Exploration, machine maintenance, and environmental puzzles add to the game’s magic. My favorite game last year was FAR: Lone Sails. I am intrigued by the prospect of a more ambitious sequel. It’s more of the same writ large. Feels, scale, and intricacy. A vehicle that requires near-constant maintenance is the concept behind FAR: Changing Tides. With FAR: Lone Sails, you explore wastelands in a land yacht. Once upgraded, your vessel can travel above and below the waves.
Lone Sails’ comparatively spritely mode of conveyance is easier to maintain. Its size plays a role. There are many plates to spin on the ship’s crows-nest, winch deck, engine room, and storage bays. Discovering the sweet spot between nature and industry brings satisfaction once again. The engine needs to be cooled, the sail raised, and the fuel flowing. There is a lot to manage as the game progresses. It takes longer to get from one room to another on the ship due to its size. While fixing a broken component or stoking the fires, I missed a few visual set pieces.
A great deal of the appeal of the first game was its bleak, but sometimes spectacular world. Despite the larger scale, your focus is too often inward. A lack of control complicates the experience as well. Submersibles add depth to the game, but the excursions beneath the waves are drab. Even post-apocalyptic horizons can be grand and beautiful. Seeing sunken machinery on murky seabeds just doesn’t have the same allure.
All of this does not mean FAR: Changing Tides is disappointing. It’s just different. You’ll never get tired of keeping your ship moving and running a well-oiled vessel. Also, the environmental puzzles are more extravagant. Embark on a deeper journey. Unfurl iron windmills, fix curious machines, and pull levers to progress. In spite of cyan markers, there are no obvious solution to the puzzle. You can solve anything if you persist and experiment.
During the long traversal periods, Joel Schoch’s marvelous soundtrack swells to elicit emotional responses. Stumbles and stutters are compensated. Maybe “companion piece” is better. FAR: Lone Sails and FAR: Changing Tides offer similar but subtle differences. This can be a documentary that focuses on the journey, or a mechanical tinkering documentary. Play both and don’t choose. Another memorable journey awaits players in FAR: Changing Tides.
