The Flame in the Flood

 PC
User Score
6.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 80 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 80
  2. Mixed: 29 out of 80
  3. Negative: 20 out of 80

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  1. Crescendo
    Nov 17, 2016
    5
    Nice idea, nice graphics, has a nice flow to it (no pun).
    It's problems are the problems of the genre:
    - Random loot/Locations to visit - Punishing if you don't get lucky though not as bad as some people here make it out to be - No story and very little things to keep you going I like the mechanic that you can carry over items if you die because your dog 'survives' and brings the    Nice idea, nice graphics, has a nice flow to it (no pun).
    It's problems are the problems of the genre:
    - Random loot/Locations to visit
    - Punishing if you don't get lucky though not as bad as some people here make it out to be
    - No story and very little things to keep you going

    I like the mechanic that you can carry over items if you die because your dog 'survives' and brings the backpack from the last survivor to your next character, but all in all I probably won't play the game anymore. It's fun and quick, but only for so long before it becomes VERY repetitive. And after I died a bit into the game because there was actually a dead end in the river after a camp (which I wasn't able to see before going that way) I became a bit frustrated.

    But to be honest, I'm missing the scope and secrets of don't starve. In FITF I get the feeling that I'm doing a routine every time and do not find anything interesting.    … Expand
  2. jacob_lukas
    Jul 3, 2016
    4
    Nice idea but bad execution. This game has a fine drawn graphics, good audio (music) and that's it. Game mechanics are often crude and frustrating. Gameplay is simple but yet unbalanced, sometimes I was thinking it's more based on luck than careful planning or 'survival skill'. Amount of rain is ridiculous, is it USA or Amazon? In my opinion days are passing too fast and you're almostNice idea but bad execution. This game has a fine drawn graphics, good audio (music) and that's it. Game mechanics are often crude and frustrating. Gameplay is simple but yet unbalanced, sometimes I was thinking it's more based on luck than careful planning or 'survival skill'. Amount of rain is ridiculous, is it USA or Amazon? In my opinion days are passing too fast and you're almost constantly wet or/and hungry, but what annoyed me the most are really rare checkpoints. I know it supposed to be a rogue-like but losing 2h of progress can be really frustrating. Sadly after few "Game Overs" it's getting boring and no storyline (or any kind of plot) makes it even worse. Better stick with "Don't Starve".… Expand
  3. SuperkenGaming
    Jan 16, 2017
    7
    The Flame in the Flood
    hurt by procedural generation
    Flame in the Flood is a rogue like survival game where you play as a woman named scout who’s accompanies by a companion either asop or daisy There are 2 modes here, a campaign mode and an endless modes.. Most of my issues with the game are exclusive to the campaign and are completely forgiven for endless mode… Mostly that in the    The Flame in the Flood
    hurt by procedural generation
    Flame in the Flood is a rogue like survival game where you play as a woman named scout who’s accompanies by a companion either asop or daisy
    There are 2 modes here, a campaign mode and an endless modes..
    Most of my issues with the game are exclusive to the campaign and are completely forgiven for endless mode…
    Mostly that in the campaign you’re at the mercy of procedural generation…
    you would think this would be a hand crafted and balanced journey down the river while endless mode would offer a randomized challenge… but no.. both are completely random…
    In this game you collect items to use as food, hydration, clothes to keep you warm, items to craft medical supplies and try to make your way down the river through the 10 different regions…
    The challenge is balance…
    Your nutrition drains by the second so you have to carefully choose when to stop at a location or when to keep going…
    Are you desperate for food? Stop at a farm
    sleep deprived or cold? Find a fire and shelter... raft taking too much damage?
    pray you’ve found bolts and wood to repair or upgrade it…
    The problem is this is less about strategy and planning and more of a desperate search for items you need in the moment…
    And again you’re at the mercy of procedural generation…
    There is no balance of supplies.. you aren’t guaranteed to get what you need from stopping at places that typically have those supplies…
    Especially medical supplies…
    MY first playthrough I had none, I had scratches and broken bones from running into enemies like boars and wolves and no way to fix them as I never ran into a drug store or was lucky enough to run into supplies to craft items while in my 2nd playthrough I was swimming in bandages alcohol and crutches…
    I feel this campaign would be miles better if it was more about managing than it was getting lucky…
    Instead the campaign only offers an end goal and a few npc characters to find…
    And if you do get lucky finding tons of food and other supplies it isn’t going to matter as the inventory is a joke…
    Slightly increased by the pack of your companion who also barks near items you can pick up or search as well as your raft…
    But it isn’t nearly enough to feel like you’re doing anything more than scrounging…
    All of this would’ve been fine in the endless mode as its own thing…
    But a campaign with no balance and just as luck based is a problem…
    Poor campaign mode but as a survival game its beautiful to look at and a pretty decent challenge…
    I give The Flame in the Flood
    a 7/10    … Expand
  4. PunchCoco
    Aug 15, 2017
    7
    nice drawn graphics
    very nice soundtrack
    easy to process

