Floodland – Review
Floodland is a survival simulator where you build a town in a dystopian future where climate change has wreaked havoc. The rising seas have inundated the majority of the Earth, leaving only small islands of dry land here and there. The goal of the game is to allow players to rebuild society by populating a small town with survivors. Each randomly generated world is harsh and unforgiving around the small starting encampment, but as players advance they will gain access to tools to expand, explore, research new technologies, create laws, and maintain peace between factions.
Floodland successfully adapts many elements from other city-building survival simulations. The gameplay loop will be immediately familiar to fans of the genre, allowing them to jump right into the world. The first steps to victory in any town-building simulator involve gathering resources like food and water, exploring the landscape, searching for other survivors, and scavenging abandoned buildings. The game’s prologue and tutorial did a great job of luring and guiding players through the game’s early stages, and they remained consistent throughout multiple plays. When creating a new clan, you have the option of skipping the introduction entirely, but it’s strongly advised that first-timers don’t.
In terms of pulling the player into its world, Floodland excels admirably. Upon beginning, players will select one of four starting clans, each of which has its own unique philosophy and set of abilities. The player then finds themselves in a small encampment where there are only a handful of survivors and no one to do the work for them. Due to the land’s small size and proximity to water and fog, the player must quickly begin exploring new areas in search of more resources in order to survive.
Unlike a lot of other survival games, Floodland actually has you moving around with your survivors. There aren’t enough people or supplies here to settle down right away, so don’t make that mistake. This feels very different from games that simply create a central plaza and then expand outward from there. The player is presented with moral dilemmas at various points throughout the game and must choose a side, whether they like it or not. A seemingly insignificant decision, such as how to bury the dead survivors, may have unintended consequences for the established community.
The main gameplay loop consists of players developing new technologies and enforcing laws in their custom-made cities. Each material in Floodland can be found on a research wheel, and from there you can follow traditional research trees. The streamlined point system and clear cutscenes ensure that players won’t spend too much time perusing menus. After the Law tree is unlocked, the challenge of determining how the future world should be constructed is presented, and it’s a lot of fun to weigh the long-term good of humanity against short-term gain.
As a whole, players who enjoy survival simulations should not miss out on Floodland. It’s easy to get into, fun to play, and has plenty of content to keep you coming back for more. With its classic research trees, simple mechanics, and well-crafted tutorial, Floodland is a great beginner-sim for players who may be new to the genre. The game’s bleak post-climate-change disaster setting is also immersive and beautiful to look at.
