Perfect Tides: Station to Station – A Coming-of-Age Masterpiece | PAX East 2025

One of the standout games at PAX East was Perfect Tides: Station to Station, featured in the PAX Rising section—and rightfully so. The game immediately pulled me in with its narrative, art, and animation. Add to that an innovative experience system, and it completely blew me away. That’s exactly why it earned one of our Best of PAX East awards.

The game’s protagonist is Mara, a college freshman navigating the early stages of adulthood. Perfect Tides: Station to Station is a coming-of-age, point-and-click adventure, and one of the most impressive aspects of its narrative is how naturally Mara’s character is revealed—without heavy exposition. She dreams of becoming a writer but struggles to find her voice. She’s also trying to fit in, torn between the familiarity of her hometown and the uncertainty of who she’s becoming. It’s a familiar tension for anyone who’s left home to discover their place in the world. Maybe that’s why I connected with her so deeply—Mara is a genuinely relatable character.

I laughed out loud more than once during my time with the game—but one moment in particular stood out. Mara works at a library, where she usually takes advantage of the quiet to get schoolwork done. Ironically, I had the same experience in college—Friday nights in a university library are typically dead, making them the perfect shift to study.

But Mara’s plans get derailed when her boss, the librarian, asks her to reorganize a section of books. Determined to get out of it, Mara seizes on an idea from a book she read about anarchy and somehow manages to convince her boss that the books should be organized in a completely different way. Just when Mara thinks she’s outsmarted her, the boss stops her and demands a formal write-up explaining how the new system would work.

The moment was brilliant. The animation adds to the humor—Mara’s eyes widen as she realizes she’s trapped by her own scheme, and she sheepishly agrees to the task. The comedic timing and storytelling beats are spot-on, and it's rare to see them executed this well in a game.

The experience system in Perfect Tides: Station to Station is something I rarely see in games. Instead of simply gaining points to level up traditional skills or attributes, Mara gains knowledge by having conversations or reading books and magazines on specific topics. This knowledge directly ties into her “quests,” like writing a paper or explaining her clever plan to reorganize the library. It’s a refreshing, organic way to level up—one that emphasizes exploration, curiosity, and learning through experience.

And honestly, what is college if not a series of learning opportunities? Perfect Tides: Station to Station captures that beautifully.

There was one moment that I don’t think could’ve hit the same way outside of PAX. Mara sits in a small creative writing class when the topic of sex in storytelling comes up. Several classmates argue that it’s borderline pornographic, and then the teacher calls on Mara to weigh in: is sex inherently pornographic, or can it serve as a meaningful storytelling element?

Mara is clearly put on the spot, flustered and unsure how to respond—and suddenly, so was I. As the player, I had to choose her response, and I was also standing on the PAX show floor, surrounded by strangers, feeling that same awkward tension. I chose to say it could be used as a narrative element—something the teacher agreed with in the game. It was a unique moment. Not only did I empathize with Mara, I experienced her discomfort firsthand.

There’s so much more to the Perfect Tides: Station to Station demo that I don’t want to spoil. But if you’ve ever struggled to fit in, wrestled with the challenge of stepping out on your own, or felt torn between the familiarity of home and the unknown of what’s next—this game will speak to you. It’s rare that I encounter something this honest and emotional in any medium. Perfect Tides: Station to Station is absolutely on my wishlist, and I can’t wait to dive deeper into it.