conchobhar
What's Shenmue?
Meredith Gran's Octopus Pie is one of the best damn webcomics out there. What started as a common (but uncommonly good) slice-of-life/comedy about 20-somethings in Brooklyn grew with its creator, becoming increasingly real as its characters grappled with the worries and uncertainties of adult life. It never lost its humour or charm, but along the way it became a portrait of growing up. And along the way, Gran also stretched her artistic muscles, and the late period of its run is just overflowing with truly incredible, show-stopping pages that showcased the unique power of the "infinite canvas" that webcomics afford.
Octopus Pie ended in 2017, and at the time Gran expressed a desire to try something new. The following year, she launched a Kickstarter for her next major project, a point-and-click adventure game. Four years later, here we are: Perfect Tides.
Perfect Tides is a game about "the agony and anticipation of being a teen". It's set in the year 2000 and stars Mara, a 15-going-on-16 young girl, who lives in a resort town (the eponymous Perfect Tides) that's beloved by tourists but offers little to residents like her. Mara is "an internet-obsessed young writer", or put another way, a shy, awkward and lonely girl who finds solace on internet forums. Perfect Tides spans roughly one year in her life (checking in at four periods: the last days of 10th grade, summer break, the beginning of the new school year, and winter break), and her struggles and growth in that time. It's not quite a "coming-of-age" story so much as it's one about that awkward period of your life when you yearn to "grow up" but are constantly stymied by everyone and everything around you.
In her retrospective commentary, Gran said that one of the reasons she ended Octopus Pie was that she didn't want to be stuck in the present — only ever commenting on aging as she experienced it, never able to look back with an older perspective. This was clearly the impetuous for Perfect Tides, which is not a simple recollection of adolescence, but a more thoughtful and incisive reflection of it. Mara's problems are authentically adolescent, where nothing is just one thing but equally fueled by a swirling mess of emotions that cannot be adequately expressed and make everything feel impossibly large and complex. Her plights, woes and insecurities feel familiar and relatable to me even when they don't actually fit my experience at all (as one example, Mara's tense relationship with her older brother struck a chord, even though in my life, I am the older brother). At the same time, the narrative doesn't shy away from making Mara the author of her own misfortune at times, by showing how she can be self-centred and self-sabotaging. If there's a theme to be found, it's that as much as the world sucks, sometimes, you're the idiot. It's a fine line to walk but it nails it; sympathetic and understanding, but not sanitized.
Also, this is a really nice looking game. Gran's strength and experience as a cartoonist is immediately apparent: though the pixel art might look a bit simple by lavish-indie-game standards, it's clean and expressive and has some seriously fluid animation (peek the trailer if you haven't already. I like the frantic guitar playing scene a lot!). It shines even more during the "cutscenes" (the parts that break from the in-engine look), which are always a joy to see. And the backgrounds (by Soren Hughes) are equally good, sketched in wonderful pastels and bursting with touches that make them feel lived in. You get a real sense of who Mara is just from her room, who Jason is from his car, and what sort of place Perfect Tides is from its streets.
Something I really appreciate about Perfect Tides is how it uses the time period. It's not a funny or nostalgic backdrop; there's no wink-winking to stereotypical "00s fashion" (nary a frosted tip to be seen), and though there are references to contemporaneous media and technology, they're subtle and not spotlighted. Instead, the year 2000 is used because it represents something specific: back when the internet was not treated as an extension of the normal world but as something else — something separate, something secret, something private; somewhere that you could retreat to and live another life on. And with internet-as-escapism so woven into the fabric of the story, Perfect Tides could not have taken place in any other time.
One thing to note is that Perfect Tides is true to its adventure game roots, and is not simply a visual novel wearing its skin. You will wander the island in search of people to talk to and event flags to trip; there is tons of flavour text to read; there are items to collect and puzzles to solve; there are even optional items and time-limited sidequests that, if completed, net you a better ending. It's pretty mild in comparison to an actual late-90s adventure game (there are actually only a handful of puzzles, and none are very complex), but it can be a little obtuse or confusing at times. Still, I actually kind of like that about it. Mara frequently feels listless, confused, like she's missing something; so it's apt that the player does too. Plus, I think it makes the project that much more impressive. Meredith Gran could have easily 'settled' for making her first video game a visual novel — who would have faulted a writer/cartoonist for playing it safe? — but no, she went all out.
I can't recommend Perfect Tides highly enough. It's heartfelt and relatable. It's sharp and observant. It's funny and charming. It's a spot-on period piece. It's a damned, damned good character study. It's the rare game that, after finishing it, I just had to sit there and think about it. Even this early in the year, it makes a strong case as being one of (if not the) year's best.
Octopus Pie ended in 2017, and at the time Gran expressed a desire to try something new. The following year, she launched a Kickstarter for her next major project, a point-and-click adventure game. Four years later, here we are: Perfect Tides.
In her retrospective commentary, Gran said that one of the reasons she ended Octopus Pie was that she didn't want to be stuck in the present — only ever commenting on aging as she experienced it, never able to look back with an older perspective. This was clearly the impetuous for Perfect Tides, which is not a simple recollection of adolescence, but a more thoughtful and incisive reflection of it. Mara's problems are authentically adolescent, where nothing is just one thing but equally fueled by a swirling mess of emotions that cannot be adequately expressed and make everything feel impossibly large and complex. Her plights, woes and insecurities feel familiar and relatable to me even when they don't actually fit my experience at all (as one example, Mara's tense relationship with her older brother struck a chord, even though in my life, I am the older brother). At the same time, the narrative doesn't shy away from making Mara the author of her own misfortune at times, by showing how she can be self-centred and self-sabotaging. If there's a theme to be found, it's that as much as the world sucks, sometimes, you're the idiot. It's a fine line to walk but it nails it; sympathetic and understanding, but not sanitized.
Something I really appreciate about Perfect Tides is how it uses the time period. It's not a funny or nostalgic backdrop; there's no wink-winking to stereotypical "00s fashion" (nary a frosted tip to be seen), and though there are references to contemporaneous media and technology, they're subtle and not spotlighted. Instead, the year 2000 is used because it represents something specific: back when the internet was not treated as an extension of the normal world but as something else — something separate, something secret, something private; somewhere that you could retreat to and live another life on. And with internet-as-escapism so woven into the fabric of the story, Perfect Tides could not have taken place in any other time.
I can't recommend Perfect Tides highly enough. It's heartfelt and relatable. It's sharp and observant. It's funny and charming. It's a spot-on period piece. It's a damned, damned good character study. It's the rare game that, after finishing it, I just had to sit there and think about it. Even this early in the year, it makes a strong case as being one of (if not the) year's best.
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