Floodland is a single-player strategy game with a good story, great game mechanics, and a wonderful soundtrack. The game boasts pretty visuals, a spectacular atmosphere, and talented contributors from This War of Mine, Dying Light, Hard West, and more. However, it suffers from optimization issues, bugs, and can be quite grinding.
The game features a unique post-apocalyptic setting with beautiful visuals and an engaging soundtrack.
Gameplay mechanics are interesting, focusing on resource management and clan politics, providing a challenge for players.
The game offers a variety of technologies and laws to explore, allowing for strategic decision-making.
The game suffers from significant performance issues, including long save times and frequent crashes, especially in late-game scenarios.
Many players find the micromanagement of multiple clans tedious and frustrating, leading to a lack of enjoyment.
The tutorial and early game do not adequately prepare players for the complexities of the game, resulting in confusion and potential soft-locks.
gameplay
226 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
55%
11%
The gameplay of Floodland is characterized by a mix of engaging mechanics and significant performance issues, including frequent crashes and bugs that hinder progression. While the game features interesting concepts like clan management and resource gathering, many players find the mechanics poorly explained and unbalanced, leading to a frustrating experience. Despite its addictive nature and appealing aesthetic, the overall execution suffers from a lack of polish and clarity, making it difficult for players to fully enjoy the game.
“Addictive gameplay and concept.”
“I like the game, it's quite interesting with some really cool mechanics, such as researching and a tech tree, and laws etc that really let you mold your game your own way.”
“The art and music were amazing and the devs absolutely nailed the ambiance and setting; the gameplay is novel, and the story and progression have a way of drawing you in and making you feel for the people you manage.”
“The inner mechanics are not well explained and you have to repeatedly stumble around trying to figure them out.”
“The game is not really interesting, the gameplay is boring and repetitive, the story is way below average, and the performance issues are just terrible.”
“There's a wealth of technical bugs and the gameplay systems themselves are poorly thought-out with major issues.”
optimization
189 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
65%
25%
The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with players reporting severe performance issues, particularly in late-game scenarios where the game struggles to handle larger settlements. Many users have experienced crashes, long loading times, and significant lag, leading to frustration and an inability to recommend the game in its current state. While some hope for future patches to address these issues, the overall sentiment is that the game feels unpolished and poorly optimized.
“One good patch focusing on stability and performance, with no new content required, would make me very happy.”
“Despite some technical issues (memory leaks and generally poor performance at scale), it's a delightful and pretty game about recovery and building a new world.”
“The optimization and performance of this game is absolutely terrible.”
“This game desperately needs optimization.”
“The game crashes, save files get corrupted, and has terrible optimization.”
graphics
181 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
44%
11%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising its beautiful art style and atmospheric visuals, often likening it to titles like "Disco Elysium" and "Frostpunk." However, numerous players report significant performance issues, including lag and stuttering, even on lower settings, which detracts from the overall experience. While the aesthetic is appreciated, many feel that the graphical quality does not meet modern standards, leading to frustration with gameplay.
“This game gets too much hate for a punishing group management system - it is an excellent survival management game with gorgeous graphics and stellar music.”
“The pastel canvas style of graphics is just beautiful even though it portrays desperation and requires determination to explore the world further.”
“It's atmospheric, with beautiful and surprisingly colorful visuals.”
“I feel that for a game that was made in modern gaming times, the graphics of this city builder are rather poor; I would expect this to have far better graphic quality than what is being offered.”
“Game graphics are terrible.”
“I had to put all the details to the lower setting and turn off any feature in graphics just to be able to finish the game.”
story
173 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
63%
5%
The game's story has received mixed reviews, with some players praising its engaging narrative and immersive atmosphere, while others find it repetitive and lacking depth. Many appreciate the integration of music and visuals that enhance the storytelling experience, but performance issues and linear progression detract from the overall enjoyment. Overall, while the story provides a solid framework for gameplay, it could benefit from more variety and depth to keep players invested beyond the initial playthrough.
“The art and music was amazing and the devs absolutely nailed the ambiance and setting, the gameplay is novel, and the story and progression has a way of drawing you in and making you feel for the people you manage.”
“Great story - great game - finally something deep to explore in this genre!”
“I really enjoyed the story which is very interesting and kept me playing longer.”
“The game is not really interesting, the gameplay is boring and repetitive, the story is way below average, and the performance issues are just terrible.”
“It's like reading a story on a bunch of soggy pages collected together and you aren't really sure whether they're all there.”
“The last few quests are rather boring and underwhelming.”
music
140 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
59%
37%
4%
The music in the game has received widespread acclaim, with many players praising its beautiful and immersive soundtrack that enhances the overall atmosphere and gameplay experience. Reviewers noted that the music is not only memorable but also reactive to in-game events, making it stand out during key moments. While some found the music to be a highlight of the game, a few critiques mentioned that it could be repetitive or not to their taste, but overall, it is considered a strong aspect of the game.
“I was truly blown away by how good the music is.”
“The soundtrack is beautiful and the game looks amazing.”
“The music is heavily reactive to what's happening as you play.”
“Stolen soundtrack from RimWorld?”
“Music is not great.”
