Tidal Shock: Off the Hook has left Early Access!

Join us tonight for our Unleash The Deep event, celebrating our 1.0 release! The developers are going to be hanging out in the Tidal Shock Discord Server, and diving into matches with everyone! It's a great opportunity to hop into the voice or text channels to chat with us and give us your thoughts, or ask about the future of the game. Plus - if you register for the event on Discord, you'll be entered for a chance to win free character packs! We can't wait to see you in the arena!

[ 2025-04-19 16:37:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

With the launch of Tidal Shock: Off the Hook 1.0, were not just bringing new modes, visuals, and chaos to the arena Were also bringing the fight to your hands. We have released our Steam DeckReady native Linux build. Its optimized, controller-tuned, and tested to run smooth whether youre docked, handheld, or somewhere in between. We didnt design for Deck on day one but once we saw what this little machine could do, we knew we had to make a build for it. Native Linux version Full controller support Smooth performance and fast loads 360 underwater chaos that just feels right in your hands If youre a Steam Deck player, we built this for you. This isnt just a game that runs it thrives. And were hoping your feedback helps push it toward full Verified status. Practice in Solo Mode. Warm up in Private Matches. Ride torpedoes anywhere you want. The ocean is open and now it fits in your backpack.

[ 2025-04-18 22:06:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

The wait is over.

After a long, scrappy ride through Early Access, were happy to announce that Tidal Shock: Off the Hook 1.0 releases today and we've got a whole host of changes for you, so let's dive right in! A little over a month ago, we started quietly making some big updates while we prepared for our full release. In case you missed it, here's the gist:

• We took Tidal Shock off the hook - it's now free to play! (And never pay-to-win - the only things you can buy are cosmetics.)
• We added all-new game modes: Depthmatch, Control, and Point-To-Point on top of our classic Reactor Rush mode, and each match is now a three-round burst of different modes across different parts of the Tidal Shock Arena!
• We expanded the map and now support matches of up to 12 players, plus team matches (we were sick of free-for-all too).
• We added over 50 achievements! (and there are even more today - see below!)
• We added Rankings, XP & Awards for unlocking prestige skins, and an MMR system to find other players at your skill level.
• We gave the whole game a makeover, from the map to the characters to the HUD.
• We added new skins to unlock, and premium skins to buy, including the Gear Pack, finally letting you ride in style.
• We made tons of rebalances, performance improvements, and bugfixes.
• Plus, every week we hosted events and DLC giveaways!

But that's not what this announcement is about - today we're releasing Tidal Shock 1.0, our full release out of early access, including a ton of new content:

• The long-requested and long-awaited tutorial is finally here (optional of course). No more dropping into your first match with a pro while you're still learning how to use the torpedo. Because also releasing today are...
• Private matches! You won't earn XP or achievements, but now you can dive in with friends for a grudge match or to learn the ropes with a buddy. You can also hop in solo get a feel for the arena at your own pace.
• If in-game tutorials aren't your style, we also have a short Player's Guide Video to get you up to speed.
• The map has expanded once more - There's a whole new area to explore (the minefield), plus some major changes inside the existing map that we hope will shake things up for those who have it memorized.
• We're also launching our native linux build today! Steam deck users in particular should notice a significant performance increase. Check it out!
• And finally, we're releasing 7 new achievements today, each focused on mastering every weapon in the game:
  Not So Fast Hail Mary Sharpshooter Splash Damage Nowhere To Hide Spray and Pray Fish In a Barrel

In celebration of our release, we're also running a launch week sale: All Character Packs are 15% off! On top of that we're releasing two new bundles for those who want to Dip Their Toes, or even take a Deep Dive into Moonray Studios' back-catalog, pairing some sweet Tidal Shock Character Packs with our last game, Debris - Tidal Shock's narrative-driven older sibling, for a fraction of the price! Check them out now!

From Us to You

Were a tiny indie team. We built this on guts, glowsticks, and way too much caffeine. We couldnt have done it without your feedback, chaos, and love. If youre enjoying the ride, leave a review, and tell your friends! Tidal Shock has been a labor of love, and more than anything we would love to keep improving and updating Tidal Shock for you guys. Thank you for the support. We hope you enjoy playing the game as much as we've loved making it. See you in the arena! [Play Now] | [Join the Discord]

[ 2025-04-18 22:06:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're on the home stretch now

It's time for our final event before the 1.0 Release - It's the Full Throttle Event! No more forced game modes - from today until launch, we'll be continually updating and improving every part of Tidal Shock based on your feedback. Speaking of updates, we have quite a few pieces of news to share - let's dive into it:

