In a post on the PlayStation Blog explaining the development of Tides of Tomorrow, game director Adrien Poncet wrote about how the studio originally started out with the idea of that “We should make Road 96 but with boats! Boat 96!”

However, development then moved on to more serious idea, including the core premise of the game, where players could join each others’ story sessions and live through the choices and consequences of other players. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic ocean world, with a core theme being the environmental crisis.

In Tides of Tomorrow, players will get to pick another player to “follow”. As they continue through the game’s story, which revolves around the player suffering from poisoning caused by microplastics, the player will then discover that they are part of a group known as the Tidewalkers.

Tides of Tomorrow makes use of what is referred to as an “asynchronous vision” system, where players can see the choices and consequences of other players in the form of ghosts in their game. Through this, players will be able to complete puzzles and experience different parts of the stories than other players.

Tides of Tomorrow is slated for release on February 24, 2026, on the PS5.

Being a game with a focus on its narrative, Tides of Tomorrow puts players on planet Elynd, where a catastrophe known as the Great Flood has ravaged the land. Players will have to take on several challenges in the struggling world as they go about completing objectives like exploring floating platforms or dealing with some of the more dangerous aspects of the various communities in the game.

Tides of Tomorrow will encourage players to be careful about their decisions, since the game’s diverse cast of characters each has their own motivations and perspectives on the state of their world. Interestingly, the game has some light multiplayer mechanics where the choices made by a player’s friend in their playthrough of the game will also affect the player’s world.

Tides of Tomorrow doesn’t yet have a release date.

This game follows best friends Zoe and Kaito. If you played Road 96, you’ll recognize Zoe as the rebellious runaway who plays a big part in taking down the despot of the fictional country of Petria. Fans of the original Road 96 will also be happy to see other familiar faces in a handful of cameos throughout the game.

"It carries the same visual DNA as Road 96, for better or worse. Itas heavily stylized so it looks great in stills, but everything feels… unrefined in motion."

Kaito, on the other hand, is probably less familiar to most people. While he’s new to Road 96 canon, he is an existing character from Lost in Harmony, DigixArt’s first game from 2016. You’d gain a fair bit of insight if you’ve played that game and are familiar with the characters and themes because Road 96: Mile 0 kind of just throws you into his narrative. The opening moments of Mile 0 have Kaito remembering his late friend Aya as if she is a person the player would have a connection to, although that wasn’t the case for me. While you can still level with a character being sad about a friend that was lost in a tragedy, I felt like I was missing something, like there was a piece of dialogue or a cutscene I had skipped, which was a little jarring.

Similarly jarring is the game’s presentation. It carries the same visual DNA as Road 96, for better or worse. Itas heavily stylized so it looks great in stills, but everything feels… unrefined in motion. There’s a lot of dialogue between characters, and the attempt at lip-synching on display unfortunately looks to be more like random lip-flapping. This is a shame because what is actually being said is strong and even powerful in some cases. Character movements and animations are also pretty far below what I would consider the standard even for this genre of game, which gets a pass in many cases due to its focus on story rather than presentation. Movements are stiff and wooden, which did a lot to keep me from being fully engaged with the game during the regular exploration/dialogue gameplay.

Thankfully, that’s not all there is to do in Road 96: Mile 0.

Whereas Road 96 made an impact with its roguelike gameplay and the many different activities and diversions you could get up to, its prequel seems more content to inject gameplay and even occasionally deliver some story through a particular style of gameplay: a rhythm-based “runner” (your character is usually on some kind of skateboard or roller blades) that feels a lot like Sayonara Wild Hearts with shades of Sonic Adventure. There are lots of cinematic pans around your character while they are on a linear path, lots of loop-the-loops paired with dramatic zoom-outs, and plenty of jumping or ducking to avoid obstacles.

I don’t think this is a suitable replacement for what constituted gameplay in Road 96, but I can’t deny that it’s pretty fun. Each of these stages has some awesome music backing it up, and the shift from reality into more fantastical, bewildering scenarios is a delight. Going from being chased through the streets of a neighborhood by Zoe’s new bodyguard to having that very same bodyguard grow into a kaiju-sized pursuer was fun to see, though I question how these scenes are actually playing out in reality.

"Each of these stages has some awesome music backing it up, and the shift from reality into more fantastical, bewildering scenarios is a delight."

These running or skating stages and their associated QTE moments can increase significantly in difficulty as you progress through the game, which is good. I never got bored with these segments. However, I also never had an instance where I died more than two or three times on any one troubling section. The intended paths and actions are pretty well-telegraphed after you mess them up the first time, and most failures can be boiled down to bad timing. Additionally, restarts are lightning fast so you never lose too much time on a failure. The overall balancing of the difficulty and handling how failures work is well-done.

There are a few other forms of gameplay throughout the game, including a pretty hilarious on-rails shooter where your bullets are newspapers, but the majority of them are these skating segments. Something else that was changed from Road 96 to Mile 0 is the “health”, or more accurately the status bar on the top left of the screen. Whereas this meter indicated a character’s stamina or restfulness in the previous game, it now represents Zoe’s certainty about the political state of Petria. This is where the best parts of Road 96: Mile 0 come into play.

