The other day, a new Indian game Flotsam appeared in the early access of Steam. It’s a city-building simulator with survival elements. So far, the game has only basic mechanics – resource gathering, construction, basic food production, and a small map with recurring locations.
In general, the mechanics of the game are very similar to something between Frostpunk and Raft. Initially there is a central building, the Heart of the City, which houses the warehouse and water tank. It is also used as a canteen and an infirmary. There are several residents – drifters who can be instructed to collect resources.
Plot. According to the plot, there was a global flood (as in Raft). All the cities are flooded and only small pieces of land remain on the surface. You must rebuild a floating city, gather resources and food and search for other survivors. There is nothing more to the story, as this is the very first build of the early access.
Resources. Aside from small patches of land (aka landmarks), there’s all sorts of debris floating on the surface. In Flotsam it is conventionally divided into wood and plastic. These are used to build all of the basic structures. Other resources are needed to build advanced and more efficient structures – metal junk, bolts, pipes, nets, ropes. Junk can be found at the Landmarks, and the rest is made in the workshops.
Food. Residents of the city need to drink and eat. Salt sea water is processed in desalination plants and stored in tanks. Food can be found in the Landmarks in the form of canned food, as well as prepared from fish caught at sea. Cooked fish will have different nutritional value depending on the recipe.
Map Flotsam. After surveying the first location, it is necessary to move on. To do this, use the sail found on the Landmark. The sail can only sail downwind. To choose the direction you need fuel, which can be found at some locations.
Landmarks. Each location has several landmarks, on which resources, food, water, people and animals can be found. At the moment there are about five-six types of landmarks, viaduct, slums, abandoned shack, water tower, overgrown rocks.
Future innovations. Already from the game description on Steam you can understand that the developer has a lot of interesting things in store. I also dug through the reviews and comments of the developer and made a short list of known future innovations in the game Flotsam:
Sharks and other predators that can both damage the city and cripple the drifters.
Exploring underwater ruins and raising resources from the seabed.
Weather conditions – rain, storms and more.
Day and night changes.
Plot. Of course there will be a storyline in the game.
There is also a hint of a creative and endless mode, but it’s not certain.
In general, for a game in early access, quite a good game. We will follow the development.