Annapurna Interactive has set a standard where a good story sometimes trumps intricate and detailed gameplay. And I will always say that a prioritized story is what makes a game memorable. Sometimes a great story can make up for gameplay shortcomings. We’ll definitely revisit this in future reviews.
Now, developer Demagog Studio and publisher Rogue Games, Inc. have taken that structure that makes Annapurna titles such gold at times and applied it to their new game Highwater. While the game totes a turn-based backbone, and some very minor exploration, the real beef is the story that it tells.
So, get your boat ready, pack plenty of supplies, and let’s talk about the end of the world.
Flowing with the story
The story of Highwater revolves around a kid named Niko. Niko has done his best to survive a terrible climate collapse that has left the world mostly underwater. Fighting against pollution, Vikings, insurgents, and a military protecting the privileged, Niko must find a way to keep his friends alive, while looking towards a potential planetary survival solution.
As much as there is a solid sense of innocence with this game thanks in part to some gorgeous and playful animation, as well as fun dialogue from its heroes and villains, Highwater almost feels too real. When the real world we live in is slowly falling apart due to preventable disasters that were caused by the rich and privileged, it’s hard not to feel a story like this beyond its video game status. The story touches a nerve and reminds the player that the world the devs created might be our future if we don’t do something quickly. I appreciate the message it creates and the warning it sends. The game’s story doesn’t pull its punches and it makes the characters that live within it sound and feel like traumatized beings that are doing their best in the worst situation. This is a great example of how memorable a story can be, especially when it connects to actual issues in the real world and makes the characters within it relatable.
What’s even more powerful about Highwater’s story is that it features a real class structure. One end of the class is filled full of survivors truly trying to band together and pull together a normal life the best way they can with the scraps thrown at them. The other class contains oppressors trying to depart the planet they have ruined and leave behind those less fortunate. Again, the game really hits actual life and how it works, which is scary and impressive as it is sad.
I know this might seem like a soapbox speech, and you wouldn’t be wrong, but it also speaks volumes about how the story of Highwater is put together and delivered. The message in the story is firm, it’s real, and it doesn’t beat around the bush about its intentions. It’s also very human, as the main characters must make tough choices when the story hits its zenith and eventual conclusion.
Overall, the story leads the way with Highwater, as it creates a beautiful and horrible world that is slowly but surely dying, and the player can do nothing but deal with it.
A slight case of strategy
Story aside, the gameplay of Highwater comes in a few flavors. The biggest flavor of the bunch is its turn-based backbone that pushes strategy into the gameplay mix and makes Highwater more than just a visual narrative. The caveat here is that the story is still the central focus of the game, as the turn-based toting is just a gameplay element that drives the action and gives you a chance to blink. And you will want to blink and have a mental reset from the story occasionally.
Now, the turn-based gaming structure is what you would expect. You are put on a set map with enemies, given X number of moving spaces to shift them, and then a variety of different character executables to choose from that create a decent amount of strategy. Players shift to and from, as do enemies, in order to create the perfect set strategy of attack. Once the attack occurs, each character comes equipped with special items and methods of attack. For example, when Niko enters the scenario, he is armed with a boat paddle, fishing pole, the ability to distract, and a camera as weapons. The boat paddle is essentially Niko’s sword, while the fishing pole can be used to hook/hurt/pull people in certain directions. The other elements are mostly for defense, with the camera allowing Niko to blind and confuse enemies. The creativity and functionality of the weapons in Highwater are well-placed and executed, so you’ll never really be bored of what the game offers up in this category, and what strategy emerges from said items.
Each character is armed with different items, some found/gained items can be assigned to characters on occasion, and each item has its own way of working. The latter part of that sentence just helps to make the weapons more interesting and engaging, as the variety helps to make the strategy thicker. For example, you will eventually run into a character that can hack into certain weaker enemy electronics (robots, drones, etc.). You also will have a character that can go on a ‘blood lust’ (where they have multiple actions in the same instance) when they take down an enemy with their knife. Combined, you can take over and use an enemy with the hacker to damage an enemy character, and then send the knife-wielding character to finish the job. The ‘blood lust’ attribute is gained by knife character if they finish the enemy off with a stab, and the attribute will allow them to continue their stabbing rampage on another enemy in the same instance. The multiple heroes and multiple weapons with unique attributes help create some intriguing strategy that makes the action interesting beyond the storytelling.
Outside of the action and strategy in the game, there is a small amount of exploration and collecting, though nothing that outweighs the story or fighting. For the most part, the game leads the player on a more linear path than not during exploring. The waterways in the game have multiple islands and stops, though only a bit of them can be accessed (they have orange/yellow icons beside them). When they are accessible, they are limited in their explorable space. That space typically contains either health items, newspapers detailing story bits that led to the environmental collapse, or random books/magazines. There isn’t anything beyond those items and it seems like the devs were playing things safe with this decision. The need to keep the player on the story and not wander from Niko’s experience seemed to block any real exploration and motivational items to keep you exploring. Was this a good decision? Maybe. If the goal was to preserve the prioritized story, then this decision would work. But that decision also shrinks the possibility that the game could have been bigger and so much more. So, that begs the question of why even introduce exploration or item collection if it isn’t going to be meaningful beyond set items? It’s a legit question that I can’t answer, but the idea of exploration and collection seems short-changed in the scheme of things.
Overall, the gameplay helps the story but doesn’t dare overtake it. The turn-based element makes sense and extends the story. It also makes the game engaging and interesting with its strategic possibilities. Again, none of this outshines the story, but it does add to it. It also blocks some potential bigger ideas that could have made the gameplay a lot bigger.
On that note, let’s wrap this review up.
Conclusion
Highwater from developer Demagog Studio is a powerful and cautionary tale of environmental damage and how people have to survive it when the world collapses. The game hits all the right notes with the story it wants to tell, while not letting the turn-based backbone and strategy steal the story’s spotlight.