The unlikely friendship between Zoe and Kaito and the politics surrounding their respective situations are the driving forces behind Mile 0. Zoe is the daughter of a powerful government employee and lives a good life in a big house, and Kaito’s family are workers who are viewed and treated poorly amongst the higher class while living in an apartment below street level.

We know Zoe’s ideological stance throughout the original Road 96, but seeing and playing through the events that got her to that point was very interesting. One skating section in particular has Kaito trying to convince Zoe that things are not great in Colton City, and that President Tyrak is basically evil. As you skate and avoid obstacles, you get to see the same city from each of their perspectives, culminating in a visual where the two interpretations are split right down the middle as Zoe is no longer sure of what she believes. It’s really powerful, and that entire segment has a track by The Midnight playing over it which only amplifies the emotion.

"We know Zoe’s ideological stance throughout the original Road 96, but seeing and playing through the events that got her to that point was very interesting."

These scenes and ones like it are what make Road 96: Mile 0 really work, even when the parts surrounding it don’t quite seem like they do. But then again, the entire game is built around making decisions that push Zoe in one way or another, but the nature of the game being a prequel means that we already know what happens to this character after these events. This makes the decision-making feel less important and maybe even a little misleading in practice, though it works for the game’s relatively short runtime. Mile 0 can be completed in roughly half of Road 96’s 8+ hour runtime.

This review covers the PS5 version of the game, and it’s worth noting that the framerate didn’t feel entirely smooth. This is of course not super important for an adventure game, but the style of the game paired with the power of the PS5 should have resulted in a smoother experience, which leads me to believe the issue is down to optimization. The strange storybook-style pop-in that appeared in the original Road 96 is also present in Mile 0, though it is less significant.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Since her father is the Minister of Oil, Zoe has all the comforts she could want. However, Kaito hails from Colton City, where things are tougher. After they become friends, Zoe learns more about Petria, eventually leading to her leaving home in the sequel.

Unlike Road 96, Zoe and Kaito have rhythm-based levels representing their inner worlds. These play a role in their growth, and based on your decisions, their beliefs can evolve differently. It’s a unique twist and provides surreal fun to break up the real-world segments.

Check out our interview with the developer to learn more about Road 96: Mile 0. Stay tuned for more updates in the meantime.

"The idea of making a prequel was there before launch with many others, and following the incredible reception by the players, and all the questions about where those teenagers come from, we decided to focus on that aspect of the lore."

Was it always part of the plan to move on to a prequel after Road 96 had launched, or did the idea for Mile 0 only come about following the original game’s release?

The idea of making a prequel was there before launch with many others, and following the incredible reception by the players, and all the questions about where those teenagers come from, we decided to focus on that aspect of the lore.

What was behind the idea of bringing Zeo and Kaito together as the central characters for this game?

Zoe is one the most important characters of Road 96, some people love her, some people hate her, she’s very different, without spoiling the plot. So we wanted to show why she left her luxurious life for the dusty and dangerous roads of Petria. Kaito is her best friend, but he’s from a very different background, this creates a very special friendship. And this time, by switching from one point of view to another one, we could really incarnate someone with a deep backstory, that adds a lot of pressure when you make crucial choices.

Mile 0 is focusing on Zoe’s past and the events leading up to Road 96, but can someone who hasn’t played the original game jump straight in?

Yes, we paid attention by playtesting a lot that people who don’t know anything about Road 96 would understand everything, it adds of course a lot of references for those who played road before. But Mile 0 can totally be played as a first course.

What can you tell us about the game’s musical segments? How prominently will they be featured?

This is the new addition to the recipe, we keep all the fun activities and minigames, but we added some moments, very psychedelic, and frenetic and lot of action where you skate or roller over their evolving emotions. Kind of Sayonara feeling with a bit of skill required. This adds to the replayability of Mile 0.

"We paid attention by playtesting a lot that people who don’t know anything about Road 96 would understand everything, it adds of course a lot of references for those who played road before. But Mile 0 can totally be played as a first course."

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of Road 96: Mile 0 be?

Between 5 to 7 hours, it’s a short and sweet experience, I mean sweet depends on your choices and the ending you’ll get. There are really strong impacts depending on how you bend the two characters beliefs.

Can fans expect more games in the Road 96 series down the road?

I cannot say yet, but we love this dystopian universe we created, it is both crazy and fun, but also serious and impactful in a deeper layer. The fans show us every day that they love this universe, we are sensitive to that, but we love to innovate, to not repeat ourselves, so there is nothing in stone at this point.

Given that you have now worked on all the current gen consoles, I hope you don’t mind answering some questions about their hardware. Since the reveal of the PS5 and Xbox Series’ specs, a lot of comparisons have been made between the GPU speeds of the two consoles, with the PS5 at 10.28 TFLOPS and the Xbox Series X at 12 TFLOPS. How much of an impact on development do you think that difference will have?

