Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Mar 14, 2022

  I like this game but can't recommend it. Here's why: Flame in the flood is a survival game split into locations spread along a very long river, and the river itself. As with most survival games, you need to collect resources in each location and use them to stay alive or craft new items to, well, stay alive a bit longer. There is a campaign mode, which can be set to checkpoint-based or permadeath, and an endless mode. I have just finished the campaign on permadeath mode and am contemplating whether to play one endless game until I get bored, or to mark the game as completed and move on to something else. I would recommend this game on A BIG DISCOUNT and only if you're looking for a very charming, fairly-relaxing, tricky-at-times survival game that is also kind of relaxing to play, with great music, and if you can tolerate it being buggy or awkward and fairly repetitive throughout. Lets start with some of the bugs or annoyances: - none of my achievements have been recorded - resources and hazards (that can kill you) can be obstructed by the scenery... I overcame this mentally by role-playing it (snakes are good at jumping out at you from behind things) and for looking out for other signs (your dog barks at snakes and snakes hiss, so if you hear hissing and you're near a house, don't go behind the house) - the movement has a strange style that takes some getting used to - a near game-ending bug (Angels Yard) that prevents the next section from loading. I restarted the game multiple times until it just worked - the upgraded motor on the boat, using keyboard on PC, is unusable and almost caused me to die on the final stretch of the game, I would have gone mental if I hadn't made it through - almost no story, the handful of characters you meet are really weird, but the ending is a nice twist! - if you lose concentration early on then you will definitely die, you have to concentrate - asides from that, it's not really challenging Some people have said that the raft on the river is very awkward and difficult to control. I assume this was intentional from the devs and I actually like that part of the game. Yes, I was frustrated when I crashed but white-water-rapids-sailing is damned difficult and dangerous. So if there are all these problems why do I like this game? I don't really know. - The music is excellent. It's really not just 'nice music', it's music that I would buy and play even when the computer is off, it's really good. - There is something about that dog. That companion has some character. He got me into trouble by calling me over to him to pick up some plants that were in dangerous places, but he also saved my life quite a few times too by snarling at snakes. I enjoyed having him with me on my adventure. - The whole game has a charm. It's a bit hard to explain. If I can get the achievements to work somehow I'll play a game to get them all, otherwise I'll uninstall, but I'll sort of miss playing this game, a bit like a book with boring characters and no real story being told by a good storyteller. I got the game back in May 2020 for less than $2. If you can do the same, yes get it. At full price, hmmm I am 51%/49% on the side of no.
• Stevaras

  Jan 15, 2023

  Had fun with it. It's a combination of calming music and scenery with anxious animal encounters :P Very nice experience :)
• Djkato

  Mar 5, 2023

  Short cute story through environment telling. Game loop gets a tiiny bit repetitive, and at some poins it felt unfair in normal mode, but overall a neat little package :)
• gamedeal user

  Sep 26, 2015

  As an older gamer "50", my take on this game is somewhat different than my 13 year old sons. Let me start with the positives..art style, ambient sound and the soundtrack...all top notch! Relaxing at one moment, then a few moments later trying desperately to find the items I need to keep my girl alive. It's this constant battle of emotions that makes this game so darn enjoyable... For not having a story yet "the game grips you" and only makes you want to see what the writers of the final release will be able to conjure to deepen it's hooks into your heart. Yep, I said heart. Couple other things worth noting, First, I started the game with mouse and keyboard but found the gaming pad much easier to play the game. Gaming pad first! Secondly, put on some headphones, hear the game, feel the water and enjoy the lighting as the game cycles day, night and weather. Ok, now for the negatives...don't have real deal breakers, 1 box on the starting island seems to be sunk every now and then into the eart, other than that..it's all good. Highly reccomend. Oh yeah, as far as my 13 year old sons thoughts on the game...it's not league of legends. Silly kid.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 28, 2015

