DrainSim

About DrainSim

DrainSim is a single player casual simulation game. It was developed by codePeas and was released on March 3, 2026. It received very positive reviews from players.

DrainSim: The City Won’t Dry Itself The floodwaters have taken over — streets turned to rivers, basements drowning, whole neighborhoods cut off. No one is coming to save the city… except you. Armed with pumps, shovels, rakes, and the trusty plunger on your belt, you’ll fight back against rising water one street at a time. What is DrainSim? DrainSim is a simulation and strategy game where …

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

+15

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Reviews

92%Audience ScoreBased on 1,199 reviews

story27 positive mentions

stability41 negative mentions

The water physics are highly realistic, impressive, and satisfying to interact with, offering some of the best fluid dynamics seen in games.
Gameplay is enjoyable, relaxing, and offers a nice balance between problem solving and chill simulation, with varied levels that often require strategic thinking.
The developer is active, responding quickly to feedback and releasing regular updates that improve the game and fix bugs.

The game suffers from several clunky controls and UI issues, such as unintuitive tool use, buggy hose and cable connections, and tedious shovel digging requiring repeated clicking.
Performance problems are common on mid to low-end hardware, including severe lag or crashes on certain levels, resulting in frustrating gameplay experiences.
The current content is limited and repetitive, with few levels and little variation in gameplay, leading to a short overall playtime and lack of long-term replayability.

