Hollow Tide

Hollow Tide is quiet in the best way. You play a diver piecing together what happened to a flooded town, and the game hands you almost nothing directly — you read notes, follow light, and slowly understand the place. It's atmospheric without being tedious.

Movement is gentle drifting through water, with a limited air meter that adds just enough pressure to keep exploration honest. The puzzles are environmental and clever, never the kind that need a walkthrough.

It's short — I finished in around five hours — but it's the sort of thing you'll think about after. Headphones strongly recommended; the sound design does a lot of the storytelling.

What we liked

• Storytelling through environment, not cutscenes
• Beautiful, restrained sound design
• Clean length with no filler