The Flame in the Flood joins a growing list of survival titles that pit man against nature. Instead of battling mechs and invaders with rockets and lasers, players must rely instead on crafting, scavenging, and luck to stave off death. For The Molasses Flood’s first game, they chose a unique method of travel, with players taking to a raging, debris-filled river in order to make their way in this harsh new world.
As Scout, a lonely young survivor of a natural disaster, players take to their makeshift raft and leave the relative safety of their camp to seek their fortunes on a dangerous river alongside their scrappy dog Aesop. Supplies are running low, and without any way to procure more in their current location, the two must head downriver to scavenge for goods at the remaining unflooded areas. A few items are available at the outset but not enough to sustain players for very long. Within a few in-game days, starvation and dehydration will begin to set in as they consume their last bits of food and drops of fresh water. In such dire straits, even the most skittish river pilot will find themselves compelled to make landing at the handful of marked safe ports.
How players proceed with their trek will depend on whether they choose Campaign or Endless. The latter is, as the name implies, a never-ending journey down a snaking river. This is the game stripped to its base, with the only goal being to survive. Campaign interjects a series of objectives to add an impetus to get players out of their safe sanctuary and into the wild. In addition to primary tasks, others can be found along the way, tucked inside postal boxes along with the occasional loot. Other survivors also pop up from time to time, offering up hints as to nearby areas along with some helpful items. This river doesn’t go on forever, and the regions are likewise limited in number. Checkpoints scattered along the river’s path offer a chance to get a leg up on a new journey once Scout passes, which she most definitely will; however, these can save at unfortunate times, such as seconds before death from dehydration or infection. As someone who enjoys world-building and a little structure in my adventuring, I appreciated the extra touches. That said, Campaign is far from robust and should be thought of more as an extended tutorial.
The procedurally generated river’s rapids and clogged pathways, filled as they are with all sorts of debris, from branches to cars and clumps of garbage, make travel dangerous, but things get no better when on land. Ports-of-call come in several varieties, with some offering a church to rest at and others a marina to repair and upgrade the raft, a campsite with a multipurpose fire, and deserted towns with abandoned vehicles. If they are lucky, players will find some a string, some nuts and bolts, some corn, or if it’s an especially fruitful stop, a schematic to improve the raft. There’s no promise that there will be anything particularly useful, and thanks to a cumbersome inventory system, hoarding items for future use can be a pain. But leaving disappointed is the least of the player’s worry, as there are also wild animals that are quick to give chase and even quicker to go in for the kill.
It’s possible to fend off boars, bears, and other beasts, but it’s neither easy nor guaranteed that Scout can put up a defense. As with water filters, penicillin, and ash cakes, weapons can be crafted from the various items scavenged throughout the world. There is always a trade-off, though, as the same string that can be used to make a bow can also be used to create clothes for better insulation or for a stitch to seal up a wound. Animals are often aggressive as soon as players make it off of the area’s wharf, and these beasts will often send them packing before they can rifle through the first car trunk or chest. Once a predator gets a bead on Scout, it can be rough going, unless she has a device at the ready to fend them off or chase them away. Some, such as wolves, can be sent scurrying for a few seconds with her walking stick, but most will do whatever they can to get a fresh meal. And it only takes a few blows before the screen is dotted with icons noting lacerations and broken bones. The slower, staggered pace and limping animation that result from injuries only leads to a quicker death. A few minutes with an animal can easily end Scout’s journey.
Compounding her and the player’s troubles is the convoluted crafting system, which is plagued by multiple menus and awkward design decisions. For example, water cannot be purified by selecting the water purifier from the inventory. Instead, players have to go to the crafting section and then select the option to purify water. This doesn’t sound like a serious issue, and by itself it isn’t, but such instances are repeated throughout the game and significantly bog things down. Or if a house is looted but Scout’s inventory is full, players must back out, open the inventory, move things around (Aesop can carry a few items), and then re-search the house instead of calling up the inventory menu on the spot. This is unwieldy even when there are no immediate threats, and it becomes a nightmare when animals are nearby, particularly because time doesn’t slow or stop when the players are looking at their inventory. Of course, animals aren’t the only things that can cause death, and it can be downright painful to see Scout fall after failing to ready medicine, bandages, or food in time while shuffling about and combining items.
Equally unhelpful is a camera whose position allows for some wonderful cinematic shots of the game’s lovely visuals but makes it difficult to avoid danger. Rafting segments will have close-up, angled, and other shots that offer a great sense of scale and place but throw off depth perception. The camera can be swiveled slightly while on the river, but that doesn’t offer much aid when the shot itself is skewed, which can cause players to shift the raft and expend Scout’s stamina too soon, leaving her unable to avoid the next obstacle, or move at the wrong time and right into a rock. On-foot segments suffer from similar problems. Though the camera can be panned while running around, it doesn’t shift to reveal what’s going on behind objects, nor do structures become transparent, making it very difficult to dodge animal attacks when going behind buildings or foliage.
Even the most capable explorer will find themselves facing death. The random nature of survival titles is a large part of their charm, and also why they, as with The Flame in the Flood, aren’t for everybody. Hitting a hot streak of imminently useful finds is a great motivator, whether it’s a trap to catch game or the remaining items necessary to improve the raft with shelter or a water purifier. Conversely, a cold streak can be downright frustrating. Losing a long session due to stops not providing anything useful can often feel like a waste of time. Scrounging and barely getting by is one thing, but I died several times simply from there being nothing worthwhile on the stops leading up to starvation. Some might find that a plus, but such a run feels like an incomplete experience, as there was no way to know beforehand that the approaching land didn’t supply the needed goods. Was there anything I could have done differently to survive? In many cases, I would say no, as I made my food and water stretch until the end. “Fairness” doesn’t exist in an actual survival situation, so it’s fitting it doesn’t in The Flame in the Flood, but that doesn’t take away from those moments of exasperation when I found my end game seated firmly at the end of a run of bad luck.
Despite its rough edges, which aren’t evident given its wonderful art direction, The Flame in the Flood is a unique experience that manages to elicit genuine excitement. Ennui might set in after the process has been repeated on an endless run, but even after patching dozens of wounds and woofing down piles of jerky, there is still a thrill in just barely making it back to the raft with a bear in pursuit. Hitting the river with its accompanying folksy country soundtrack—courtesy of Chuck Ragan—for the next round of exploration hits an adventuring sweet spot like few other titles. The constant trickle of areas, with each holding the possibility of a great find, makes for a strong allure. And while Scout might not always get a fair shake, she can put up a hell of a fight.
Overall: 7/10
The Flame in the Flood is a beautiful survival title that finds players ping-ponging between isolated patches of land amidst a raging river that is made all the more perilous by an awkward camera and cumbersome inventory system. Set against the background of a battered America where resources are scarce, the random nature can be particularly brutal on poor Scout and Aesop, but the relatively fast pace makes it easy to jump back into another attempt. It might not have a rich enough game world to last for the long haul, but it will engage would-be survivalists for quite a while with its enticing river journeys and rhythmically addictive area-hopping.
(This review is based on a copy provided by the publisher.)