▷Flotsam review: the floating city-builder 🥇

- independent developers over the years we have been accustomed from all over the world to never having to underestimate the inferiority of their means compared to triple A titles. Team of very few members and with little money available have managed to give us highly successful video games with millions of copies sold . Since its announcement, Flotsam it gave us the idea that it could be one of those lucky video games.

Full of good intentions and waiting for the official version of the game, we got our hands on Early access of the game and test its potential. Here's everything you need to know:

Flotsam Review - Surviving the ocean

Flotsam is the first long-term project of Pajama Llama Games, an independent team of developers born in 2014. The creativity of the team led to the birth of a very colorful city-building set in a world submerged by water. The idea behind Flotsam is to give a "refresh" to the city-building genre with innovative mechanics and a graphic style and particular gameplay. That of Flotsam is in fact a post-apocalyptic world in which the lands have been completely submerged by water. Few islands and small town ruins have survived the tide and hide items that can come in handy. Catapulted in such a disastrous way, we will in fact have to use the elements saved by the fury of nature to try to survive.

As soon as you have started the game and given your floating city a name, the only things available are three fearless inhabitants and the central base of the city which also serves as a warehouse. In the latter they are present a few provisions and a little water to help us survive in the early stages of the game, undoubtedly the most important. The inhabitants cannot be controlled individually but will be addressed by an ingenious buoy system which will inspire them to collect objects on the surface of the water, go fishing or explore the various islands. This system has particularly impressed us and makes the game slightly more complex and strategic. In fact, the inhabitants will act according to your instructions, but only after completing certain tasks.

It will be up to you to choose whether the villagers can explore or fish and with that intensity, so as to optimize the tasks and not find the warehouse full of fish but without wood to cook them. Having few citizens can mean a poor division of labor but having too many could be detrimental to water and food supplies. A bad choice or a moment of distraction can end the game in the worst way.

Download QR-Code Flotsam Developer: Pajama Llama Games Price: 17,24

From waste ...

Before being able to build gods ports and boats, the inhabitants will have to gather resources throwing himself into the sea and bringing wood and plastic into the “city” to be used to expand the base and cobstruct new structures useful for survival. We are talking about laboratories in which to build more efficient tools, water purifiers, fish barbecues and more. These elements make it easier for the inhabitants to survive by improving the efficiency of fishing and water collection. Indeed, hunger and thirst are your main concerns.

Periodically the inhabitants will need eat, drink and sleep to keep working and avoid dying. Although the main resources to satisfy there are only three, it is particularly difficult to obtain them and, above all, to maintain a constant flow. THE fish in the area you are in, they finish relatively early, the water purification it is a slow and demanding process and the provisions that you can find on the islands to explore may not be enough. It will therefore be necessary to have one gigantic candle, obtainable in the first area, and periodically move to subsequent maps. The new areas hide other islands, abandoned deposits or stranded ships "rich" in resources to gather. But be careful! if the area you have just landed in is devoid of fish, explore the abandoned areas as soon as possible and move as soon as possible.

Flotsam is one of those city-builders where everyone the elements and resources are closely linked between them and the lack of any of them can lead to the collapse of the bizarre seaside city. Timber, for example, after being harvested from water must first be dried and then used for building or turned into firewood. The latter must be used for water purification but if it is not enough it cannot be used in the kitchen for fish and the inhabitants will starve. Strategy, coupled with a good dose of luck, is the key.

... to civilization

Surviving the early stages of the game, you will begin to discover the new constructions and technologies available. In fact, by exploring the islands, it is possible to acquire gods research points with which to unlock new, more efficient structures to obtain new resources and materials. At the moment, however, the unlockables are very few even for an Early-Access version. In about 3 hours, we were not only able to explore all the available areas but also to obtain all the constructions. After that the game loses some charm: it remains only to enlarge the city as much as possible and get new citizens.

The growth of the city however leads to annoying bugs, e glitch which greatly ruined our gaming experience. As the base grows, in fact, it will happen more and more often that the inhabitants stop at a certain point without the possibility of moving and satisfying their needs and thus seeing them die in front of your eyes. Some buildings will even stop operating for no reason apparent and you will be forced to destroy and rebuild them. It must be said, however, that from the beginning of our test to today, two have been released patch which solve many gameplay problems (although not the ones listed above).

From the point of view graphic, Flotsam boasts a pleasant and colorful style with smooth animations and well-characterized characters and structures. Perhaps we would have liked to see different models for citizens but overall the characterization is successful.

Flotsam review: buy it or not?

Flotsam is an original game full of potential that does not transpire in the current one versione Early-Access. The cards to become a great city-builder and Pajama Llama Games are all there he is constantly working for improve the game and give us the best possible version once available.

If you are passionate about this genre, making a small contribution to the software house by purchasing the Early-Access version is a must. If, on the other hand, you are a little doubtful about the future of Flotsam, we advise you to wait for the new patches that maybe introduce some more content.