Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 09/Jan 02:35

Flotsam – Review

Sun, the sea and… More water? Lots of water? Yes, indeed! Because that is what Flotsam is all about. This latest city-builder game was developed by Pajama Llama Games and published by Stray Fawn Publishing. It takes place on the open ocean, which covers most of the world. In this review, we will take a deep dive and see for ourselves if this game floats above or below our expectations. Story  The world has flooded almost entirely, and you have a ship. That is the beginning premise of Flotsam. Along with a few survivors, you try to make the best of it and set sail onwards to gather resources and build yourselves a new place to call home, afloat the wide blue ocean. As you go on, you will learn and find new methods to create a better place, as well as find other stragglers who will help you in achieving this.  Aside from that, there isn’t too much of a story as it’s mainly there to set the scene for the building sim that you are going to play. Of course, your crew has some ‘backstory’ shown by what their jobs were before the flood and after, but this is more to showcase which tasks they prefer doing over others.   Graphics  The graphics of Flotsam are simply gorgeous. The style used here for buildings and items features these thick comic book-styled outlines, which contrast nicely against the blue ocean that will take up most of your screen more than half of the time. While the water itself takes a slightly more realistic look, everything else looks surrealistic and cartoon-like. This, paired with the simple yet vibrant colors of the structures and your ship, makes for a pleasant experience on the eyes without straining them too much during gameplay.   Aside from the buildings and such, the menus you interact with try to maintain that same cartoon style, while managing to stay readable and clear, so nothing looks off or hard to find. If not for words, many icons indicate what each button does, making it easy and accessible to most. One thing we initially struggled with was understanding that some of the resources appeared very similar, yet a slight change to the icon indicated that they were different. Wet wood has the same icon as regular wood, but with a water droplet on it. Sound  Flotsam’s music featured in this game is clearly trying its best to create a serene and pleasant experience for the player by making sure it’s not the focus point. The theme of this game can be described as a typical harbor tune, mixed with the cartoon style it seems to go for. During gameplay, the music plays calmly in the background but can be turned off if one wishes to do so. When we experienced the game, however, it felt like a nice background theme that didn’t distract us from achieving our next goals.   Aside from the music, there are, of course, nature sounds that play during your time at the sea. You hear the waves, the wind, and seagulls, and it sets the mood just right and can be quite enjoyable if this is a setting you like to be around in. Of course, your crew also talks, in a funny gibberish that isn’t exactly meant to be understood. Gameplay  As mentioned in our introduction, Flotsam is essentially a building sim. Except this time it is on water instead of the usual forest or city setting. This is exactly what sets the game apart from others, as resource gathering is done differently than anywhere else. Due to everything being flooded, the player’s crew is meant to dive for driftwood, plastic, and scout nearby land for whatever they can manage to repurpose. The more crew you get, the faster they can gather and utilize the found loot. It is essentially a sort of chain reaction of getting resources, getting more crew members, getting more resources, and so on.  After you are done gathering items in one area, the player can open their map and sail further in the world to find new things. These are indicated by floating objects on the map, so nobody needs to endlessly sail without knowing where to go.  The controls aren’t too difficult to get used to. Players who are familiar with games such as The Sims will find themselves in a similar setting as to how to control their camera, fast-forwarding, or freezing time in-game.  Finally, the building of structures can be expanded by learning more skills. This is a linear grid that requires certain conditions to be met to learn these and progress the possibilities on your float. This means there is still enough to strive towards.   Conclusion  A refreshing and new take on an already known concept, Flotsam stands out by being new yet familiar. A relaxing building sim that sets goals to achieve without the pressure of doing them in a certain timeframe, paired with relaxing nature sounds and a funny art style, this game really delivers a pleasant gaming experience for all types of gamers alike.