  My journey ends here. After 79 days of struggle, I almost made it to the 150th milestone. I wish I had the strenght to keep on for even just one more day, instead of collapsing so close to my goal, but it's been one hell of a ride alright. Nature's not been kind to me for the past 20 days, luckily I saw it coming and filled my raft with jerky, ash cakes and dandelions for good measure. Still, wildlife has its ways of letting you feel unwelcomed, but I did not lose hope. At least not until the last 5 days. As I was biting into my last jerky, I knew it was the end of the road. Time to take drastic measures. If I am not wanted, I shall just ride into the sunset as far as I can, without looking back. No more stops at scrapyards only to find some nuts & bolts in an abandonned car and a pack of wolves ready to greet the juiciest peace of meat they ever saw in the last few weeks. No more suicidal moves onto the river for some grubs and lumber I don't even need anymore. It's time to ramble on. The crazy thing is, once you accept your certain death, you almost feel relieved. You made it through the hardships of the beginning, then as the wheel started to turn in your favor you began to gain confidence, too much confidence, leading you to some stupid, regretful decisions. At midpoint the monotony started to kick in, replacing your fear for survival with a daily grind as much comforting as it numbs all your senses. It's only 50 days in on your journey that you slowly began to realise that all good things must come to an end, and the abrupt decrease in plants was no stranger to this. Without it, no game, no cooking, no juicy meat, only grubs and scraps. The wildlife wasn't a giant supermarket anymore, you lost a few ranks in the food chain, again. Back to square one, only this time bring your own tools. It kinda felt revigorating at first, I have to admit. A way to keep things fresh, and to keep you on your toes. Then after a few days where you visit any spot you can find, devoid of anything that could help you eat, you realise Mom Nature has a grand scheme, and she's gonna starve you out. Except if you just want to take the easy way out and drown yourself into the river. No, screw that, challenge accepted! I'm just gonna go as far as I can, and if I die, it will be on my own terms! Acceptance is pretty easy, and so is closure, I'm already pretty worn out by the ride anyway. The good thing is that I don't have so much to care for anymore, my only concern is to give Aesop my finest survival gear so that his future owner will put it to good use, after that I am golden. I just need to stop every now and then to rest, eat and hydrate myself, and I'm back on the water again. Feels like when I was a kid and we would embark on road trips with my parents to go on vacation. Everything under cruise control and smooth sailing. I worry about the occasional storm, but it feels like forever since I last had one pouring on me. Along the way, I manage to scrounge some extra bits of food that allow me to push my journey even further. If wildlife is mean-spirited, the river can be kind-hearted at times. At long last, the day finally come. I won't sleep tight tonight. Actually, both as an act of defiance and as a way to let go softly, I managed to get every bit as exhausted as hungered, which should help alleviate the pain a bit. As I push myself away from the dock one last time, I feel strangely upbeat. One last ride. Make it count. Your raft is worn out just like you, one bad corner and you could end up down the drain, but you know that's not gonna happen, not on your watch, not today anyway, you have a destiny to fulfill. And I have to admit, it sure feels great for a last day: the sun is rising nice and easy over the horizon, the rapids let you sift through the river without any hiccup on the way, you can even hear yourself mumbling one of the great tunes that accompanied you during your journey down the river. Eventually, the waters take pity in you as they calm down to support you during your last stand. You collapse of fatigue on your raft, only seconds before the starving pins you down. You take one last look at your trusty companion. Go Aesop, you're free now, find someone else that will love you as much as I did. You're down to 146.9 miles, and your journey ends here. If you think about it, you chose your way out, only a handful of explorers can take pride in that. I sure am gonna miss the ride. Good thing I can just start a new one right now, then. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm usually not one to post review of Early Access games, but this one seems pretty fleshed out already. We should expect less crashes, less visual bugs and some gameplay tweaking along the way, but at core the game plays and feels great. Balancing is the main issue right now. As of any rogue-like, the early game depends a lot on your luck and your knowledge of the systems, so you're bound to die a lot at first, which is by no mean a problem. You learn with every game, so you can survive 4 days during your first playthrough, then hypothetically 8, 16, 32 and so on. The campaign isn't implemented yet, only the endless mode, basically a version of the game where you're gonna die anyway, so you have to make it for the longest streak of days, or travel the furthest down the river, depending on whatever you fancy. That's the best thing about the game in my opinion, time and mileage are not ultimately tied together. When you get on your raft, you get to choose whether you need to scavenge every location, stock up on supplies, take a minute to craft and manage your inventory or even take a breather, or alternatively if you feel you have enough on you (or not enough space to scavenge anyway), you can just powel through, get on the rapids and quickly get down the river in search of better lots. The game is best played with a gamepad, right now it's even mandatory if you want to get through the rapids without smashing your boat at every single rock. Once you get the hang of it, the game is a blast. The sole feeling of getting on your boat with your dog, sifting through the calm waters, listening to some amazing tunes is amazing. And then a giant storm happens, the rain come down pouring on you, and you just have to seek shelter, and the game get even more amazing. Once you're down 100 miles (60 days in, my longest streak for now), monotony starts to kick in, every lot you step on is literally a wasteland, except for the few plants scarcely available. That's when you realise hoarding on medicine and water won't get you any further if you just die of plain starvation. End game is all about embracing that fact, visiting any location with the slightest hope of finding enough resources to craft some traps that would help you hunt some game, gasping in delight to the vision of dandelions of cat tails on the ground, all the while avoiding in the best possible ways the wolves and boars attacking you. When that day finally comes, however, it's time to let it go. So you just cram your best survival tools in your trusty companion's bag, knowing that they'll come handy to whoever comes accross Aesop, and that person happens to be you, on your next playthrough. As much as it is imperfect at the moment, The Flame in the Flood is a very compelling experience, granted not for everyone, but if you like the Open Wide, if survival of trekking is your thing, or even if you're just fond of the art style, I urge you to try it. As of now it's only a rough gem, but with enough polish, it can become a real diamond.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 20, 2015

