The Xbox Game Pass service has undoubtedly been a roaring success for Microsoft, offering an extensive and impressive library of games to subscribers to play at their leisure for as long as they have their membership. What makes the subscription service even more engaging for fans is how the collection of games available to them can shift, with games being removed once they have been available for a long time, and with fresh games being added in their stead.
One of the most exciting impending additions to the Game Pass service is FAR: Changing Tides. Becoming available to Xbox Game Pass users at day one of its launch, FAR: Changing Tides is sure to catch more eyes than some of the usual titles that are introduced.
What Is FAR: Changing Tides?
FAR: Changing Tides will become available to download and play with Game Pass on its day of release on March 1. Developed by Okomotive and published by Frontier Developments, FAR: Changing Tides is an action-adventure platformer that operates from a side-scrolling point of view.
The game sees players take control of a large boat with sub-aquatic capabilities, that additionally acts as a base of operations and home. Set in a dystopian apocalyptic reality where most of the planet is flooded and civilization is buried underwater, FAR: Changing Tides is an extremely thematic and stylized experience.
With very little overt contextual knowledge or on-the-nose exposition as to the why's and what's of the world the player finds themselves in, they must instead develop an understanding through exploration and interaction. The game additionally has a ruggedly beautiful steampunk art style, with the elegance of hand-painted backgrounds juxtaposing the bleak dystopian reality in which the game takes place.
Gamers will find themselves having to solve puzzles in their journey to find a new home, with the game adding to the Game Pass puzzle repertoire. With players hoisting the sails and rationing materials to power their ship's furnace, as well as delving deep below the water in exploration of the empty shells of cities that once were, FAR: Changing Tides boasts rather unique gameplay. It also possesses an equally impressive soundtrack, using the connotations of the peaceful water environment and the sense of purpose and mystery surrounding the player's journey to craft a soundtrack that saw the game become a Music and Sound Awards 2021 finalist.
FAR: Changing Tides is a spiritual successor to the 2019 release FAR: Lone Sails, with Lone Sails possessing the same action-adventure vehicle-based gameplay complete with the side-scroller perspective. Lone Sails was set in an apocalyptic world in which the oceans had dried up, with the flooded cities of Changing Tides juxtaposing the barren and arid landscapes of its predecessor. While FAR: Lone Tides was extremely well-received by critics, this upcoming sequel promises to build on the scale and detail of its gameplay formula, leaving fans with a lot to be excited for regarding FAR: Changing Tides' impending release.
FAR: Changing Tides' Critical Reception
Despite not releasing until March, Game Pass users can already have their interest piqued by the fantastic reviews that FAR: Changing Tides is already receiving.
Critics who have managed to get their hands on pre-release copies of the game have lauded it for how experience-driven it is, with its methodical and well-paced gameplay providing an almost meditative experience. Despite being compact in its approximate 10-hour time to completion, FAR: Changing Tides reviews claim it is consistently saturated with intriguing and stimulating set-pieces and puzzles, providing a truly thematic and awe-inspiring experience for players.
FAR: Changing Tides will be available from March 1 for PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.