Rumor Has It
Civilization lies in shambles thanks to the Great Climate Catastrophe. Hightower, the final safe zone, is running out of supplies fast. Meanwhile, skirmishes continue between War Zone insurgents and the forces of Alphaville, the fortified city of wealthy elites. In the midst of increasing conflict and dwindling supplies, rumors surface of a rocket heading for the Mars base. Join Nikos as he journeys across a flooded post-apocalyptic world for a spot onboard the rocket in turn-based strategy adventure game Highwater.
Water, Water, Everywhere
Developed by Netflix Games and Demagog Studios and published by Rogue, Highwater tasks players with navigating Nikos’ boat across the dangerous waters towards Alphaville. Players must drag the left joystick in the direction of their choosing to maneuver Nikos’ small boat across the water. The radar, located in the bottom right corner of the screen, displays your goals as yellow and white dots. Yellow dots represent the main destinations, while white dots display various islands to explore and raid for supplies. Navigation is rather simple. Most of the time, players simply drag in a straight line to reach their destinations. As you approach an island, its corresponding dot grows larger. Once players reach their destination, an orange arrow appears within the dot which, players must tap to disembark.
Upon disembarking on a supplementary island (the ones with the white dots), players can usually explore freely. Sometimes you’ll encounter a small skirmish on these islands, however, those are usually reserved for the main destinations. Along the way, Nikos tunes in to HPR (Highwater Pirate Radio) for music and news. While voiced beautifully, the music often left me annoyed, as the lyrics sometimes bordered on the melodramatic. The intent behind these heavy-handed lyrical stylings was likely meant to illustrate how art functions as a product of the times in which it was created. However, the contrast of the melodramatic tunes and the actual high stakes only worked to cheapen Highwater’s tone.
A Time to Duel
Along the way, players will encounter allies to aid them in turn-based battles. Some of these allies will be temporary, while others will recur throughout the game. Each ally has unique skills and weapons to aid Nikos in his battles with insurgents, Vikings, mutant creatures and Alphavillain forces. Highwater uses fairly standard turn-based mechanics—choose where your characters will move and what actions they will take, followed by enemy retaliation. To win a match, players must defeat all enemies with at least one character standing. Players will encounter a very hands-off tutorial during their first match. While most players might not need supplementary lessons, I would’ve preferred a more guided tutorial that instructed me where to tap and how to deploy attacks. Yet, after the third or fourth clash, I felt comfortable navigating the battle system.
Skirmishes happen pretty regularly and often require players to think outside of the box to complete. For instance, once Nikos acquires the fishing rod, he can pull enemies off the battlefield to their watery demise. Other weapons wielded by allies have less comical effects and mostly function to deplete an enemy’s health. However, some have added benefits, including rendering an enemy immobile for a turn or restoring health.
In addition to weapons, Nikos and his allies can carry two supplies, like food or medicine. These supplies restore health or buff stats, and can be found at the various supplementary islands. To equip items, tap the bag in the upper right corner. Select the ally and tap ‘Boosters.’ From here you can select the item you wish to equip and tap the plus icon to add it. You can also change weapons on the equipment screen, found on this same screen. I encountered supplies pretty regularly, often forgetting to use them. While they do make situations much more bearable, you’ll probably rarely need them.
Any Drop to Drink
Despite being beautifully rendered, Highwater’s seas feel empty. I get that that’s kinda the point of its post-apocalyptic, Waterworld-inspired setting, but I needed more. Beyond the explorable islands, there isn’t a whole lot to look at besides the same towering masses of buildings, light poles, turbines and trees. While traveling, I often felt anxious. I wanted to see something besides the same scenery passing over and over. While I’ll concede that the developers probably intended this vibe, it made the journey feel unnecessarily tedious. I was especially disappointed when in later levels, certain areas blossomed with color and interest due to pollution mutating the area. Why couldn’t I have more of that?
That said, there are moments when Highwater shines like a city on the hill. Sans its sometimes melodramatic lyrical choices, Highwater features several gorgeous mini music videos, complete with well-sung vocals. The same level of care seems to have also gone into each level’s introductory travel scene. The opening of the wind turbine level left me stunned with how hauntingly morose it felt. Seeing these gargantuan machines lurking motionless in the fog and twilight really drove home how empty the world had become. It only made me sadder that there wasn’t another element during the boat levels to break up the monotony and really make this a perfect game.
Despite its lyrical flops and at times, tedious travel, Highwater really is a fine game. With its messages regarding climate change and corporate greed, it feels especially prescient. Perhaps, our generation will heed the warnings and prevent a global catastrophe of this magnitude. Please, dear reader, because I simply can’t take another boat ride.