• First off, we've pushed our release date a little further to give us time to make some of the changes we'd like included in version 1.0: We're now planning to launch out of Early Access on Friday, April 18!
• Of course, the DLC giveaways are still running, and will be all the way until launch! You can enter to win on Discord - this time we're giving away FREE Puffs Character Packs!
• There are also a few more achievements coming out today:
  Depth Charge Triple Crown Perfect Score
  (We also have 7 new achievements dropping on launch day - but we're keeping tight-lipped about those for now.)
• And as always, we're working hard in the background to keep the updates rolling. Here's a taste of the changes you'll see in the latest version of Tidal Shock:
  • Control has been simplified - instead of multiple sub-rounds, the control point will move around the map whenever a single team manages to score 50 point at that location. First to 100 points wins!
  • You now get a kill if a player suicides within 5 seconds of you damaging them. With this change in mind, we've also removed the -1 point penalty for suicide in Depthmatch.
  • And more! Check out the full patch notes here!
• Finally, we've been working on Steam Deck compatibility in preparation for 1.0, and we think we're nearly there! If you'd like to try out our latest steam deck build and give us your feedback, reach out to us on Discord and we'll hook you up with the beta! Our Discord server is also the best place to get in touch with feedback, suggestions, or just to connect with the community and find a match!

It's all happening right now - dive in to check it out. We can't wait to see you on launch day!

[ 2025-03-31 14:01:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

This patch enables the Full Throttle Event! More details:

• Control has been simplified - instead of multiple sub-rounds, the control point will move around the map whenever a single team manages to score 50 points at that location. First to 100 points wins!
  • Overall this shouldn't affect the gameplay significantly, except in close three-player matches where you'll be likely to see a fourth control point pop up.
  • This mostly just aligns the game mode's architecture with other existing modes, and makes end-game scoring simpler to understand.
• You now get a kill if a player suicides within 5 seconds of you damaging them.
  With this change in mind, we've also removed the -1 point penalty for suicide in Depthmatch.
• Refreshed UI:
  • All text should now be legible when played on a handheld or TV.
  • Simplified weapon display on HUD to make rarities easier to understand.
  • Added reorient and menu control display to the main HUD. As always, these can be turned off in the settings menu.
• Added support for Cyrillic and other characters in players' usernames.

[ 2025-03-31 14:01:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

This patch enables the Power Play Event. Dive in and check it out!

[ 2025-03-24 13:11:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

A Shocking Twist on a Classic

We're back at it again with a brand-new event this week - it's a power play! This week, we're featuring the last of our four game modes, Point-To-Point as the first round of every match. The gist is this: get energy, and charge the reactor. Sound familiar? The catch is that in Point-To-Point, there's only ever one place on the map to generate that energy, and it's bound to be teeming with foes. You'll need strategy, patience, and perfect timing to get out without alerting your enemies, and to sneak it to the reactor to claim victory! As for the gifts that keep on giving, this week also kicks off new DLC giveaways - enter on the Tidal Shock Discord Server for your chance to win a FREE Shallows Character Pack! We're rolling out some new achievements out this week too, to unlock on your quest from point-to-point:

Reactor Raider Tidal Terror +1 Hidden Achievement (SPOILER: [spoiler]Unlucky Ducky[/spoiler])

Last week we also addressed a few major bugs, and seriously improved the Tidal Shock experience on controller. There's never been a better time to dive into the arena! But if you're looking for the perfect time, we suggest signing up for our Dip Your Toes event, happening over on our Discord server. It'll give you a chance to get into some big matches with other Tidal Shock fans! See you in the arena!

[ 2025-03-24 13:09:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

A bit of a mish-mash of bug fixes, cleanup and gameplay tweaks this time:

• Fixed an issue when other players quit the match while you were still loading in, that manifested in a few ways:
  • Sometimes you'd get stuck on the loading screen
  • Sometimes you'd get into the match alone without disconnecting automatically
  • Sometimes you'd be pushed back to the main menu, but with weird lighting and have trouble rejoining the queue
  • Sometimes you'd make it back to the menu, but then when you tried to play again you'd be kicked out of the match, with in-game HUD and lots of other visual craziness
• Fixed the matchmaker sometimes mixing up which players should go on which team, in particular brand new players getting paired up against players who had played a lot, but had lost a few games recently.
• Increased torpedo damage from 80 to 125 - it should have no trouble plowing through enemy blockers now!
  • Self-damage also slightly increased from 20 to 25
• Removed a bunch of old content that's no longer in use, shrinking the install size a bit and hopefully also improving performance a little.

Hop in and check it out!