    but the skills to survive are sometimes more based on lucky or randomness
    and sometimes the game is seems more like only a gestrion/looting game
  5. mno
    Sep 25, 2018
    3
    It looks beautiful and the atmosphere is wonderful but apart from this, it's just a horrible game. It's an unfinished prototype which needs serious redesign and many hours of further work, if you ever want to turn this into a good game.
  6. d__b
    Mar 17, 2016
    5
    Neat idea, terrible execution. It's a very refreshing take on survival game where rater than trying to survive in open world, you're trying to travel down a river on your raft, while visiting locations along the river for supplies. Game also has quite robust crafting system with multiple tools and crafting materials. Sounds great, right? Problem is - locations you'll get to visit areNeat idea, terrible execution. It's a very refreshing take on survival game where rater than trying to survive in open world, you're trying to travel down a river on your raft, while visiting locations along the river for supplies. Game also has quite robust crafting system with multiple tools and crafting materials. Sounds great, right? Problem is - locations you'll get to visit are entirely random and there is no telling what you might find, and you can't go back since river flows only one way. So many times you'll start game, go trough several locations and parts of the river, and de before finding basic materials to craft even most basic tool. Game is difficult and punishing, and it's not bad. But thanks to randomness of resources there is no interaction with the game - you just collect everything and move on, hoping that at next spot you'll actually get something you need. If you don't mind game so heavily based around RNG, by all means, go for it, it's quite interesting. But in my opinion all interesting parts of this cool game gets drowned out by it's randomness,… Expand
  7. Zer0TheHer0
    Jun 15, 2016
    0
    can'ìt rebind keys.are you kidding me?lack of keyboard binding options makes it absolutely unplayable.the lack of rebinding options is absolutely lazy and something that is not to be tolerated in this time and age
  8. AndersMorales
    Mar 1, 2016
    8
    The Flame in the Flood is a refreshingly ambitious game that I gravitated toward for its art and sound direction - two developmental aspects that can sell me on the idea of a game, even if the gameplay doesn't necessarily take me to the places that I'd like to go, and TFitF sold me high in those areas. That said, my rating here misrepresents my initial feeling for the game with regard toThe Flame in the Flood is a refreshingly ambitious game that I gravitated toward for its art and sound direction - two developmental aspects that can sell me on the idea of a game, even if the gameplay doesn't necessarily take me to the places that I'd like to go, and TFitF sold me high in those areas. That said, my rating here misrepresents my initial feeling for the game with regard to some of the gameplay mechanics for which I'm still trying to come to some kind of conclusion.

    The Flame in the Flood is a great game and deserves high marks, but I did find its unruly, randomized quality and steep learning curve prohibitively difficult and frustrating in the context of playing its campaign mode. While unexpected challenges in games like TFitF make for a fun and replayable experience overall that keeps you guessing about what you should do, how you need to compromise, and what you could change or bring with you for the next playthrough (not unlike FTL), it's been pretty maddening so far, not really being able to fully enjoy what I imagine is a basic storyline thrown over with fun mystery and atmosphere.

    And all of this might boil down to some kind of anterior randomness that clumps up playthroughs somewhere along the process of playing. I found myself in the middle of few playthroughs on the easiest setting relatively prepared but ultimately out of luck with regard to the resources, essentially trapped watching myself starve to death or pass out from exhaustion floating down the river because, hey, that's just how that particular game disproportionately shook out. Maybe there wasn't enough food. Maybe you couldn't find building supplies. Hell, maybe there were just too many wolves and warthogs. Frankly, the normal game is so difficult, it's hard for me to imagine the harder difficulty to be all that playable.

    All of that said, the game is refreshingly ambitious and cinematic. The art direction is strong, offering a brightly visual look at a game world that is honest and vaguely literary. The sound design also hits hard, helping to generate expansive environments that play with your sense of safety and alarm. Even the game's overall difficulty, which can certainly be prohibitive, seems to take on a charming quality, part of a larger, wild idea, a force with a real soul to it and not entirely unlike the wolves that threaten to tear you down.

