Buoyancy
- August 30, 2019
- Devs on a Boat
- 7h median play time
Get on Steam"Buoyancy is a single-player strategy game set in an ocean world, where you build and manage a floating city. Construct various buildings for resource production and population management, and keep your villagers happy and healthy. Explore the ocean to exploit resources and move your city for production boosts, as you manage a growing population and expanding city."
Mac OS
PC
Windows
Linux
Reviews
- The game has a unique concept of building a floating city, which is engaging and fun.
- Great soundtrack and cute visuals that enhance the overall experience.
- The game shows potential for future updates and improvements, with an active developer presence.
- The game has been abandoned by the developers, with no updates since June 2022, leading to a lack of content and polish.
- Numerous bugs and gameplay issues, such as pathfinding problems and unresponsive workers, make the game frustrating to play.
- The balance of resources and mechanics is off, making it difficult to maintain a stable population and manage food supply.
- gameplay108 mentions
- 26 % positive mentions
- 69 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game has been met with mixed reviews, highlighting a blend of innovative concepts and significant flaws. While some players appreciate the unique mechanics and addictive gameplay, many criticize the numerous bugs, unbalanced systems, and incomplete features that hinder the overall experience. Despite its potential, the game remains in a rough state, requiring substantial reworking and polish to fully realize its vision.
“There is so much depth in both gameplay and atmosphere that this has to offer, in time of course.”
“Buoyancy has a fun and constantly stressful gameplay loop and puts a nice spin on the colony management/survival genre.”
“The gameplay is amazing.”
“Bummer—I really enjoyed the concept, atmosphere, and a lot of the mechanics, but as you'll gather in the reviews, the game as it was last left is still quite buggy and unpolished in certain areas.”
“2-3 hours into gameplay, a bug will show up and massacre your progress.”
“The UI and explanations in the game make it feel like a proof of concept rather than even an alpha at times, with several key mechanics not being intuitive or explained.”
- stability50 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is widely criticized for its instability, with numerous reports of bugs, crashes, and unpolished mechanics that hinder gameplay. While some players find it enjoyable despite these issues, many agree that the game remains too buggy and incomplete, especially considering its extended time in early access. Overall, stability is a significant concern, making the game difficult to recommend in its current state.
“The current version is fairly buggy and lacks content to keep you going for long.”
“This game is buggy and incomplete.”
“As of now, the game is too buggy to enjoy.”
- graphics34 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 62 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally described as cute and appealing, with some users appreciating the art style and UI, particularly in comparison to similar titles like Flotsam. However, there are criticisms regarding the simplicity and occasional underwhelming quality of the visuals, with some players experiencing graphical glitches. Overall, while the graphics are considered decent for a game of its size, they are not the standout feature, with gameplay often taking precedence.
“The graphics were pretty cool and for a less than 1GB game, it's damn good.”
“The game is pretty but simple in art style.”
“Flotsam has the better artwork and the better UI and is also slightly more accessible.”
“Don't support devs who add features and change the building graphics while ignoring game-breaking bugs.”
“I tried uninstalling and re-installing, but the same thing happens: first the graphics go psychedelic and then bang.”
“-graphics are underwhelming, it is hard to tell one thing from another.”
- story22 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 68 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The game's story aspect is largely criticized for its absence, with players describing it as a sandbox city builder lacking any meaningful narrative or unique points of interest. Many users express a desire for future updates to include missions, objectives, and challenges to enhance the gameplay experience and provide long-term goals. Overall, there is a strong call for more content that could enrich the story and gameplay dynamics.
“I look forward to when the game has developed more content in the form of both buildings and story.”
“Hope to see much more content down the road - events, upgrades, maybe quest chains etc.”
“Excited for techs, perhaps missions/objectives, etc. can't wait to play more.”
“Was basically just a sandbox city builder with no real story to speak of.”
“I had to turn it down to about 57-60% no story at all.”
“Maybe adding missions/upgrades would help improve the game?”