  Let me preface this by saying that I am incredibly stingy when it comes to "survival" and "crafting" games because I teach emergency Wilderness Survival, Wildlife Tracking, and a variety of other Wilderness Skillsets. Most of the games in the genre are so grotesquely nonrealistic that I physically cannot bring myself to play them; even if the nonrealistic elements are implemented for "exciting" gameplay. I love this game. The Flame in the Flood is probably the closest thing I've found to a semi-real survival game. You cannot carry much, at least early on, you are interacting with plants/things that actually have practical uses [Cattails, Dandelions, Yucca, Aloe], and you're at risk of exposure, dehydration, starvation, and fatigue. Most survival games place a gross amount of emphasis on food. The reality is, human beings have been known to survive for well-over a month without ingesting much of anything. This game does food well. It isn't the dominant focus, but it matters. Most things you consume are small and meager, giving you just enough to continue trudging forward. The purist in me loves this approach. Water and exposure seem to be the larger issues, as they should be. Though, I'd like to see exposure increase punishment, a bit. Getting wet in a survival situation is about the most god awful thing that can happen. It takes a hell of a lot more than a nap and 4 hours [if you rest in game, you can rest for 4 hours and dry out] to dry out. Sitting next to a fire might do it, but the dehydration aspect is usually brutally punishing if you've yet to secure a reliable water source. Typically, as little as 4 hours of exposure to cold or heat is enough to suck the life out of someone. I haven't played for long, but so far getting wet has felt relatively inconsequential [perhaps i'm just on a lucky streak]. There are some things that I don't love, though. I liked having such a tiny inventory, initially, but it does have some drawbacks. Namely, I am spending a lot of time in my inventory menus, juggling things around between myself, my pet, and my raft; crafting things, to consume other things, to make space for other things; you get it? Sure, I could leave some of this stuff behind, and I am sure I eventually will, but early on everything feels so valuable, it's a shame to leave it behind. In a lot of ways, I am spending more time tabbing through menus and running back and forth from my raft to store things than I am actually playing the game. Unless, of course, that's what the game design is meant to be, but I suspect not. I'm not sure I really have the solution for the game's inventory spacing issue since it does add a layer of realism. One potential solution would be to allow the player to loot something and have it automatically stored on the raft/pet if the raft/pet already has part of a stack. Less real, but they could graphically have the pet run back and forth from the player and raft to increase the realistic appeal. The same method could be implemented for crafting things [IE. directly pulling the items from raft/pet]. This already exists, sort of, but requires proximity. Not sure it's a bad thing, but I can see after many hours of running to and fro it possibly becoming irritating. Another simple solution would be to increase starting backpack size by a few spaces AND increasing the overall stack size [most things stack to 10, it seems]. Nothing too extreme, but for certain plants [cattails], it might be a nice QoL change. Then, there's the occasional annoyance of a plant, like yucca, growing in an incorrect biome. This is purely a "me" thing, but it definitely annoys me. And the fact that every animal, which I actually like because it increases enjoyment, is a blood thirsty bastard - easily explained away by the "end of the world" scenario. Oh, but the crows calling wolves, should definitely be Ravens. Ravens are much more notorious for alerting wolves than crows are. Even going so far as to fly above things, screaming. What really sucks me in and is particularly endearing, for someone like me, is the game is mostly accurate. They even have ash cakes in the game! A friend and I refer to these as "ass cakes" cuz they usually taste like shit, but hey. Sure, the recipe isn't realistic, but it's the thought that counts! I should really just email the devs and offer my obnoxious help.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 9, 2016