Our games are not too heavy on the hardware side, we don’t look for realism and don’t push too much on the technical side, we used Unity URP pipeline on Mile 0 and we saw no difference between those new generation machines, I would say that it makes our life more easy, and it was a very good surprise to see the game running at 60fps, that was not our intention at the beginning. For the next games we will push more on the technicality, we love challenges, but if I compare with the PS2 and GameCube when I started, it’s a totally different world. Maybe that’s why I never complain about hardware limitations.

The PS5 features an incredibly fast SSD with 5.5GB/s raw bandwidth. How can developers take advantage of this, and how does this compare to the Xbox Series X’s 2.4GB/s raw bandwidth?

As we didn’t create a streamed open world, we didn’t experience those technical limitations, we are really happy that Mile 0 runs 60fps on this new generation. And looking at the amazing evolution of the tools such as Unity and Unreal, I think we reached a point where hardware is not anymore a limit to our imagination. This is definitely the golden age of videogames.

Super Resolution is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. How do you think this will help game developers?

For games that are very heavy in UI and menus like RPGs it can definitely bring a good evolution, though we have to always think about accessibility, this is crucial to not exclude people from gaming.

"We love this dystopian universe we created, it is both crazy and fun, but also serious and impactful in a deeper layer. The fans show us every day that they love this universe, we are sensitive to that, but we love to innovate, to not repeat ourselves, so there is nothing in stone at this point."

What frame rate and resolution will the game target on the Switch in docked and undocked modes?
Docked 1920 – 1080

Handled mode, 1280×720. 30 FPS narrative parts, and 45 FPS average for the psychedelic Rides for both configurations.

What are your thoughts on the Steam Deck? Do you have plans for any specific optimizations for the device?

We love the Steam Deck in the team, we try all our games on it, it is amazing how smooth they run on it, the only issue is for games that are created for mouse/keyboard with lots of small menus, the UX would have to be adapted sometimes, the same kind of love you have to put on the Switch when undocked, make sure that every label is readable.  We made a special controller setting for the Steam Deck and tested a lot on it to make sure it runs perfectly. Portable devices definitely have a bright future, we need more products in this area.

The story focuses on two characters – Zoe from Road 96, who leads a rich lifestyle thanks to her father working as the Minister of Oil and Kaito from Lost in Harmony, born in the poorer Colton City. The two become close, and eventually, Zoe discovers some unpleasant details about the country and her father.

In addition to showcasing why Zoe left her home, Mile 0 will also detail events that led to Road 96. In a unique twist, Zoe and Kaito have inner worlds that manifest as rhythm-based sections (not unlike Sayonara Wild Heart) that will affect their growth.

DigixArt CEO Yoan Fanise said, “In Road 96: Mile 0, we wanted to show where Zoe is coming from and why she left her comfortable life. But we didn’t create Mile 0 in a conventional way. We went the crazy route, using metaphorical music sequences where you ride along on the beliefs and doubts of Zoe and Kaito. The funny part is that YOU choose how you want them to evolve.”

Stay tuned for more details on the prequel in the coming months.

Based on the choices one makes, new avenues and routes open up. You’ll encounter different characters, some friendly and others hostile; uncover a bunch of secrets and learn more about the authoritarian forces governing the nation; and much more. Perhaps you’ll even change the world.

The title boasts a “thousand” different roads to travel, though some familiar characters may pop up from time to time. Also, regardless of your decisions, the story will continue and who knows what could happen next? Along with digital releases, physical editions for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One will be distributed by Merge Games. Stay tuned for more details on the same in the coming months.

Then there’s Ghost Ship Games which is known for the co-op first person shooter Deep Rock Galactic. It will remain autonomous though Embracer and Coffee Stain will support it with “new game development projects.” DigixArt is known for 11-11 Memories Retold and the upcoming Road 96 – it will remain independent under Koch Media.

3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks are interesting though. The former will with Saber Interactive going forward and has six new titles in the works, though CEO Mike Nielsen is setting down in favor of Frederik Schreiber. Slipgate (which is working on Graven) has been acquired for its “proven expertise in development, co-development and porting.” It’s been acquired under Saber Interactive, which means it should be working with the team going forward.

As for what Road 96 has to offer, it sees the player embarking on a road-trip. However, because of the game’s procedural nature and the choices made, every adventure is a completely different experience. You can meet different characters in different scenarios, become involved with them, run up against the Regime and much, much more.

For example, you’ll run into a taxi driver named Jarod who, depending on how much he’s angered, will try to kill you. This isn’t the end of the adventure, though it remains to be seen just how many unique experiences Road 96 has to offer. Stay tuned for more details on the game when it releases next month.

Unfortunately, saying you don’t like dinosaurs can anger Jarod. Somehow, this all leads to him assuming you’re a Brigade member and threatening to shoot you. Even if the player manages to escape, the adventure keeps going, no doubt awaiting any further bad decisions you may choose to make.

This interaction with Jarod is one of many that can take place when venturing all the different roads. You’ll meet other characters, each with their back-stories and motivations. Depending on the decisions made, you could also potentially change the country. Road 96 is out later this Summer for Nintendo Switch and PC with a demo currently available as part of the Steam Next Fest.