The 39-achievement list in Tides of Tomorrow punishes late record-keeping. Documents, asynchronous visions, Scrap, eggs, emotes, merchants, ocean events, alignment ranks, and named-character outcomes all begin tracking before the story explains which ones matter. Start a ledger during the prologue; do not wait for the ending screen to reveal what the run has already excluded.
Current check: the Steam list and official FAQ were reviewed on July 19, 2026. Patch 4, build 1687-44915, specifically fixed a bug that prevented the Duck achievement from unlocking. Tides of Tomorrow uses one save file per account, according to the official pre-launch FAQ, so this roadmap does not depend on an unverified manual save-backup method.
Build six columns before the first island closes
A practical tracker needs only six columns: documents read, visions scanned, Scrap collected, eggs collected, emotes left, and Ocean Events completed. Add a short note for ducks and character decisions. The point is not to duplicate Steam’s progress display; it is to know which level deserves a second search before you accept its recap.
| Background task | Public or cross-checked target | Action that prevents a late cleanup |
|---|---|---|
| I just saw a ghost | Scan 30 asynchronous visions | Trigger both major story echoes and optional prompts before leaving each island. |
| Expressive | Leave 10 emotes | Place one whenever the game introduces a safe social or handoff point. |
| Another man’s trash | Collect 1,000 Scrap | Search containers before paying a repair; the counter tracks collection, not the amount currently held. |
| Bibliophile | Examine more than 100 written documents | Interact with notes and terminals even when the objective marker has already advanced. |
| Time for a good omelet | A readable achievement reference reports 100 mereid eggs | Begin collecting on the first eligible route and keep a per-level count; the public Steam page hides this condition. |
| Duck hunter | Obtain every duck | Record the island and room for each duck instead of trusting memory across alignment runs. |
The Stronghold basement provides one verified duck checkpoint: descend below the club, take the key from the grate near the stairs, unlock the side room, and open the chest. This does not establish a full duck-location route, so do not mistake one confirmed collectible for a complete set.
Finish the small social unlocks while their interface is visible
Several achievements are easiest when the relevant menu or interaction is already on screen. The official FAQ confirms that you may change the person you follow at a level boundary and that a specific player can be selected by seed. Use the intended interface; there is no need to manipulate files.
- Starstruck: follow someone famous. Use a clearly labeled creator, streamer, or developer Story-Link rather than guessing from a username.
- This one is better: change who you are following. The end-of-level Story-Link choice is the clean detector.
- What’s mine is yours: put Ozen in a donation box. The early Scrap Harbour route introduces one.
- Loyal Customer: buy Ozen from merchants 10 times. Count purchases, not cans held or consumed.
- Good samaritan: the readable achievement guide associates this with giving Ozen or Scrap to a beggar. Because Steam hides the public description, verify the unlock after the interaction instead of assuming every donation qualifies.
- My friend’s friend is my friend: the same reference ties this to petting a mereid. Interact when the prompt appears; do not assume feeding or collecting eggs is equivalent.
Every breath you take and Setting sail appear near the top of the global list and are treated as early Ozen and boat milestones by the readable achievement reference. They should arrive naturally. If they do not, verify the current objective and patch level before restarting the game.
The race, parlor, and ocean have their own one-scene checks
Pro Racer has the visible Steam condition “Win a race.” Pleasureland is the verified venue. Reach Nyx through the stage and Panorama Bar sequence, enter the speedboat event, and satisfy the objective in your client. A detailed location route reports that finishing in the top three and beating the linked Tidewalker’s ghost are separate checks, so do not stop driving merely because one marker turns positive.
Mike Tidesone is linked by the achievement reference to the Stronghold parlor duel. The encounter is a memory test: scan the opponent’s pattern, note the dodge, then select the corresponding attacks. Record the unlock before exiting Obin’s office sequence.
The ocean cluster needs more deliberate coverage:
- Piracy on the high seas explicitly asks you to play a boat-fight Ocean Event.
- Ocean’s Lover explicitly asks for all Ocean Events, which means one boat battle is not the whole set.
- Do not sail past a new event icon merely because Ozen is low. Mark it, stabilize the current story objective, then complete it before the route advances beyond that ocean segment.
The official Patch 3 notes mention corrections to Scrap, Ozen, and egg economy behavior. Numeric advice from launch-week guides should therefore be treated as a tracking method, not a guaranteed farming rate.
Four character outcomes need a warning before their decision
The public Steam page hides the descriptions for many story achievements. A dedicated readable achievement guide identifies four named outcomes as missable or persuasion-dependent. The wording below preserves that evidence boundary: it tells you what to protect, but it does not invent an exact dialogue script.
| Achievement | Reported condition | Safe checkpoint practice |
|---|---|---|
| Tidey! | Keep Eyla alive | Before choosing between Eyla and a competing objective, read the consequence text and check her Plastemia state. |
| Cure them all | Create the cure without sacrificing the Matriarch | Do not treat the first workable cure method as the only method; preserve the non-sacrifice goal from the start of that chain. |
| Armistice | Reunite Omulus and Raymus | Exhaust both characters’ dialogue and avoid closing their conflict with an irreversible hostile answer. |
| Crisis of faith | Convince Efod to help | At Citadel scenes, listen through the Nahe/Efod conflict and keep the persuasion route open. |
Wrecklandia is a particularly important detector for Eyla. Freeing Kelpie saves the mereid but worsens Eyla’s condition after she is thrown into the water. Surrender protects Eyla from that immediate incident but sacrifices Kelpie. In the alternative Obin scenario, accusing Eyla earns Ozen and worsens her state; if you defend her, the Tidewalker is thrown into the water instead. None is a universal achievement-perfect answer, so choose according to the outcome you are tracking.