  The Campaign Mode and Endless Mode are fairly similar. You guide a young girl named Scout and her dog Aesop as they attempt to navigate a flooded land on her raft - in search of everyone else. Campaign mode isn't terribly long, but there's a lot of replayability in Endless Mode. It's all about survival. You start with nothing, but by gathering raw materials here and there, you are able to craft: medical supplies, tools, weapons, traps, clothing, and upgrades for your raft. There are four hostile creatures that you often come across - snakes, boars, bears, and wolves, as well as a few very rare creatures. Each can be deadly in its own right. At the cost of some of your precious materials, there are simple tools and weapons you can use to defend yourself from them and harvest useful skins and meat. You can also devise ways to play these creatures off of each other. Why not lead that pack of wolves to the bear, and while they're distracting it, you can pop into its den to see if it's got anything useful inside. Instead of building a trap to catch some rabbits, why not chase them into a snake? Along with meat, there are wild edibles you can harvest to keep Scout from starving, but you also need to keep a look out for clean water, and safe places for her to sleep. You'll have to find ways to treat any number of conditions she may come across - from insect stings and venomous snake bites, to dysentery and broken bones. The increasingly cold weather also poses a threat, and there's pressure to find or craft better clothing for her. As they journey down the flooded river, they pass areas where they can dock their raft and search for supplies, but they can't stop everywhere, so sometimes you have to choose. What's more important, landing at that camp with a fire where Scout can cook some of her food before it spoils, or docking over by that liquor store in the hopes of finding some alcohol and rags to make bandages or a torch? In the end, you always come back to the peril of the river. There are many ways to die, but the most common - hands down - is drowning. I've kept Scout alive for months from all sorts of encounters with hostile wildlife, just to lose her to the river in a matter of moments. It can get pretty tense when the raft has run into a few too many rocks or debris, and they have to cross white water country - all the while desperately looking for a Marina where Scout can repair the raft just enough to carry her onward for a few more miles... a few more days. [i]A few things to note[/i] The dialogue is textual, and choices are straightforward. The audio is really well done, from the natural ambience to the sound track and instrumentals that never get tiresome. The graphics are stylized, but clean. The community has been friendly and helpful. You're meant to die - fairly often at first. Gaining some of the achievements will take Scout to the point of death, and some actually require her death. At the time of this review, The Flame in the Flood just recently exited early access. There have been quite a few complaints about audio and startup crashes. I had some issues early on, but since the last few updates the devs put out, I haven't had any problems at all. There are a few bugs/exploits here and there, mostly involving the achievements. The devs have been quick to recognize them and say they're working to correct them. There are plenty of achievements that are challenging, but still fun. There is a LOT of inventory maintenance which...is frankly annoying early on, but as you play, expand your inventory, and learn what you need to stockpile and what you don't - it becomes a little less of an issue. I've had a lot of fun so far. Over 80 hours in, and I'm not at all bored with it. Because of its linear nature, It's very easy to pick up and play just for a little while, or for hours on end.
• gamedeal user

