Hollow Tide

Hollow Tide is the kind of game you play with headphones in, lights low. You explore a foggy coastal town by tapping through gorgeous painted scenes, solving gentle environmental puzzles and piecing together what happened here. The pacing is slow on purpose, and it works.

The puzzles never cross into frustrating moon-logic territory. Most solutions come from paying attention to the world rather than hunting pixels, and there's a soft hint system if you get stuck. I never once reached for a walkthrough.

What stayed with me was the atmosphere — the sound of waves, the way light shifts as you move between rooms. It's short, maybe four hours, but it's four hours that linger. Easily one of my favorite mobile adventures this year.

What we liked

• Stunning painted art
• Fair, grounded puzzles
• Atmosphere that sticks with you