So I replayed FAR: Lone Sails and then played FAR: Changing Tides, so I'm basically just gonna go over one and then the other because they're fairly similar in a lot of ways.
FAR: Lone Sails is basically a 2d Puzzle Platformer not unlike INSIDE or Little Nightmares but with less emphasis on horror(it's not really a happy setting but it's more melancholy then scary). Notably, you have a Locomotive Car type vehicle called an Okomotive and you are essentially tied to it for the great majority of the game as you need it to pass certain obstacles but you also have to get out every so often to clear the path for your vehicle to proceed. The overall structure is kind like Journey, though since it's 2d you don't really know where you're going and the game is a lot less colorful. Notably, you're cross a desolate frozen world, and there's a wonderful sense of sublimity to it, as you constantly see and interact with rementments of a civilization that seems to have vanished. You see lots of ruins, some of which are still in good condition but most of them have fallen into ruin. However, you don't see any other people and barely any other signs of life except for some birds and animals which are few and far between. It's like the world froze at some point and civilization went out with a whimper, not a bang and it's quite beautiful while also quite sad. There's no dialogue and all the storytelling and even gameplay instruction is visual and atmospheric storytelling, much like it's inspirations like INSIDE.
The primary gameplay loop is operating your okomotive by scavenging fuel(which you look closely are crates and suitcases) to burn in the steam engine your okomotive is built around, loading things to burn as fuel when the tank starts to get low, keeping the engine going without overheating it and occasionally making repairs when things break or putting out fires. Every so often you come across an obstacle you need to get out and open a gate or extend a bridge to proceed, or more interestingly, deal with a nasty storm you've blundered into. Every so often, at scripted points, the game has mercy on you, a strong wind kicks up in the direction you're going and you can raise the sails to get a couple minutes of free progress without having to tend the engine, allowing you to just chill and watch the scenery roll past for a bit.
Aside from a change in background and new obstacles to show progress, your okomotive gets upgraded with new abilities along the way(mandated by progressIon) to make the gameplay loop more interesting, such as the aforementioned mast and sail to allow you to turn off the engine for a while and save fuel. It's a 2.5 hour experience and can be quite meditative in a way, feeling like a cross between INSIDE and Journey but the okomotive makes it different and interesting in it's own way, especially since you do grow attached to your okomotive as it's your only companion along the way.
FAR: Changing Tides is much like it's predecessor, but instead of a land locomotive car crossing a wintery landscape, this game is built around a boat and your marine voyage. This one starts out with about 10 minutes of platforming across a flooded, abandoned city until you, a small boy, discover a boat in a workshop and properly abscond with it. Unlike the okomotive, this one starts with a mast and sail and first off your taught how to use it, which is notably more invovled then the mast and sail in the previous game, requiring you to watch the wind and a flag to catch the wind properly to get best speed. However, you can also damage the sail on background objects as well as overhead obstructions, so you have to be prepared to move the sail and even collapse the mast to avoid damaging them. A little while after getting the boat, you collect the first glowing blue "power core"(I guess that's what they're called) that connects to your boat and unlocks the steam engine you previously couldn't even access, giving you a chance to learn how to use the steam engine when there's no wind. THis version is a little more complicated to use, requiring the use of a throttle control and a bellows to keep the fire stoked, so now you have to be more on the ball. Though feeding fuel into the fire is now made a little easier to compensate.
Much of the game is the same, with additional power cores you pick up through game progress allowing your boat to become a submarine in addition to a steamship, so now you get to juggle sails, steam and depth controls, as well as scancanging for fuel along the sea floor(with help of a sonar that points out nearby fuel). So if you've played FAR: Lone Sails, you have the gist of FAR: CHanging Tides, though the sequel definitely has more complex puzzles and gameplay, not to mention is about twice as long with more atmospheric storytelling, with a civilization that apparently built an atlantis-like city, probably as a response to global flooding(The amount of underwater ruins and towns built on the top of hills to stay out of the water is very telling) and like in Lone Sails, they're many ruins and no signs of any living humans.
In fact, my only gripe with Changing Tides is that at one point is feels like you've hit the climax and are probably near the end of the game.....and then it keeps going for another hour or so. It actually does have a good ending and that extra hour doesn't feel wasted, but it's really wierd how it feels like there's nothing elser to do and suddenly you've got one final arc to go before you reach the end.
