CyancookGames officially announced Of Peaks and Tides, an open-world survival crafting built with Unreal Engine 5 that will be coming to PC via Steam. No release date yet, but the first build can be tested at Gamescom 2025 on August 20-24 in Cologne, Germany. The game blends Eastern mythology with a responsive world, utilizing physics as the core of interaction and emergent gameplay.
About the game and premise
Of Peaks and Tides takes players to Lushland, after the "War between Heaven and Man" that brought down an ancient civilization. You play as Nolands who wakes up in a world full of divine relics and unique beasts. This narrative gives the game a strong Eastern mythological identity, as well as a logical reason for the elemental systems such as wind, lightning, water, and fire that are now present as "calamities".
The living world is the main promise: the environment reacts to your actions, and almost any object can become a resource. The approach emphasizes creativity, exploration, and freedom to solve problems.
Core features and gameplay
This game highlights emergent gameplay with strong physics. Weather, seasons, and disasters are not just challenges, but opportunities to create solutions. You can read the signs of nature, build smart structures, and turn risk into profit. There is a "Chill Farming, Serious Survival" pillar that combines a relaxed farming loop with strategic survival.
Players can tame wild creatures, build relationships, and optimize land based on growth patterns and the needs of flora and fauna. The focus is on a consistent system, so that every decision feels meaningful and can be repeated in a different way in the next session.
Combat and crafting
Combat encourages improvisation and utilization of the environment. You can charge straight in with your skills, or use tactics: lighting fires, flooding areas, setting traps, even baiting aggro to get enemies to fight each other. There is no "right answer", just your style.
Crafting is called "limitless" with a long progression-from stone axes to large-scale war machines. Base building is not just a shelter, but a symbol of resistance to the old gods and an attempt to restore human glory. The marketing language hints at the vast scale of construction, high modularity, and co-op ("gather your friends") potential for collaboration.
Release plans and expectations
Of Peaks and Tides is currently confirmed for PC via Steam, with no release date. The first two trailers have been released, and a playable version will be available at Gamescom 2025. In terms of selling points, the combination of reactive physics, open-world survival crafting, and Eastern mythology has the potential to stand out in a crowded Valheim-like market.
The main challenge is execution: systemic stability, combat balancing, UE5 performance on PC, and if there's co-op, the need for solid netcode. The Gamescom build will be an early barometer-whether the world really "reacts to everything", how deep crafting and farming go, and how it performs in intense scenarios.
For those of you who love systemic sandboxes, environmental experimentation, and long technological progressions, this game is worthy of your wishlist. Keep an eye on the Steam page for more details, check out the latest trailer, and wait for hands-on impressions from Gamescom 2025 to see if their promise of emergent gameplay is fulfilled.
