Demagog Studio releases an immersive story-driven turn-based strategy, Highwater.
Highwater is a story-driven, semi-open-world, turn-based game set in an apocalyptic world. Highwater was developed by Demagog Studio, an indie game development studio that started up in 2017. Highwater is one of two games set in the same universe by Demagog Studio; the other is the yet-to-be-released The Cub.
Apart from Netflix, the developer, Rogue Games is an indie game publishing studio known for games like Sprawl, Dust & Neon. Highwater is already published on mobile platforms. It was published in December 2022, although it only has a 3.6 rating on Google Play and a 4.5 on Apple.
The world of Highwater is a semi-open post-apocalyptic world where you must traverse a flooded city. You have a variety of different characters that join you on this journey. Each of the characters you meet has their own backstory that you can read through, although not all of them join you for the end of the journey.
You start the game as Nikos, a teen who dreams of getting into Alphaville and onto the rumored Hope Rocket, hoping for a better future than scavenging the open waters for canned food.
You traverse most of the game on Nikos’ dingy, a boat he called Argos. While none of the combat takes place on water, the game has wonderful scenery to explore. With it being an open world, you just need to follow your compass to the mission, although there are a lot of small stops to explore along the way.
There is a lot to find in Highwater; most noticeable are the books and newspapers littered around. While the newspapers help build up lore, the books tend to be parodies of well-known books, which adds a little humor if you enjoy hunting for collectables.
Each character joining Nikos has their own abilities, passive and active, that help you with fights if used wisely. For example, Josephine’s passive bloodlust allows her to string together kills if the enemies are at a low enough health and in a good range of each other.
Another good character, although you only get to play with them once, is Priest, who can debuff enemies and buff allies. However, his most broken skill is Holy Water, which prevents allies from being hurt by an enemy’s attack.
The turn-based combat mechanism is simple to get used to. Move your characters along the tiles using their movement buttons, and use your actions to deal damage or deal with effects such as bleeding, curse, or stun, depending on your character and the weapons you have on them.
Exploring the world around you as you travel towards Alphaville yields a lot of usable equipment, both consumable and permanent. Melee and ranged weapons are not equipable to all characters, so you will have to pay close attention to who can use which weapon when equipping new weaponry.
Consumables, on the other hand, are, as the name suggests, one-time-only items that give buffs and debuffs during combat. There are various effects, from buffing your movement to increasing damage and resistance. However, you get the rare items that, while giving you a buff, will give you a debuff at the same time, such as increasing your damage at the cost of your movement speed.
Although not all your combat is outright brawls, you need to be strategic; sometimes, pulling a lever or pushing over a statue to even the playing field can make your odds at survival a little easier.
Environmental can be extremely useful, especially if you are outnumbered and outgunned. Humans aren’t the only enemies you will face throughout your gameplay. Mutated frogs, bears, and robots each have their own difficulties, such as the bears’ ability to end your character in one blow.
Once you have completed the campaign in Highwater, don’t worry; it is not the end of the gameplay. You can play two extra stories once you have completed the main game, their side stories that bring in a little more context in some scenarios and some closure for the way the main game ended.
The Graphics of Highwater are great. The game has bright-colored visuals that work with the 3D characters and environment, although they are different from the usual dystopian apocalyptic world.
While the world is literally covered in water, there are a few safe places, such as high-rise apartment buildings, mountain tops, and other tall structures. Each area has been designed with great care, and it all seamlessly blends together to help tell the story of Nikos and his friends.
The sound engineering in Highwater is amazingly executed. From the music to the background sounds, it’s easy to lose yourself in the story as you travel on the Argos towards Alphaville. Voice Acting is good in some places; it is a little lacking in other areas, but it still adds to the immersion of the game.
While the combat mechanics, graphic design, and sound engineering excel in their execution, certain narrative aspects feel a little underwhelming. While the storyline has depth and intrigue in spades, the delivery through some of the dialogue occasionally feels hurried and a little underdone, which takes away from the narrative. Despite occasional visual glitches, which fortunately occur infrequently, they do little to detract from the immersive gameplay experience as a whole.
Overall, Highwater is a fantastic game with a story worth playing. It is highly immersive, allowing you to get lost in the gameplay for hours. It is a great casual turn-based strategy for those just looking to relax and watch a great story unfold rather than stress over how to out-strategize the enemy.