[ 2025-03-21 11:43:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Improved visibility of all blockers and related effects, including the new exclusive Alienware Blocker (see Patch 0.4.15)

[ 2025-03-19 14:40:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

This patch adds some limited-time content in collaboration with our partners at Alienware Arena: a brand-new, Alienware-themed blocker is taking over as our default blocker for this week only! Hop in and check it out!

[ 2025-03-19 12:09:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

This patch makes significant improvements to our controller support, which has had some nasty bugs since our free-to-play transition. The following fixes are included:

• All menus are now navigable entirely with the controller.
• Settings menu has a new layout that is much more controller-friendly.
• You'll no longer be navigating the in-game menu in the background while playing - an issue that sometimes caused you to open settings pages or even quit the game accidentally!
• Torpedo is now useable on controller no matter what your base sensitivity is.
• You'll no longer drop a blocker when resuming on controller in the in-game menu.
• Improved UI navigation speed on controller.

Other Misc. Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where sometimes the game would crash as you were trying to quit.
• (Hopefully!) Fixed an issue where temp graphics would sometimes show up when loading into a match.

[ 2025-03-18 15:53:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

This patch enables the Under Control Event! We've got quite a few active players at the time of writing, so if you're having trouble matchmaking, bear with us - some players may still be on the old patch. Some additional bugfixes:

• 12-player matches should no longer kick out 4 players randomly
• No longer incorrectly showing some players as disconnected on the post-game screen

[ 2025-03-17 12:47:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hold the Line. Lock Down the Depths

This week's feature mode is all about teamwork, positioning, and tactics. In Control, you'll need to hold critical zones, lock down objectives with shields, and stop enemies from taking over your territory. With a guaranteed first round of Control each match, the master tacticians will rise to the top this week. The giveaways are still going strong on Discord! This week, we're giving away FREE Slicks Character Packs! Join the community and zip through the seas in style In the spirit of our featured mode, we also have some new Control-centric achievements debuting this week:

Control Conqueror The Best Defense... +1 Hidden Achievement (SPOILER: [spoiler]Eleventh Hour[/spoiler])

You might have also noticed an update on Friday, which contained some major performance improvements across the board. If you were having trouble loading the game on a previous version, try giving it a spin now - there's room in the arena for everyone! Some more exciting news: We've teamed up with Alienware Arena, who have set up a quest to earn ARP by playing Tidal Shock for at least 1 hour this week. Check it out here, and stay tuned later this week as we roll out more new content with our friends at Alienware. Meanwhile, on our Discord Server, the people have spoken: Deathmatch O2 is out, and Depthmatch is in! We'll be updating everything and pushing out the updated content later this week. We also kicked off our first Saturday Night Dive event over the weekend, with our developers duking it out with the community for and awesome night of games. We'll be doing this every weekend, so don't forget to check it out and dive in this coming Saturday! You can sign up on Discord. Stay cool, and stay in control. See you in the arena!

[ 2025-03-17 12:39:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

You may have noticed Tidal Shock was running a little slow...

In our excitement to deliver so much new content with our Off The Hook Update, we may have neglected some performance considerations. This update addresses them in a few ways:

• We've added a quality dropdown to the settings menu with 7 presets ranging from Minimum to Ultra, to handle machines of all shapes and sizes (but we're begging you not to use minimum quality... it makes the artists cry).
• Across all quality settings, you should see a small performance boost from some overall cleanup we've done. Most noticeably, it shouldn't be hoarding RAM (sometimes up to 14GB) and VRAM (sometimes up to 7GB!) like it used to.

Our lead dev claims that you could play the game with under 4GB RAM and 1GB VRAM now, but we don't have a machine like that to test on, so decide for yourself if you want to believe him. If he's wrong, feel free to give him hell on the #tidalshock-bugs channel on Discord. One more thing! The first time you launch after this update, a quality setting will be picked automatically for you, but that's just a guess at which setting will run well on your machine - hop in a match and switch settings on the fly to see what works best for you! See you in the arena!

[ 2025-03-14 15:09:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

New week, new me - this patch enables the Death Lurks event! Dive in and check it out!

[ 2025-03-10 13:10:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's time to embrace our arena shooter roots

This week, we're highlighting a game mode that's all about eliminations. There are no cores to collect, no objectives to capture. Every match this week starts with a round of Deathmatch O2: a familiar game, with a decidedly underwater twist. You'll need to rack up kills if you want to win, while keeping an eye on your oxygen meter to avoid going belly up. Refill your air at points scattered across the map, or steal it from your victims. It's hunt or be hunted, and only the smartest, deadliest players will come out on top. We've also taken care of our technical difficulties and the DLC giveaways are fully underway on Discord! This week, we're giving away FREE Depths Character Packs! Join the community and earn some free drip We've also got some new achievements out this week, continuing the Deathmatch O2 theme:

Deathmatch Dominator Marine Majesty +1 Hidden Achievement (SPOILER: [spoiler]Glub Glub[/spoiler])

Finally, on a more serious note, there have been some heated debates in the Moonray office, with desks flipped and friendships lost, over whether we should rename Deathmatch O2 to Depthmatch. We could use your help in laying this to rest once and for all. Join the debate and help us resolve our hostile work environment over on our Discord Server. That's all for now. We'll see you beneath the waves!