But it is a worthy sequel and I liked the reveal at the end of Changing Tides.
FAR: Lone Sails is basically a 2d Puzzle Platformer not unlike INSIDE or Little Nightmares but with less emphasis on horror(it's not really a happy setting but it's more melancholy then scary). Notably, you have a Locomotive Car type vehicle called an Okomotive and you are essentially tied to it for the great majority of the game as you need it to pass certain obstacles but you also have to get out every so often to clear the path for your vehicle to proceed. The overall structure is kind like Journey, though since it's 2d you don't really know where you're going and the game is a lot less colorful. Notably, you're cross a desolate frozen world, and there's a wonderful sense of sublimity to it, as you constantly see and interact with rementments of a civilization that seems to have vanished. You see lots of ruins, some of which are still in good condition but most of them have fallen into ruin. However, you don't see any other people and barely any other signs of life except for some birds and animals which are few and far between. It's like the world froze at some point and civilization went out with a whimper, not a bang and it's quite beautiful while also quite sad. There's no dialogue and all the storytelling and even gameplay instruction is visual and atmospheric storytelling, much like it's inspirations like INSIDE.
The primary gameplay loop is operating your okomotive by scavenging fuel(which you look closely are crates and suitcases) to burn in the steam engine your okomotive is built around, loading things to burn as fuel when the tank starts to get low, keeping the engine going without overheating it and occasionally making repairs when things break or putting out fires. Every so often you come across an obstacle you need to get out and open a gate or extend a bridge to proceed, or more interestingly, deal with a nasty storm you've blundered into. Every so often, at scripted points, the game has mercy on you, a strong wind kicks up in the direction you're going and you can raise the sails to get a couple minutes of free progress without having to tend the engine, allowing you to just chill and watch the scenery roll past for a bit.
Aside from a change in background and new obstacles to show progress, your okomotive gets upgraded with new abilities along the way(mandated by progressIon) to make the gameplay loop more interesting, such as the aforementioned mast and sail to allow you to turn off the engine for a while and save fuel. It's a 2.5 hour experience and can be quite meditative in a way, feeling like a cross between INSIDE and Journey but the okomotive makes it different and interesting in it's own way, especially since you do grow attached to your okomotive as it's your only companion along the way.
FAR: Changing Tides is much like it's predecessor, but instead of a land locomotive car crossing a wintery landscape, this game is built around a boat and your marine voyage. This one starts out with about 10 minutes of platforming across a flooded, abandoned city until you, a small boy, discover a boat in a workshop and properly abscond with it. Unlike the okomotive, this one starts with a mast and sail and first off your taught how to use it, which is notably more invovled then the mast and sail in the previous game, requiring you to watch the wind and a flag to catch the wind properly to get best speed. However, you can also damage the sail on background objects as well as overhead obstructions, so you have to be prepared to move the sail and even collapse the mast to avoid damaging them. A little while after getting the boat, you collect the first glowing blue "power core"(I guess that's what they're called) that connects to your boat and unlocks the steam engine you previously couldn't even access, giving you a chance to learn how to use the steam engine when there's no wind. THis version is a little more complicated to use, requiring the use of a throttle control and a bellows to keep the fire stoked, so now you have to be more on the ball. Though feeding fuel into the fire is now made a little easier to compensate.
Much of the game is the same, with additional power cores you pick up through game progress allowing your boat to become a submarine in addition to a steamship, so now you get to juggle sails, steam and depth controls, as well as scancanging for fuel along the sea floor(with help of a sonar that points out nearby fuel). So if you've played FAR: Lone Sails, you have the gist of FAR: CHanging Tides, though the sequel definitely has more complex puzzles and gameplay, not to mention is about twice as long with more atmospheric storytelling, with a civilization that apparently built an atlantis-like city, probably as a response to global flooding(The amount of underwater ruins and towns built on the top of hills to stay out of the water is very telling) and like in Lone Sails, they're many ruins and no signs of any living humans.
In fact, my only gripe with Changing Tides is that at one point is feels like you've hit the climax and are probably near the end of the game.....and then it keeps going for another hour or so. It actually does have a good ending and that extra hour doesn't feel wasted, but it's really wierd how it feels like there's nothing elser to do and suddenly you've got one final arc to go before you reach the end.
But it is a worthy sequel and I liked the reveal at the end of Changing Tides.