- music20 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 35 % neutral mentions
- 15 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while many players praise the great soundtrack and its ability to enhance the gameplay experience, others express frustration with the frequent silences and inconsistent volume levels. Overall, the soundtrack is appreciated for its quality, but some players desire more continuous music to maintain the atmosphere.
“I love the soundtrack.”
“Good music, great gameplay, I don't regret any of the 23 hours I spent on this game.”
“It is playable and very nice: cool music, decent balance, some very fitting mechanics.”
“And to top that piece of fine work, the music that is supposed to create the atmosphere or entertain you, stops.”
“Couple of minutes of music, then silence, then a little more music, and more silence... god dammit.”
“The music is way too loud.”
- optimization10 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with some players experiencing persistent performance and crash issues, particularly since the last major update in 2022. However, others have noted improvements in performance after recent fixes, allowing for smoother gameplay. Overall, many users still find the game poorly optimized and are awaiting further updates to enhance its stability.
“It seems the devs have fixed this issue, I am now able to play without any performance issues, so props to them for that.”
“While the game is interesting and it is really fun to play, it has poor frame rate issues and is not well optimized yet.”
“However, for the time being I will be returning the game until further updates and optimizations come out.”
“Unfortunately, it seems abandoned. The last major update was way back in 2022, and there are performance and crash issues that still persist in the game's current state.”
“I understand this could be my poor performance, but I found it really hard to get anywhere decent.”
“However, for the time being, I will be returning the game until further updates and optimizations come out.”
- grinding10 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 80 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, particularly in the late game where progression feels stagnant and focused solely on perfection. The need for constant micromanagement and rebuilding, coupled with challenges from overpowering pirates and storms, contributes to a frustrating experience that some liken to requiring a "second life" to endure. Overall, the grind is seen as a major drawback, detracting from the enjoyment of city-building and resource management.
“Having to rebuild buildings on the outside of the raft and then micromanage moving the city around is tedious.”
“All in all, at this point the early game is challenging and the late game is tedious without any real progression beyond building more for the sake of perfection.”
“I love city builders and resource games but this is just extremely tedious even on the fast speed.”
- replayability10 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while some players find it lacking and only revisit it after updates, others appreciate the randomness of resources that enhances replay value. Regular updates and appealing art style contribute positively, but there are suggestions for improvements to further increase replayability.
“There is much replay value, as resources appear to be random so you never know what you're going to get.”
“It's being worked on regularly, there’s a good amount of replay value, the art style appeals to me, and more.”
“Although, it would be nice if buoyancy implemented a few things to make it a much better experience with more replayability.”
“Not much replayability, but it was good.”
“Although, it would be nice if the developers implemented a few things to make it a much better experience with more replayability.”
“So, I put the game away and a few months later decided to try it out again - the developers had put out a patch or two; hopefully, the game's more playable.”
- atmosphere8 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is praised for its depth and immersive qualities, but it suffers from bugs and unpolished elements that detract from the experience. Additionally, issues with music stopping and visibility due to environmental effects like fog and clouds can hinder gameplay. Overall, while the atmosphere has potential, it currently requires refinement to fully engage players.
“There is so much depth in both gameplay and atmosphere that this has to offer, in time of course.”
“And to top that piece of fine work, the music that is supposed to create the atmosphere or entertain you, stops.”
“And to top that piece of fine work, the music that is supposed to create the atmosphere or entertain you stops.”
“I know it's for the atmosphere, but between the clouds, the fog, and the max camera height/angle, it can be hard to spot that resource you need.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized as a cash grab, particularly in its early access phase, leading to disappointment among users.
“Another unfortunate early access cash grab.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find humor in the game's bugs, particularly one that leads to an absurd accumulation of resources, making the loss of saves more tolerable and even amusing. This lighthearted approach to glitches adds a layer of enjoyment to the gameplay experience.
“This means the save is gone, but I've been going through saves pretty regularly, and this bug of an insane amount of resources was so funny I didn't mind losing another save.”
