Hollow Tide

Hollow Tide is a quiet game. You explore a half-sunken city, solve environmental puzzles, and piece together what happened through notes and odd little scenes. There's barely any combat, and I didn't miss it. The mood carries the whole thing.

Movement uses a virtual stick that felt a touch floaty at first, but the game lets you tweak its size and deadzone. Once I adjusted it, wandering the ruins became genuinely relaxing. It's a game for headphones and a slow evening.

It's not demanding on hardware, which suits the pace. Battery drain is gentle, and because there's no timer pressure you can set it down and pick it back up whenever. A lovely one to have installed for calm moments.

What we liked

• Strong atmosphere and sound design
• Adjustable movement controls
• Gentle on the battery, no time pressure