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Tidalis

Original title: Tidalis - July 16, 2010
Tidalis
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Director:Chris McElligott Park
Studio:Headup Games
Stars:-
Soundtrack:Tidalis: Original Soundtrack (Pablo Vega, 2010; 29 tracks)
Full Crew:View Full List
Award
Game
Editor's Choice Award
Winner
2010
Award
Game
Editor's Choice
Winner
2010

Media Gallery

Artwork 1Artwork 1
Main ImageMain Image
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Cover ArtCover Art
Game Details
Developer
Arcen Games
Publisher
Headup Games
Studio
Headup Games
Genres
Puzzle, Indie
Platforms
PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac, Linux
Release Date
July 16, 2010
Metacritic ScoreMetacritic
75
Game Engine
Unity

Tidalis is a block-based puzzle game with casual appeal, hardcore depth, and an addictive new "streams" mechanic. The game is brimming over with riffs and variants on that core mechanic with 20 game modes, dozens of special blocks and items, and 115 levels in the adventure mode alone. The basic rules of the game are this: blocks fall down into the board and have a color and an arrow direction. If a stack of blocks exceeds the height of the board, you lose. In order to clear blocks, you must right-click and drag paths through the arrows to set up chain reactions of like-colored blocks. If this sounds simple, that's because it is -- you'll be lining up lengthy chains within minutes. But you'll be surprised how much brainpower it takes to set up combos of multiple chains, and the many brainteaser-style puzzles include some real stumpers. Tidalis has co-op and competitive multiplayer modes (both online and offline); action-oriented modes and timer-less brainteasers; a lengthy, casual-friendly adventure mode; twenty unique game modes providing innumerable twists to the basic gameplay; dozens of special blocks and items; and over fifty minutes of beautiful music to go with the painterly art. In short, several games' worth of content are built on top of this core mechanic, which you'll quickly find to be as iconic as it is novel.

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Crew & Contributors 2

Time to Beat

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Did You Know?6
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  • en.wikipedia.org
  • arcengames.com
  • arcengames.com
  • arcenmusic.bandcamp.com
  • arcenmusic.bandcamp.com
Awards3
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Data aggregated from 3 sources: IGDB, RAWG, Metacritic
Last updated: 15.07.2026
Business
Budget
Not disclosed
RevenueReported
Under ~$20k gross
a commercial failure that recouped only about half its costs, per Arcen's public postmortem
arcengames.com

Developer-disclosed: Arcen Games' postmortems state Tidalis grossed under ~$20k and recouped only ~50% of its development costs despite strong reviews. No separate budget figure was published.

Time to Beat
Main Story10h
Main + Extras13h
Completionist16h
Language Support
Language
AudioSubUI
English
✔✔✔
Content Rating
PEGI 3
System Requirements
Minimum
OS:Windows XP SP2 or later
CPU:1.4Ghz CPU minimum, 1.8 Ghz recommended for background animation or multiplayer
RAM:1 GB RAM (2 GB recommended)
GPU:800x600 or greater screen resolution (32 bit color, 1280x720 recommended) Hard Drive: 600 MB Internet Connection or LAN required for networked multiplayer. Single-computer multiplayer is also available
Available On
Community & Media
Data aggregated from 3 sources: IGDB, RAWG, Metacritic
Last updated: 15.07.2026