    Great game, great courage in development, and a fun experience for more hardy gamers.    … Expand
  9. Hadzi
    Feb 28, 2016
    8
    Good interesting game. Artwork is a nice looking but a bit abstact.
    Played it for a few hours and it feels like a game with a lot of love and attention to details while making.
    I really enjoyed playing this game but there were moments where the situations frustrated me, put my on the edge. Very micro management oriented game where you really need to think what to leave behind what to    Good interesting game. Artwork is a nice looking but a bit abstact.
    Played it for a few hours and it feels like a game with a lot of love and attention to details while making.
    I really enjoyed playing this game but there were moments where the situations frustrated me, put my on the edge.
    Very micro management oriented game where you really need to think what to leave behind what to carry.
    If you are not challenged enough with a regular campaign you have endless one and permadeath one.
    Nicely made little game.    … Expand
  10. pospulsar99
    Feb 24, 2016
    9
    Very enjoyable game - artwork is beautiful and the music fits the atmosphere perfectly.

    Felt like it had a bit of a steep learning curve, but as soon as I figured out some of the tricks (like don't even try to mess around with Wolves - duh) it was a much better time. Does a great job keeping me a little on edge as I try to decide which items to take and which to leave behind...    Very enjoyable game - artwork is beautiful and the music fits the atmosphere perfectly.

    Felt like it had a bit of a steep learning curve, but as soon as I figured out some of the tricks (like don't even try to mess around with Wolves - duh) it was a much better time.

    Does a great job keeping me a little on edge as I try to decide which items to take and which to leave behind... should I use this resource now, or wait for an emergency.... Very well done in my opinion.    … Expand
  11. rezuron
    Jun 13, 2018
    7
    7/10
    It has some minor bugs but is a decent game. It has its own mood but doesn't offer anything more.
  12. MarcioCavalcant
    Mar 5, 2019
    5
    The artwork(artstyle) of this game is amazing! and the soundtrack is also pretty good, but the execution of the game is atrocious! It involves too much grinding and too much based on RNG. The fact that the player can't even bind keys is pretty bad.
  13. Arthuu
    Sep 10, 2019
    8
    Amazing atmosphere with beautiful soundtrack & sound overall makes Flame in the flood unforgettable experience, even with simple story and quite disappointing finale it's still really worth checking out.
  14. Tomicsavo
    Feb 5, 2020
    6
    Good concept, but too hard and based on luck. It is not worth investing energy in this game.
  15. Chubac
    May 13, 2020
    7
    A decent survival game but it feels very unfair at times. With less RNG this game could've been great.
  16. Cacti-spikes
    Apr 27, 2021
    10
    Excelent game. It was a pleasure to play every single minute. Thrilling story. Clear gameplay and amazing soundtrack!
  17. crestnest
    Feb 7, 2022
    9
    This game introduced me to Chuck Ragan (musician).
    It is a great journey game. If you can ignore questionable visual choices (or if you like me and can enjoy the visuals) then you will face uncompromised survival experience with great music and interesting mechanics.
    But most of all you will face your journey. This game change all we know about survival game (hoarding resources) and give    This game introduced me to Chuck Ragan (musician).
    It is a great journey game. If you can ignore questionable visual choices (or if you like me and can enjoy the visuals) then you will face uncompromised survival experience with great music and interesting mechanics.
    But most of all you will face your journey. This game change all we know about survival game (hoarding resources) and give us smart approach, to travel along the river you need to prioritize what to take with you cause your boat couldn`t take it all. I realy enjoy the game with it`s growing difficulty and sense of journey.    … Expand
  18. Nixcarna
    Jun 16, 2022
    3
    The graphics are meh. It's a safe stylized approach popularized by Fortnite. I'd like to see more creativity.

    The soundtrack is great! Really the best part of the game.

    Procedural generation is used as a crutch for boring game design.

    Overall it's a safe venture into a market crowded with roguelikes, it could use some fresh ideas. There are better options and only so much time to play!

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 43 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 43
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 43
  3. Negative: 0 out of 43
  1. CD-Action
    May 30, 2016
    70
    An experienced traveler will deal with the campaign in 2 hours tops, but gathering experience in a series of adventures in a randomly generated world is the most enjoyable thing here. The moments of triumph and fear that you will experience along the way are reasons enough to give this game a chance despite its many (but not severe) technical issues. [05/2016, p.42]
  2. IGN Italia
    Apr 28, 2016
    70
    The Flame in The Flood can be seen as a novel of formation nestled in a methapore that turns life into a river. Unfortunately Molasses Flood's first work tries to transmit a deep and manifold message with a not so deep and manifold messenger.
    Read full review
  3. Games Master UK
    Apr 25, 2016
    75
    An impressive shake-up of survival tropes - but dedicated fans of the genre may be left wanting. [Apr 2016, p.74]
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