Five max-rank achievements require committed alignment
The visible Steam descriptions confirm five separate maximum-rank goals:
| Achievement | Rank to maximize | Decision pattern to audit |
|---|---|---|
| I am a hero! | Mankind | Protect people and take the explicit Mankind option at alignment decisions. |
| Protector of Nature | Nature | Protect mereids and environmental outcomes when they conflict with short-term human benefit. |
| Cooperative Tidewalker | Cooperation | Share resources, leave usable infrastructure, and resolve faction conflicts without hoarding every advantage. |
| Everything for Ozen | Survivalist | Prioritize the Tidewalker’s treatment and resource security when the game labels that choice. |
| Where is the party? | Troublemaker | Select disruptive, escalating options consistently instead of mixing them with a diplomatic file. |
These rows are the strongest reason to expect multiple runs. The evidence does not establish a guaranteed minimum number of playthroughs, and it does not prove that a neutral run can max several opposed tracks at once. Pick one primary rank for a run, note every end-of-level movement, and change strategy only after the chosen achievement unlocks.
The cooperation-oriented story cluster also includes The true Prophet, After the storm, End of War, Put one’s differences aside, and Cooperation is key. The achievement reference associates these with persuading the Mystics, Reclaimers, and Marauder leadership, then gathering communities and making them work together. Treat that as a dedicated diplomacy run rather than incidental cleanup.
Reconcile the 39 names before starting another run
This table is an audit list, not a claim that every hidden condition has been independently reproduced. Conditions shown publicly by Steam are stated directly. Hidden story rows use only cautious labels from the readable achievement guide.
| Group | Achievements to check | Detector |
|---|---|---|
| Early progression | Every breath you take; Setting sail; Life in Plastic | Confirm after first Ozen, first boat, and early Plastemia story events. The exact Life in Plastic trigger remains inconsistent in secondary descriptions. |
| Story discovery | Savior of Mystics; This might be the solution!; Convergent Tides; Divine revelation; Who am I?; A new dawn | Review after prophecy, cure, Maelstrom, Divinity, Tidewalker-secret, and ending scenes. |
| Story-Link/social | Starstruck; This one is better; I just saw a ghost; Expressive; What’s mine is yours; Good samaritan; My friend’s friend is my friend | Use the follow menu, visions, emotes, donation box, and named NPC prompts. |
| Activities | Piracy on the high seas; Mike Tidesone; Pro Racer; Ocean’s Lover; Loyal Customer | Boat fight, parlor duel, Pleasureland race, event checklist, and 10 merchant purchases. |
| Collection | Time for a good omelet; Another man’s trash; Bibliophile; Duck hunter | Egg, Scrap, document, and per-island duck ledgers. |
| Character outcomes | Tidey!; Cure them all; Armistice; Crisis of faith | Eyla, Matriarch, Omulus/Raymus, and Efod checkpoints. |
| Community outcomes | The true Prophet; After the storm; End of War; Put one’s differences aside; Cooperation is key | Faction persuasion and final collaboration state. |
| Max ranks | I am a hero!; Protector of Nature; Cooperative Tidewalker; Everything for Ozen; Where is the party? | End-of-level alignment bars and one declared target per run. |
That reconciliation contains all 39 names. If Steam shows 38 completed, compare groups before replaying the whole story. A missing counter achievement suggests search cleanup; a missing max-rank row suggests an alignment run; a hidden character row suggests a decision branch.
If Duck hunter or another counter refuses to unlock
- Confirm the build is Patch 4 or later. The developer explicitly fixed Duck achievement tracking in build 1687-44915.
- Check whether the missing task is a public counter, a hidden story outcome, or a max-rank result. They require different diagnoses.
- For Scrap, eggs, documents, visions, and emotes, perform one additional valid action after updating so the tracker has a new event to process.
- For a level outcome, finish the scene and reach the recap; do not judge the unlock halfway through a dialogue.
- Do not follow the removed Steam Community item titled “how to survive.” Its only useful text says to consume Ozen, and the page displays removed/incompatible warnings.
The official FAQ describes all-achievement completion as difficult because of collectibles and the need to maximize choices. That is a better expectation than a two-run guarantee. A disciplined ledger will reduce repetition, but the five opposed alignment goals and hidden character outcomes still make several deliberate journeys more plausible than one overloaded save.
Sources and credits
The official Steam listing verifies the game, developer, publisher, release date, and 39-achievement support. The official game site verifies the current identity and Story-Link premise. Exact public achievement names and descriptions were checked against Steam’s live global page; hidden conditions and route groupings were treated as community-reference guidance, while Patch 4 controls the Duck-tracking boundary. Dynamic completion percentages, unsupported minimum-run claims, and removed-guide instructions were excluded.