Spend the Night: Perfect Tides: Station to Station

For those who attend, college can be one of the most memorable times in a young person’s life. Some focus on their studies, while others veer towards extracurricular activities. Given a chance to go back or attend now, how would you choose to spend your time? 

In Perfect Tides: Station to Station, you play as Mara Whitefish, a girl who lived on an island her whole life until she left for college in The City. The game takes place in 2003, and Mara is trying to balance school, a job at the library, a long-distance relationship and hanging out with friends. Mara is studying to be a writer, and spending as much time as she can in The City provides unique experiences and opportunities. She technically still lives at home and takes the train into the city each day, but often crashes on the couch of Daniel, her best friend from high school who also attends the college.

Perfect Tides: Station to Station is a narrative-driven point-and-click adventure. You can click on people or items to interact with them, or use separate controls to just observe your surroundings. Mara has limited time during the day, so you have to decide if she will work on a paper for class, read a book or blow it all off to go see a movie. 

Some actions can help build Mara into a more well-rounded person. She can learn about a variety of topics, including movies, music, sex, drugs and even the city where she now attends classes. Knowledge is gained by talking to people, reading or trying new experiences, the same way many actual college students learn. As she learns more, Mara can apply her knowledge to her homework and her writing.

Mara’s main purpose for being in The City is to further her education and become a writer. Many of her classes are with her friend Daniel, as they have similar interests. Homework is an important part of Mara’s day. With no laptop or smart phone (it is 2003 after all), she needs to find a computer to write. This is usually at the school library or at home. While online, there are plenty of other distractions she can fall prey to, like reading the latest music blog, emailing with friends or chatting on instant messenger. 

The City is the place where Mara desires to live, but she is unable to afford the rent. The City seems like it is based on New York, and includes all its adversities and adventures available in a major metropolitan area. Mara will often crash on the couch at Daniel’s place, where he and his other two roommates seemingly don’t mind. Occasionally she will take the train ride home to her mother’s house so as not to aggravate Daniel or his roommates.

Perfect Tides: Station to Station has a fun and unique style. Oftentimes, the written-word narrator and Mara will have their own side discussions. The pixelated style works well, with dialogue boxes and some animations providing more detailed design. The game’s music is low key and unobtrusive, adding to but not overtaking the story.  

Gameplay can occasionally be frustrating. The game does not hold your hand and walk you through what needs to be done. Mara and the player need to figure it out on their own. At points I had to walk away from the game to think about a puzzle, as I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do next. Finding a solution proved to be extremely satisfying.

Boss battles are also quite difficult. They might not seem like your traditional boss fights when you encounter them, but make no mistake, you will know when you are in one. The first one I reached took a few tries before I was able to advance. Add in that they amp up emotion during these moments, and it feels even more difficult.

Perfect Tides: Station to Station excels at eliciting emotional response from the player. I cringed as Mara entered conversations where she was discussing a subject she knew nothing about. I got angry when people would disrespect her, and she would brush it off as just being young. It was easy to feel the highs and lows right along with the freshman protagonist. 

One of the reasons this game clicked with me is it reminded me of my college days. In the game, I would always make time to read and write, more than I did in my youth. Maybe it’s just wistfulness, as I struggle to make time for it now as an adult. Perfect Tides: Station to Station lets you be a student during a great time in history to be one. Cell phones were used to call people instead of surfing the web. People would talk to each other, for better or worse. A college student could actually aspire towards a writing career. 

I enjoyed my time with Perfect Tides: Station to Station, and would not be the least bit surprised if this game ends up on my favorite games of the year list. It’s delightful, smart and funny; everything a person could want from a game. I give it 4.5 out of 5 starts. It is a game I will come back to again and enjoy finding new details with additional play-throughs.

Perfect Tides: Station to Station is available on PC. Have you played Perfect Tides: Station to Station? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Haiku Review:

Finding your way through
The dilemmas of college
Learning as you go

Editorial note: the author received a review code for this game.