DrainSim

About

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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92%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,007 reviews

story24 positive mentions

stability37 negative mentions

Extremely satisfying and realistic water physics providing a unique and immersive gameplay experience.
Fun and relaxing simulator with strategic problem-solving elements and multiple ways to complete levels.
Polished visuals and atmospheric environments enhance the overall experience; developer actively improving the game with regular updates.

Currently limited content with only a handful of levels, leading to short playtime and replayability concerns.
Clunky controls and awkward inventory management reduce usability and immersion.
Performance issues and various bugs including disappearing tools, lag spikes, and frustrating last-puddles drainage mechanic.

story
117 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
76%
3%
The game's story features a fun and humorous narrative tied together by a narrator and radio broadcasts, providing an enjoyable backdrop to the missions. However, the storyline is limited by a small number of missions—only about 7 to 9 currently available—resulting in a short overall gameplay experience that fans hope will be expanded in future updates. While the mission variety adds some interest, many players find the content repetitive and desire more missions, tools, and deeper story development to enhance replayability and engagement.
- “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.”
- “It's 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 even buy the best equipment.”
- “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 dollars for less than 10 hours of mid 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.”
- “The only types of missions are simply drain the area, prepare for a flood, and destroy your next-door neighbor's yard. The flood mission could have easily been solved by clearing the bridge wreckage and fixing the canal, meaning this was an entire waste of time.”
gameplay
87 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
51%
3%
The gameplay is praised for its simple yet satisfying mechanics, especially the impressive water physics and fluid simulation, which offer an engaging and relaxing experience. However, many users note that the gameplay can become repetitive after several hours, with limited content and occasional bugs affecting tools and interactions. Overall, the core mechanics are solid and have strong potential, but the game would benefit from more content, polish, and variety to sustain longer playtime.
- “The gameplay feels smooth, the atmosphere is great, and it keeps you hooked the whole time.”
- “Amazing water physics with fun and satisfying gameplay.”
- “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.”
- “Most importantly though, I didn't really like the gameplay loop that involves the same process and nothing else.”
- “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 dollars for less than 10 hours of mid 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.”
- “The price is quite steep for 5 hours of gameplay in an early access state.”
graphics
55 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
62%
33%
5%
The game's graphics are widely praised for their realism and especially impressive water physics, offering a visually stunning experience powered by Unreal Engine 5. However, performance issues such as lag, low FPS even on minimal settings, and occasional glitches affect playability on lower-end systems. Despite these technical drawbacks, the visuals remain a standout feature that many find immersive and enjoyable.
- “The graphics are gorgeous thanks to Unreal Engine 5 (and very demanding!), and the fluid simulation is crazy good.”
- “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.”
- “Best fluid physics and overall graphical presentation I've seen in a sim game.”
- “I set the game graphics all the way to the lowest settings and could not get fps higher than 20.”
- “The graphics also leave much to be desired for my taste.”
- “Crazy for a high end PC and not as high of graphics.”
stability
41 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
90%
The game is plagued with numerous bugs and stability issues, including frequent freezes, glitches with tools and water mechanics, and clunky player controls, though none are typically game-breaking. Many players acknowledge these problems but remain engaged due to the game's relaxing vibe and potential, noting that it's an early access title with ongoing developer efforts to fix bugs. Overall, while unstable and occasionally frustrating, the game is still enjoyable for those willing to tolerate its current state.
- “No glitches, it's a nice chill simple game.”
- “The simulation works amazingly with little to no bugs and it runs great even with large volumes of water.”
- “Fun, not too tedious, runs great on my PC even without frame generation, getting 100 to 120 fps on max settings.”
- “The flooded convenience store level freezes up and locks the game up; I've tried finishing it about 6 times and it freezes every single time, usually around 75-80% completion.”
- “Extremely buggy game; I played on the Steam Deck and had a very laggy experience even on the 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
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
64%
19%
