Tidal Affair: Before The Storm Demo

Despite what you might have seen in movies, most tactical teams tasked with apprehending a certain individual do not barge through the front door with guns blazing. In fact, they would most likely prefer to stay hidden and silent until they are close enough to take a decisive shot. Granted, the whole thing can always degenerate in a matter of seconds, but it probably never starts as a John Woo movie.

Tidal Affair: Before The Storm is a top-down stealth game that forces you to avoid direct confrontation and always be looking for ways to take the enemy by surprise. Although it features common gameplay mechanics in certain regards, the game also packs a few unique concepts, such as the fact that you can take control of your enemies and use them to clear the way.

The idea is actually more complex than that, because you have a wide variety of choices at your disposal when you go into the puppet mode. To start with, you first have to complete a simple mini-game that’s all about reaction times. After that, the soldier under your control can be used with absolute freedom, which includes walking around, shooting at other guards, or even committing suicide.

The main character is pretty weak by herself, which means that it’s never a good idea to start a fight on purpose. On the other hand, you can perform takedowns if you sneak up on guards from behind, but they obviously leave you a bit exposed for a few seconds. Hence, it’s always better to use the puppet mode, and there are all sorts of power-ups called patches that allow you to have even more fun with it.

The levels themselves are quite unforgiving sometimes as well, mainly because they include all sorts of traps that require good coordination to get past. It’s mostly a matter of speed and reflexes, but the experience is that much more exciting when you have to tackle everything at once. On top of it all, the graphics look gorgeous, thanks to the unique visual style that makes every stage look like a painting.

In the end, Tidal Affair: Before The Storm is pretty good, but it has a pretty annoying flaw: linearity. Hence, the levels are usually very straightforward and narrow, making it difficult to enjoy them multiple times, even if you can use different strategies every time.