Alright. [i]Grim Tides[/i] is an interesting case of a mobile title being ported to PC (mostly) properly. The actual story writing is pretty decent, and the gameplay is all perfectly functional. However, this game is also the very definition of RPG bloat, with sooooo much content padding. Which ultimately makes it super grindy and kind of boring.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3518811866
The story itself is pretty simple (but as mentioned, also reasonably well written and definitely the star of this show). You, some random Joe, had a cursed tattoo placed on you by the head Sage in your kingdom. Functionally the same as a Geas spell from old school AD&D. It compels you to do his bidding or die, more or less. And his bidding is that you track down a group of rogue Sages in an Archipielago. And so, you set off to your hub town, which is basically a pirate port, to go do exactly that. And while none of that sounds particularly compelling, as mentioned twice now, the writing is actually pretty decent. Which is entirely necessary since the gameplay is pretty meh.
In your hub town, you have a lot of services, from a shipbuilder to an alchemist to a tavern with quest board, and so on. Basically, everything you might need to do between missions can be done here. There is also an arena to earn some bonus xp and cash.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3518565648
From there, you will set off on your mission by exploring unlocked locations. Initially, they're on the same island, but eventually you will unlock your ship and be able to travel to new islands in pursuit of the rogue Sages. Along the way, you will meet the native peoples and plenty of monsters besides. So, when you land, you are treated to a grid map which you will need to explore by clicking on adjacent squares which moves you there and reveals anything that might be in that square, until you have either: died, retreated (for a cost in gold), or found the intended exit. In between, you will fight, find random events, and maybe even find journal pieces left behind by the rogue sages or Memory Stones left behind by ancient native people. The journal pages serve to expand the story and give you some XP. The Memory Stones offer the stored memory of a long dead native, after which you will gain a permanent buff of some sort.
Landing on a combat square opens up a pretty simplistic turn-based JRPG style combat page. You have a basic attack, special attacks, spells, items, and retreat options. Depending on what is in your inventory. Special attacks and spells can be purchased and upgraded back in the hub town btw, and some are definitely better than others. The one that gives you a chance to disintegrate your enemy AND stuns them for two rounds if they aren't disintegrated is particularly powerful. Anyway, you just duke it out until you or your enemies win. After which you earn some XP, gold, and maybe an item as well.
As for you, in addition to potential special abilities and spells, and whatever equipment you have, you have some stats to track while on your adventures. Hit Points, Morale, and Supplies. Morale is how well you hold up in the face of adversity, basically. It is depleted by taking crits, and when it reaches zero, you immediately flee back to the hub town. Supplies are your food and water, and every square depletes one. However, it also heals you at least 1 HP per square moved.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3518940833
There is a decent variety of enemies, but they more or less do the same stuff. They're warriors, rogues, and spellcasters. Regardless of the enemy type. Some have different specialties, but it boils down to that.
And all of that is fine. But you have to go on at least 15 expeditions to get to the story boss before the story advances. So, levels 15 and 30 of an area. And you can only do one level per expedition. This is where the grinding and content padding reveals itself. I'm currently on like my 90th expedition, and I guarantee there are at least 45-60 more to go, bare minimum. And since the regions change, but the levels more or less remain the same, this becomes very boring very quickly. I guess this was meant to be played a couple levels at a time on your phone, and I can see how it would work perfectly for that, but on PC, where you may be inclined to play more, this becomes quite a slog. Even when you become OP, which happens pretty quickly, it still starts to feel like a robotic chore rather than a fun gaming experience.
IDK. Technically, this game does what it sets out to do perfectly well, but it is poorly suited to PC gaming due to how the game is structured. Although, if you're playing on your Steam Deck while you're on the go, I would imagine this would be a more favorable experience. I'm going to give it a positive rating, but with the caveat that this game is not really intended to be played as a PC game. It's intended to be played as a mobile game.
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