Perfect Tides: Station to Station is a beautiful escape back to 2003

I don’t think I’m alone in saying this, but I’m very tired of 2026. I am exhausted from living through unprecedented times. I would like some precedented times now, please. I think it would be excellent to wake up from a deep nap, or perhaps a head injury, and have a friend say: “COVID? The second Trump administration? The occupation of Minnesota? I think you hit your head pretty hard playing this new Pokémon Go thing, let’s go to Dairy Queen.” That’s not going to happen any time soon, but I’ve found a similar escape in Meredith Gran’s latest adventure game Perfect Tides: Station to Station.

I first discovered Gran’s work in her comic Octopus Pie, which ran from 2007-2017. She followed the comic up with 2022’s Perfect Tides, which follows Mara Whitefish, a teenager who was terminally online before that was a common phrase. Perfect Tides: Station to Station released on Jan. 22, and it’s early to call it, but I feel like it has a strong chance to emerge as one of my games of the year. 

Station to Station follows Mara as she grows up; now an 18-year-old entering college. She dates, hangs with friends, gets high, goes through arguments and awkward moments, and navigates the challenges of transitioning from teen to adult. It’s 2003, a time of flip phones, AIM conversations with friends, journaling on the subway, and watching the tragically forgotten film Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever. Mara’s now in the big city, a place that’s not-New York City, and life feels both much bigger than her original small island home ... and more restrictive, in its own way.

Much like 2025’s Consume Me!, this is a game that is both deeply personal and very relatable. I was 13 in 2003, and so there are many moments where I, Captain America style, nodded and said “I got that reference.” I remember the era between the offline world and the proliferation of always-online social media fondly. Going to college in a big city and getting stoned while eating pierogies in public is less relatable to my personal experience, but it’s all very human. I may not have been in that exact scenario, but I get the vibe, you know? 

A lesser game would lean exclusively on that nostalgia, trotting out ‘member berries and slowly circling the drain. The writing in this game is empathetic, and as someone who sometimes feels the most alone in a crowd, there are moments in this game that hit me like a brick. There’s one standout scene in particular that is absolutely crushing, but I refuse to spoil it any further. This is a tremendously strong adventure game that swings between being effortlessly funny and deeply profound. It can be hard to write humor in a game — come on too strong, and the joke feels strained; play it too subtle, and the punchline falls flat. Gran threads the needle here to great effect.

Perfect Tides: Station to Station is available on Steam for $20 USD, and if you, too, need something to distract you from doomscrolling, this is a great alternative – beautifully animated, laugh-out-loud funny, and a little sad.