  Apr 21, 2016

  Nice game overall. Visually pleasant, good soundtracks, simple gameplay mechanics. Basically you try to survive in a flooded world by always going forward where the current flow. Collect, create, repair, cook, etc. just to move on. In story-mode there'll be some sort of final destination or ending. The surviving ways aren't that much detailed and complex, but enough for the game to be entertaining. The basics are there; nourishments, clothings and tools. Places visited by navigating with a raft but it's designed so that you are always better moving forward. Items and several objects in most places are randomly generated. There are many ways to be dead in this game and the checkpoints are pretty sparse. But don't worry, luckyly you always have a helpful companion by your side. I recommend this game for its interesting and different take on survival-game and unique gameplay mechanics. The visual and soundtracks are bonuses.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 7, 2016

  I bought this game wayyy back during its Early Access and, at the time, I wasn't quite sure which way it was gonna go with the Magic Rating Thumb. But I finally went and revisited the game after quite some time, and I'm happy to say that the game's earned a positive review. While it may not be THE greatest game EVAR, I still feel that it's well worth the $20 asking price. The art style and soundtrack are right there for you to sample in the previews, so no surprises there. Both definitely add to the total package. Gathering and crafting are huge aspects of the game, but how they're applied makes things interesting and unique from other survival games I've played. The river you're traveling along is procedurally generated, but it's divided into different regions with different natural tendencies, as reflected in the different location types you'll find along the way. This requires you to constantly think about what you need and focus on looking where you're most likely to find it. It also requires you just step on the gas from time to time and ignore what might be unnecessary stops on your journey--after all, the clock is ticking on your hunger/thirst/fatigue, and grabbing everything for grabbing's sake can leave you in a precarious position later on. The danger level at each location can vary quite a bit, as well, sometimes forcing you to skip what you thought were easy pickings. The scarcity of resources combined with the risks in getting them can put you in a serious bind, and that's when the survival part becomes less methodical and more intense. Short of flat-out getting mauled by a bear, there's a remedy that will fix almost any horrible thing that happens to you... but you may not always have the proper resources for it, or you may need them for something else. Tough choices to be made. Minor injuries can progress into more horrible ailments, and multiple afflictions can leave you weakened and vulnerable enough for the next papercut to push you over the edge. The other big portion of the game is the act of rafting itself. While some folks have complained about mixing genres or game pacing, I personally just like the little wake-up it provides from what would otherwise be more repetitive hoarding/crafting. Rafting can be some serious work... While having a controller isn't an ABSOLUTE must, it will make your life on the river much easier (and probably longer). Your raft can only take so much abuse, and a controller stick will have a noticeable impact. Some folks have pointed out that inventory management can be a bit maddening. In the early game, I'd say that's very true; expanding your inventory by crafting Pouches and building storage space on your raft should be a VERY high priority. But once you start knocking out these upgrades things finally settle down; there are only so many different kinds of items in-game, and the max available inventory space means that you can definitely have a stack of everything you need along with some double stacks. Getting through the earlier part of the game, though, may drive you nuts as you swap items back and forth between your backpack, your dog companion Aesop, and your raft. Take a valium, start collecting materials for Pouches, and you should be OK. One other issue that's been addressed in some reviews is the game's difficulty, and I'm glad that they tweaked this after their full release. Early Access only had an Endless Mode which was endlessly brutal... Now, you can play the campaign on two different difficulty levels or play Endless Mode in its original form if you're still up for the old challenge. The devs collected a lot of user data while they were building the game and adjusted the frequency of resources, beasts, etc. to make sure that no single aspect of the game was completely soul-crushing. There were times during EA when that was almost the case, but that's all behind us now. Unless you dig through the wiki or watch some YouTube tutorials, prepare to die a lot in the beginning. But isn't that what survival games are for? Overall, I'd say that it's a great $20 title. 8 out of 10, but near the top in comparison to other games in this price range.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 1, 2017