[ 2025-03-10 13:05:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Temporarily removed prices from the skins menu, since it was often showing the wrong price. We promise the bundle isn't 200!

[ 2025-03-07 16:05:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

A few small bugfixes today:

• Improved visibility of barriers in the map so you stop driving into them
• Fixed some character pack typos in the skins menu
• Plugged some holes in the ceiling of the green chamber
• Simplified matchmaking slightly to make it easier to connect with players across the pond
• Hopefully fixed an annoying issue sometimes causing the match to end when migrating hosts
• Fixed some weapon spawners in the centre of the map being empty when they really shouldn't be
• Rebalanced award selection at the end of matches so you're not constantly seeing "Breacher, MVP, Collector" again and again and again...
• plus all of our new DLC packs are now live!

We're also going to actually start our DLC giveaways tomorrow! sorry for the delay. Check it out and get in touch on our Discord server! Dive in and check it out!

[ 2025-03-06 20:39:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed an issue sometimes causing game to crash on launch

[ 2025-03-05 18:33:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

This week's event is all about speed, control, and torpedo mastery.

To kick things off, we figured we'd revisit classic Tidal Shock: Every match this week starts with a round of Reactor Rush to scratch that nostalgia itch! Reactor Rush is a winner-takes-all race where you collect energy cores and slam them into the ever moving reactors before your enemies do. We're also giving away FREE Lurkers Character Packs this week on our Discord Server - sign up for your chance to win! Plus, we've snuck in a few themed achievements this week to work toward:

Battery Buccaneer It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint +1 Hidden Achievement (SPOILER: [spoiler]Pacifish[/spoiler])

Dive in and knock them out!

[ 2025-03-05 15:37:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Tidal Shock is BACK and Bigger Than Ever!

Hey Divers!

Its been a long time but were finally back. And we didnt just dust off Tidal Shockwe rebuilt it from the ground up.

Introducing Tidal Shock: Off the Hook!

As of today, Tidal Shock is officially Free To Play, and preparing for our 1.0 Release out of Early Access on April 10th! It's never been easier to grab a friend and dive back into the Tidal Shock arena! But going free-to-play might be the smallest change we've made... We've been working hard to deliver a deluge of new content to sink your teeth into, like:

• A Complete Visual Overhaul Its faster, sleeker, and better than ever.
• Three-Round Matches More strategy, more action, more fun, and more chances to get back at your rivals, featuring...
• Three New Game Modes For a total of four. Control, Point-To-Point, and Deathmatch O are now available alongside the classic Tidal Shock game mode, Reactor Rush.
• A Matchmaking Rating System Build your rating and prove you're the king of the ocean.
• Tons of New Achievements We've added more than 20 achievements to the game, with new ones added every week leading up to our 1.0 Release.
• Team Play Squad up and work together to outwit your opponents, now in matches of up to 12 players!
• Post-Game Awards Flex on the competition.
• New Progression & Customization Earn XP and climb the food chain from Guppy to Orca, unlocking skins along the way.
• Speaking of Skins we're releasing 4 new skin packs this week, including the Gear Pack, which lets you (finally!) customize your torpedo and blocker.

Thank you so much to the fans who have been there since the beginning. If you owned Tidal Shock before our switch to Free To Play, you should find you've been given some of our new skins as a token of our appreciation.

Dive In Now and see everything Tidal Shock: Off The Hook has to offer!

[previewyoutube=MIqGzU9ZJNs;full] [/previewyoutube]

But That's Not All!

We've got our eyes on the future, and our 1.0 release is coming very soon! We'll be running new events every week until then, featuring game modes and adding new achievements, giving away Skin Packs everyday on our Discord server, fixing bugs, and looking for your feedback on the direction to take Tidal Shock as we grow! Excited? So Are We. Check out our Off The Hook website for all the details, including our Roadmap To Release for a sneak peek of what's coming! Join our Discord community to enter giveaways, get in touch, and keep up with the latest events! Don't forget to invite your friends! It's dangerous to go alone. See you in the arena!

[ 2025-03-05 15:35:07 CET ] [ Original post ]