Tidebound

About Tidebound

Tidebound is a pirate game about the sea rather than about menus. You take a ship out, you find cargo that somebody else was counting on, and you decide whether the rival captain bearing down on you is a fight worth having or a thing to outrun.

The solo regatta is a race. The rogue skirmish is not. Both pay, and both feed the same ship, so a run of careful trading funds the fight you have been avoiding.

The shipwright

Gold goes into the hull, the sails and the guns, and those three pull against each other in the way you would expect — a ship rigged to outrun anything cannot win a broadside, and a floating gun battery will not catch anybody. There is no single correct build, which is why the shipwright is worth visiting between runs rather than once at the start.

Sailing it

Wind matters. Pointing straight at where you want to go is frequently the slowest way to get there, and the first time you win a chase by giving up ground to gain speed is the moment the game clicks.

Controls

Arrow keys to steer and trim, Space to fire or duel, Shift to burst or roll away, and M for the chart. The shipwright is reachable from the menu between runs.

How to play Tidebound

1. Press Begin your legend to start the first voyage. You set out from Havenport in the Wayfarer, a nimble sloop, and the gold compass marker points you towards Palmglass Cay.
2. Hold W or the up arrow to raise full sail, and S or the down arrow to drop it. With neither held, the ship carries on under reduced sail. A and D, or the left and right arrows, turn the helm.
3. Fire your cannons with Space once a target is in range, and press Shift for a burst of wind when you need speed.
4. Near an island, press E to step ashore. On foot, Space swings your cutlass, Shift rolls out of trouble and E digs or picks things up at the gold marker.
5. When the job ashore is done, walk back to the gold anchor marker and press E to board again.
6. Finish the voyage to collect your doubloons, then visit the shipwright or choose Begin next voyage.

Tidebound tips and strategy

• Keep sail up through the turn. Your ship turns far more sharply when it is moving fast. Dropping sail to make a tight turn has the opposite effect to what you want.
• Pace your wind bursts. Each burst uses 40 of a 100-point meter and gives you about a second and a half of much faster sailing. The meter refills in a few seconds, so two bursts in a row followed by a short wait is the most you can get from it.
• Clear the island before you dig. An excavation takes three seconds of standing still, and moving or taking damage interrupts it. Deal with the sentries first.
• Roll, do not run. On foot, Shift costs a chunk of stamina but makes you briefly untouchable as you roll. It is the best answer to a sentry's attack.
• Soften fortified coasts from the water. Some islands have defences on the shore. Shoot them down from your deck before docking, or you will be landing under fire.
• Upgrades follow you between ships. Reinforced hull adds 25 strength, tailored sails add two knots and fine-bored cannons add damage and reload speed per level, and all three apply to every ship you own. Buying them before a new hull is never wasted.
• Know what the skirmish is. The rogue skirmish lasts two minutes, and fresh rivals keep appearing faster as it goes on, up to six at a time. Keep moving and collect the gold they drop.

The six voyages and the ships

The career is six voyages. You begin by recovering the vault on Palmglass Cay, then sink two corsair ships on the trade winds and recover the golden compass on Sunspire Isle. The fourth voyage, the Windward wager, is a race through five glowing gates against three rivals. After that you hunt the Crimson Warden near Crownfall and finally land on Crownfall itself to find the last royal treasure. With all six complete, the sea is yours to sail freely.

The shipwright sells two more ships. The Sunrunner, a swift brigantine, costs 520 doubloons and is built for close cup finishes. The Night Heron, a heavy corsair frigate, costs 1,150 and has the toughest hull and strongest guns for sea battles. Hull repairs cost 35 doubloons. Everything is bought with doubloons earned in the game; there are no real-money purchases.