the wake of other players. If a character you meet treats you with hostility, it might be because the last player they met did something awful to them, like steal something or shove them into the water. As a result, they won't be too happy to see you.

As you can see in the trailer above, revealed at Sony's State of Play today, other players can also help you out: in one scene, an earlier player thoughtfully left a knife for you in a room where you may wind up fighting for your life. Thanks, stranger!

In the PlayStation Blog, Adrien Poncet explains a bit more about how it works.

"When starting a game of Tides of Tomorrow, you must select a player to 'follow'. This player has played the game before you and can be a total stranger, someone from your friend list, or even a famous streamer," they say.

"Thanks to our 'asynchronous vision' system, you’ll see echoes of this player’s choices and actions, in the form of 'ghosts'. These visions help you avoid traps, solve puzzles, investigate what happened before, or simply adapt based on the other player’s actions."

If you discover you've been following some jerk around and everyone you meet is completely pissed at you for the things they've done, don't worry: you can start following someone else instead.

"There are lots of reasons to follow one player over another. Maybe you like their playstyle, want to discover their choices, or to benefit from the resources they left behind," Poncet says.

And don't forget, as you follow someone through the world, someone else is following you. So be nice. Or, don't! It's your choice. Tides of Tomorrow (Steam) launches in February 24, 2026.