Optimization in the game is inconsistent, with many users reporting poor performance, frequent frame rate drops, and stuttering, especially on weaker or older hardware. While some note improvements from earlier versions and generally playable performance on higher-end systems, the game still requires significant optimization passes to stabilize frame rates and reduce system strain. Occasional lag spikes and high GPU utilization persist, but ongoing updates and hotfixes show promise for better optimization in the future.
- “Initially clearing a level takes more time, but as you buy better tools (and more of them), I at least started looking for more optimized routes for draining an area faster (and found them).”
- “Honestly well optimized for what it's worth, can't wait to see more.”
- “- Great evolution from older versions (less laggy, better graphics, better performance, smoother movement).”
- “Performance-wise, I've had zero crashes so far, a few softlocks on the mini-game stage (opening a safe a second before the inventory screen pops up prevents you from clicking "back to garage"), and overall seems to be working quite well.”
- “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 game really needs a performance pass.”
- “Refunded due to horrible performance; needs a lot more work.”
grinding
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is a mixed experience: while some players find the core mechanics engaging and appreciate performance stability, others feel key tasks—especially using tools like the shovel or bucket, and prolonged water drainage—become tedious and repetitive. The limited level variety and specific scenarios contribute to a sense of grind with low replay value, though there is optimism for improvement through new levels, better tools, and additional gameplay features to reduce monotony. Overall, grinding currently detracts somewhat from the fun but shows strong potential for enhancement.
- “All that digging is not fun; it's tedious and infuriating as of now.”
- “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.”
- “Some places even seem to magically refill with water even after you've cleared them, and you have to tediously vacuum until it disappears again.”
replayability
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
61%
17%
The game offers solid replayability through time challenges, multiple strategies per level, and progression via upgrades, making repeated plays satisfying for many users. However, some find replay value limited due to a lack of varied levels, specific scenarios, and penalties on replay payments, which can discourage repeated attempts. Community-created content and future updates are seen as potential ways to greatly enhance replayability.
- “Clearing out zones is the base game, the replayability factor comes from trying to do it and 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 ingame money I made to buy more equipment and thus getting faster at completing each level, so there is quite a bit of replayability here.”
- “It has a fair amount of replayability as well because there are often multiple ways to clear an area, and I found myself completing levels for the first time thinking 'I could've done that a lot better' and it made me want to go through again.”
- “I dislike that replayability is punished with a 50% payment.”
- “The scenarios are very specific, so I don't really see any replay value aside from grinding for better vehicles and more gear.”
- “It is a good game, it has its fair share of issues... it needs work, especially considering it costs over $10. It's a good time waster but it lacks any replayability.”
humor
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features a fun, silly, and self-aware humor that many players find genuinely funny, especially highlighted by the humorous radio announcer and amusing story elements. While some humor is praised for setting a lighthearted tone, a few feel it could be polished further. Overall, the humor is a strong and enjoyable aspect that enhances the game's entertaining premise.
- “The story is really funny and the news bits between missions are really funny.”
- “The tutorial making you drain your garden into the neighbour’s was a really funny touch and immediately set the tone of the game.”
- “The small bits of self aware humor are excellent.”
music
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
46%
27%
The game's music, especially the main menu soundtrack, is well-received and appreciated for being engaging and non-intrusive. However, many users feel the in-game experience would benefit from added background music, as currently the game is often enjoyed alongside external audio like personal playlists or podcasts. Overall, the soundtrack complements the gameplay but could be enhanced with more in-game music variety.
- “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 is amusing.”
- “Great to play while listening to music or a podcast.”
- “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
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The atmosphere is consistently praised for being immersive and engaging, with detailed and thematic environments that enhance the overall experience. While visuals on highest settings may have some critique, the game's smooth gameplay and strong ambiance keep players hooked throughout.
- “The gameplay feels smooth, the atmosphere is great, and it keeps you hooked the whole time.”
- “Atmospheric environments: each map is incredibly detailed.”
- “I really like the overall atmosphere and the theme of the game.”