What if you condensed the gameplay loop of pirates searching for and battling over treasure into a smaller MOBA style? Then you might just have something like Golden Tides, an in-development PvP game from Dallas-based Psychedelic Games.
“Where traditional MOBAs lock players into rigid lane structures and lengthy matches, Golden Tides offers dynamic 20-25 minute bouts where crews chart their own course across land and sea to find–and fight over–buried treasure. […] By combining MOBA movement and combat elements with open-world exploration and ship-to-ship naval warfare, Golden Tides delivers a fresh take on a genre whose core structure has remained largely unchanged … until now.”
The game currently features a selection of over 12 characters that fall into archetypal buckets such as tank and support, while matches play out in 4v4 format across three phases: an initial landing on an island where teams must find a treasure map, a chase to find where the treasure is buried, and a final run to a drop-off point, all while PvE enemies and the opposing team are on the hunt.
Golden Tides just recently secured a $3.5M funding round, raking in investment capital primarily from Krafton as well as game publisher FlyQuest and esports company Arbitrum Gaming Ventures, all of which Psychedelic says will boost the game’s ongoing development and eventual launch, time TBD.
In the meanwhile, the game is taking sign-ups for a playtest that will be held sometime in the second quarter of this year. There’s also a gameplay trailer waiting below for those who want to take an advance peek.
source: press release