story
129 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21% positive mentions, 77% neutral mentions, 2% negative mentions
The story is generally described as amusing and fun, with enjoyable radio banter and an interesting premise involving flood-related missions. However, it is criticized for limited content, featuring only 7-9 missions total, leading to a short playtime and repetitive gameplay. Players express eagerness for more missions, tools, and variety to expand and enhance the narrative experience in future updates.
- “The narrator does a great job tying the story together and makes it fun.”
- “Also, I love the opening cutscene and the radio broadcasts between missions.”
- “The story is really funny and the news bits between missions are really funny.”
- “There are literally sites dedicated to finding free writers and voice actors for stuff like this, so seeing the absolute bare minimum being considered too much work for a game that could be really cool and fun is upsetting. As it currently stands, it's $15 for less than 10 hours of mid-tier gameplay, and the only part of the world you interact with between missions is an AI-voiced, AI-written radio host. The entire thing comes off as immensely cheap, and until they adjust physics and add 2 more locations with 9 missions each, it will remain not worth the price point.”
- “Its a fun game to play because it’s something new and different than other sims and lets you think a bit about how you’re going to approach the missions, but after 5-6 hours of playing you basically beat the game and did every mission, so that’s kinda stupid just for 9 missions in total, and I could not even upgrade my truck or buy the best equipment.”
- “I love the concept of having to prep for an incoming flood, but unless you prepare perfectly, which I’m not sure is even possible in the given time limit, the church mission is unbeatable.”
gameplay
99 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43% positive mentions, 54% neutral mentions, 3% negative mentions
The gameplay is praised for its satisfying, smooth water physics and enjoyable core mechanics, offering a relaxing and unique simulation experience. However, it is often described as short, repetitive, and occasionally janky due to tool interactions and minor bugs, with many reviewers eager for more content, polish, and variety to enhance depth and replayability. Overall, it’s a promising yet currently modest gameplay experience that fans of casual simulation and water mechanics find engaging.
- “The mechanics are fun, the tools feel good to use, and the core gameplay loop is satisfying.”
- “The gameplay feels smooth, the atmosphere is great, and it keeps you hooked the whole time.”
- “The gameplay isn't strictly regimented to "this is the only solution" but rather it is open ended to allow you to take whatever tools you would like and approach each task as you see fit.”
- “The gameplay loop involves the same process and nothing else, leading to repetition.”
- “The frustrating gameplay of walking back and forth in wide areas with the vacuum trying to find the one bit of water missed.”
- “Most of the levels, while having unique environments, are just the same gameplay repeated.”
graphics
71 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
58% positive mentions, 36% neutral mentions, 6% negative mentions
The game features impressive and realistic graphics, especially praised for its exceptional water physics and fluid simulation powered by Unreal Engine 5. While visuals and lighting receive high marks for quality and detail, performance issues and occasional graphical bugs are reported, often linked to hardware limitations rather than the game itself. Overall, the graphics are considered a standout aspect, though optimal experience generally requires a mid-to-high-end PC.
- “The graphics are gorgeous thanks to Unreal Engine 5 (and very demanding!), and the fluid simulation is crazy good.”
- “The visuals are stunning, and the water physics in the game are truly unique.”
- “Best fluid physics and overall graphical presentation I've seen in a sim game.”
- “The Unreal 5 graphics are terrible, and even on the lowest settings, the performance is horrible.”
- “On my RX 6800XT, I have big problems playing even on low graphic settings.”
- “Even with everything off and set on low, at 50% render scale, it looks like paint graphics.”
stability
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 89% negative mentions
The game is notably buggy and unstable, with frequent glitches affecting tools, graphics, and certain levels causing freezes or crashes. While performance can be smooth on some setups, issues like erratic tool behavior, clunky controls, and occasional freezes detract from the experience. However, many players acknowledge these problems as typical for an early access title and still find the game enjoyable and promising despite its current instability.
- “Very smooth, no lag, runs great.”
- “Fun, not too tedious, runs great on my PC even without frame generation, getting 100 to 120 fps on max settings.”
- “The simulation works amazingly with little to no bugs and it runs great even with large volumes of water.”
- “The flooded convenience store level freezes up and locks the game every single time, usually around 75-80% completion, making it impossible to finish.”
- “Extremely buggy game, played on Steam Deck with very laggy performance even on lowest settings.”
- “Restoring a mission mid-way from a save glitches things out to the point where you might as well not bother saving and start over.”
optimization
43 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14% positive mentions, 63% neutral mentions, 23% negative mentions
The game suffers from significant optimization issues, particularly on older or lower-end hardware, causing poor performance, low and inconsistent frame rates, and occasional crashes. While some players with high-end systems report acceptable or improved performance over time, many note persistent lag spikes, heavy GPU usage, and stuttering during complex scenes involving water physics. Frequent updates and hotfixes have improved stability somewhat, but overall, the game still requires substantial optimization work to run smoothly across a broader range of systems.
- “Honestly well optimized for what it's worth, can't wait to see more.”
- “The performance is pretty good for an early access game, and with maximum settings there is an occasional lag spike for me, but I can live with that.”
- “Glad to see the performance has drastically gone up since the demo, as well as the amount of bugs going down.”
- “Overall performance on DirectX 12 and 11 is pretty bad: 160fps in the garage but sometimes no more than 18fps, and that's on low settings.”
- “The Unreal Engine 5 graphics are terrible and even on the lowest settings the performance is horrible.”
- “Refunded, horrible performance, needs a lot more work.”
grinding
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
Grinding in the game is often described as tedious and repetitive, with many players feeling that replaying levels mainly serves to farm cash without meaningful rewards. Several tools and mechanics, like the shovel and water vacuum, contribute to frustration due to their awkward use and slow pace, while some levels become tedious waiting games as players drain the last bits of water. Despite these issues, the game shows strong potential, and improvements such as more levels, better tools, and additional rewards could greatly enhance the grinding experience.
- “The second issue and this is a big one: replaying levels seems to have no purpose other than grinding money. There isn't really any point in going for a faster time as there is no reward for it. Not only that, but tutorial levels can't be replayed as a non-tutorial start, making time management on the main tutorial level hard locked.”
- “The scenarios are very specific so I don't really see any replay value aside from grinding for better vehicles and more gear.”
- “The farm is a prime example of this: I cleared the entire rest of the map of water before the barn was even half empty and I would have had to spend another 30 minutes to an hour running back and forth emptying buckets to empty the rest of it. That's not fun, that's just tedious.”
replayability
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24% positive mentions, 62% neutral mentions, 14% negative mentions
The game offers moderate replayability mainly through time challenges, star-rating systems, and multiple ways to complete levels, encouraging players to improve their performance. However, its limited level variety, lack of reward for repeated playthroughs, and absence of difficulty options currently restrict long-term engagement. Players express hope that future updates, including new content and community-made maps, will significantly enhance replay value.
- “Despite being in early access, this game has a decent amount of levels and replayability to offer.”
- “Clearing out zones is the base game; the replayability factor comes from trying to get a 5-star rating on each job.”
- “I had a good day of fun and then started hunting for a 5-star time on every level, using the additional in-game money I made to buy more equipment and get faster at completing each level, so there is quite a bit of replayability here.”
- “The scenarios are very specific, so I don't really see any replay value aside from grinding for better vehicles and more gear.”
- “Can't wait for updates and to see where it goes. My biggest wish is for level replayability with some form of payment (even if it was reduced pay) as it seems that currently replaying any level is useless as you will not obtain any rewards for completion of it more than once.”
- “It's a good game with its fair share of issues: character gets stuck when climbing, wires refuse to join onto generators/pumps, barriers refuse to join onto pumps unless the pump faces the outlet of the barrier, and the 'help, I'm stuck' button doesn't fix the issue. The church mission is almost impossible to complete in 10 minutes, needing constant clicking to dig, and the wave jumps over the barriers. It needs work, especially considering the cost over $10. It's a good time waster but it lacks any replayability.”
humor
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The game features a fun, silly, and self-aware humor that resonates well through its quirky scenarios and a humorous radio announcer. While some find the game unpolished, many appreciate the witty story elements and amusing in-game moments that create an enjoyable and lighthearted experience.
- “Haven't run into any game breaking bugs, just a few really funny ones (like a bag of chips at the convenience store getting stuck swirling around a drain then freaking out and pinging off into space).”
- “The small bits of self-aware humor are excellent.”
- “The tutorial making you drain your garden into the neighbour’s was a really funny touch and immediately set the tone of the game.”
music
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27% positive mentions, 46% neutral mentions, 27% negative mentions
The music in the game is praised for its catchy main menu track and soft, non-intrusive background sound, though many users feel the in-game experience would benefit from added music rather than relying solely on external playlists. The soundtrack sets a good mood without disrupting gameplay, but some players desire more immersive or varied in-game music to enhance realism.
- “The soundtrack, especially in the main menu, is a banger.”
- “The graphics are fantastic, the water motion is realistic, the music is soft and not intrusive, and the small amount of narrative there is is amusing.”
- “Solid game, and highly satisfying, great for throwing up some music or a YouTube video and getting to work.”
- “Need music.”
- “I get it's a sim game and want to be realistic, but it needs soft background music or something.”
- “Could use a music track while doing the game or something instead of just in the menu.”
atmosphere
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60% positive mentions, 40% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its detailed and immersive environments that effectively capture the theme and keep players engaged. While some graphical fidelity may vary at higher settings, the overall ambiance remains compelling and enhances the gameplay experience.
- “The ambiance and atmosphere the levels take place in are detailed enough to immerse you in the settings.”
- “Atmospheric environments: each map is incredibly detailed.”
- “I really like the overall atmosphere and the theme of the game.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
Players found the game emotionally engaging, evoking both laughter and tears, creating a memorable experience that invites replay.