SpongeBob SquarePants is going through a purple patch with video games right now, with the latest being the surprisingly fun The Patrick Star Game. Hoping for another successful outing is Titans of the Tide, published by THQ Nordic and developed by Purple Lamp Studios, the same team behind Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated and The Cosmic Shake.
This serves as a loose tie-in to the fourth mainline SpongeBob Movie, The Search for SquarePants, which is nostalgic given movie tie-games are less common nowadays. The game sees King Neptune and the Flying Dutchman clashing, with ghostly mayhem unleashed across Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob and Patrick must team up to save the day.
The trailer starts with SpongeBob and a ghostly Patrick nervously entering a room, with a spooky chant of “What shall we do with a Flying Dutchman?” in the air. They approach a TV, which reveals that narrator to be David Hasselhoff. That man was born for this franchise!
We’re then taken through some quick scenes of gameplay and cutscenes. Gameplay-wise, it largely looks similar to the prior THQ Nordic games. Similar assets are used such as the mattress, the pizza box for flying, and the symbol to show a wall can be karate kicked. You’ll also have SpongeBob and Patrick sliding down mountains, riding on boulders, and defeating bosses in similar ways to before. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it keeps things familiar and cements this game as a spiritual sequel to the brilliant games that came before.
In terms of new mechanics, we appear to have a cool system where SpongeBob and Patrick can switch who assumes the ghostly form using BFF rings (that 2D painted image was perfect in the trailer). This is a nice touch, as Cosmic Shake felt somewhat limited in only being able to play as SpongeBob, with Patrick being the balloon companion. The companion looks like they can become a lasso to help with platforming and you can switch on the fly. Perhaps you get different abilities depending on who the companion is?
There are also a lot of new locations on show here, with King Neptune’s home of Atlantis being playable, a snowy mountainous area, a floating Krabby Patty in the sky, and a ghostly shipwreck reminiscent of Flying Dutchman’s graveyard from Battle for Bikini Bottom. I’m especially looking forward to visiting the Poseidome!
Lastly, the game looks and sounds gorgeous based on this trailer. The game is fully voice-acted by the original cast, and with over 25 years experience, they’ll be as hilarious as ever. I also have faith the soundtrack will will be a bop too, as previous games have been.
It also upgrades from Unreal Engine 4 to the 5th generation this time, and you can tell. The textures and lighting really pop, and the icy terrain especially really glistens when the sun hits it. The character animations are suitably true to the show, and seeing King Neptune have a great 3D model warms my heart! As Cosmic Shake did from Rehydrated, the team at Purple Lamp have ramped things up a few notches and this is the best looking SpongeBob game we’ve gotten so far. Props to the team!
The game launches on November 18, 2025 on PC, Playstation 5, the Xbox Series consoles, and Switch 2. The press release states we have a standard edition and a “Ghostly Edition” with some extra physical goodies, in-game costumes, and Season Pass. Note that some Season Pass content will be based off Search for SquarePants, so this will be a fun way to continue the movie hype in-game.
A new SpongeBob game is always cause to celebrate, and this one looks phenomenal. It’s awesome to see a licensed game looking so polished and clearly having a lot of heart put into it. It’s all looking very positive come release!
Chris
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