Chucklefish, the studio behind the huge sandbox action game Starbound, has announced that a separate team within the studio is now working on a top-down co-op pirate action adventure game called Wayward Tide.
Wayward Tide takes place in a treacherous archipelago during the golden age of piracy. You and some friends will attempt to traverse five randomly generated islands, working together to solve puzzles, battling enemies, avoiding traps, and grabbing treasures.
The focus of Wayward Tide is the co-op experience, and it will support up to four players in local and online multiplayer. It’s not all friendly measures, though—you are all pirates after all, and so getting as much treasure for yourself as possible at the cost of your friends’ lives is something to consider.
Chucklefish gives the example of a pressure plate puzzle that requires each of you to step off the plate at the same time. “Stepping off too early will unhelpfully drop a boulder on your friend. We’re currently planning on a way to resurrect co-op players from time to time, so it’s not game over if a few of you get killed along the way.”
Yep, Wayward Tide comes with a heavy price of death and an increasing difficulty across its five mysterious islands. You’ll have to balance being careful with being greedy, as if you all die then you’ll wash up on the shore of the starting town, having to endure each island’s hardship once again.
Luckily, the treasure you’ve collected carries over, and so you can use it to upgrade your character – whether you’ve decided to keep the treasure for yourself, or share it among friends.
No platforms have been announced yet but, presumably, PC is a definite. Look out for more information about Wayward Tide on the Chucklefish blog and the game’s Twitter account.