  I generally like 3rd Person survival games. I love Project Zomboid. I like Don't Starve. I appreciate what This War of Mine is trying to do. I couldn't get by the look of NEO Scavenger. But regardless of whether I like them or not, one this is true: I suck at them. I never win. I rarely get into a stable position. While some people are living for years in PZ, I'm dead in 5 days. While some folks can build a massive base on Don't Starve, I think I've made it to winter once...with mods to make it easier. I had to mod This War of Mine to get through it. So I finally picked up Fame in the Flood during the Steam sale. I waited until a good sale because it was likely that I'd get only a couple hours in it given that it wasn't moddable and I'm terrible at such games. I was wrong. While flawed, this is a greatly entertaining game. First of all I find the setting charming. As a former whitewater guide, I love floating down rivers. It's unique and beautiful. Add in some great - perfect for this setting - music and you wind up with a great atmosphere. The graphics are functional but I'm not as big a fan of the art style. It didn't put me off though. The game is best played through an XBox controller rather than keyboard and mouse (but both are functional). As for the gameplay, this is a flawed but ultimately satisfying game. The core gameplay is your character is floating down a river and pulling off at various stops. You gather, craft and push back off to float down the wild river some more to make progress. In your way aren't zombies or weird monsters. The dangers here are more mundane but still terrifying - hunger, thirst, wolves, disease, sickness, exposure and so forth. The challenge in the game is scarcity (which is typical of this type of game). You're rarely going to have enough stuff to do everything you want and you're going to have to prioritize. FitF doesn't give you much backpack space and so you're always going to struggle to figure out what to carry. You're going to have to leave stuff behind that is useful. You're going to make food, water, clothing, traps, bandages, herbal remidies, raft upgrades and so forth to overcome the dangers of this world. Note there's no real combat here. While you can make a bow to hunt with a bit and traps to catch food or defend yourself, this isn't a combat game. You're always playing defensively and you're not going to craft a sword to slay wolves with. If you're looking for a combat oriented game, this isn't it. In fact, this has less combat than any survival game I can think of but I think that's a strength and not a weakness. So what are the flaws? Well, inventory management is supposed to be part of the challenge but frankly it's one of the more annoying aspects of the game. You're going to be in your inventory A LOT and the UI is fine but it's still really annoying. You're going to spend a lot of time in that inventory screen. There's also no modding support for this game which is unheard of in this genre. Thus this is a WYSIWYG (look it up) game - it is what it is and you're not getting anything else. While some would say that means the game is unfinished, I don't think so. I've encountered no bugs and no crashes in 10 hours of play, so I see this game as finished. And to come back full circle to the opening paragraph, it's also winnable - at least for me on easy mode. It took a few tries but on easy I was able to progress (with liberal use of reloading) all the way to the end. So if these games are typically too difficult, this one isn't. And if you're good at these games, there are other difficulty levels which I'm sure can provide an ample challenge. In conclusion, this is a charming, well-constructed and entergaining game that deserves your patronage if you like this genre. It won't go down as a classic but you'll likely have some very fond memories of this title long after you move on to something else. As for me, I'm getting ready to get back on the river. The wild calls....