“Annoying music.”
stability
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
95%
The game's stability has been widely criticized, with numerous reports of bugs, crashes, and performance issues, particularly during late-game scenarios. While some players have noted improvements after patches, many still experience significant problems, leading to frustration and a lack of enjoyment. Overall, the game is perceived as unfinished and in need of substantial polish to enhance its stability.
“The game runs great; I haven't encountered any major bugs or crashes.”
“Game so buggy it lags in end game and literally creates a map without enough resources for you to finish the game.”
“Really buggy, got a refund, then saw fixes came out for the issues I had, rebought as I wanted to support the devs, bugs ahoy again. Sadly cannot get a refund now and it appears to be effectively not getting fixes from what I can see in the discussion board. Shame, had high hopes.”
“Then there is the endless crashing and game lock-ups. My system may be to blame for this to a degree, but when it freezes constantly or outright quits, it makes it hard to want to return to playing. I doubt I'll be able to get a refund as I really wanted to give this game a good shake, but it's taken 3 hotfixes to 'fix' the issues I'm still having. I've almost lost the save to this twice due to its endless crashing.”
atmosphere
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
76%
15%
9%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive visuals, engaging soundtrack, and unique art style, creating a captivating environment that enhances gameplay. Many reviewers highlight the moody, colorful aesthetics and the depth of the world, which is complemented by a complex tech tree and meaningful choices. However, some feel that the atmosphere may not be strong enough to fully engage players emotionally.
“It is incredibly atmospheric, nailing the visuals and aesthetics.”
“The story and atmosphere is immersive and the soundtrack is awesome.”
“The musical atmosphere is particularly pleasant and the design of the buildings, colorful and inspired by low tech, offers a particular character to your camps.”
“Atmosphere isn't that good to be immersive and care about things on screen.”
“There's atmosphere and there's story and there's meaningful choices to agonize over.”
“I like it, it's really relaxing and I dig the water post-apocalyptic atmosphere!”
replayability
29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
41%
21%
Overall, the game's replayability is a mixed bag. While some players enjoyed the experience and found value in different factions and difficulty levels, many noted that the repetitive nature of the maps and limited starting options significantly diminished long-term replay potential. Suggestions for additional content, such as more stories or a creative mode, were common among those seeking to enhance replayability.
“No bugs (for me at least), lots of replayability, and just overall a fun experience!”
“The game has tons of replayability and length along with tons of detail, dialogue and decisions you need to make which influence your society.”
“There was a lot of replayability factors in Floodland I loved, and a strong political message.”
“Replayability is not that strong for this game, because the 'tiles' or islands are the same, so you can kinda figure out how best to utilize the space.”
“They say there is replay value but not really when you can only select from 4 starting factions and I've had to restart way more than 4 times.”
“I'm giving it a positive review because I did enjoy the game but I 'beat' it in 21 hours and in my opinion, there is no replay value.”
grinding
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews indicate that the grinding aspect of the game is a significant drawback, with many players finding the gameplay repetitive and tedious after a few hours. Tasks such as exploration, resource gathering, and managing colonies become monotonous, leading to a lack of engagement and enjoyment, particularly in the late game where extended grinding for research and resources is required. Overall, the grind detracts from the initial appeal, making the experience feel forced and unenjoyable for many players.
“I was going to give a positive review since the game looked like it made a few steps more than your usual indie city builder games, but man, after maybe 4 hours the game got so boring and grindy, and the content became dull and repetitive. I had to force myself to finish it.”
“This game thus becomes far too tedious a way to spend my time.”
“- late game seemingly consists of an extended grind for research and advanced resources which is tedious, especially with being limited to only 1 explorer team to go out and find stuff.”
emotional
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express a complex emotional experience, feeling both a deep connection to the characters and the weight of their responsibilities as leaders, despite a desire for more narrative urgency. The heartbreak of encountering unplayable saves near the endgame adds a layer of frustration, overshadowing the otherwise wholesome moments of the game. Overall, the emotional journey is marked by a blend of sadness and fulfillment, highlighting the game's impact on players.
“I found myself wishing there was more pressure to continue the main story, as being allowed to take all these problems at my own pace with infinite time to spare took away some of the fun of the challenge. However, this lack of a time limit or overarching threat made me focus on the people and truly feel the purpose of my role as the leader of the settlement.”
“Getting close to endgame and having all saves unplayable seems unacceptable, and the daunting task of starting over again just to have it happen again is heartbreaking.”
“Sad but wholesome.”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is described as lacking the tongue-in-cheek style found in Tropico, yet it still manages to evoke some amusement, particularly in the context of the release notes addressing performance issues. Users find it ironic that the game uses humor to deflect criticism of its graphics and performance, suggesting that while the humor exists, it may not be as effective or well-integrated as in other titles.
“It's like Tropico without the tongue-in-cheek humor, but in a good way.”
“It's kind of funny though, because when I saw the release notes, the part about the saves really stuck out.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy of the game is perceived as a cash grab, suggesting that the sale may be an attempt to generate revenue for a title that is unlikely to receive further updates or improvements.
“I feel that it likely went on sale as a last-ditch cash grab for a game that probably isn't getting fixed.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
Reviewers praise the character development for its refreshing designs and art direction, highlighting the visual appeal and creativity in the character aesthetics.
“The character designs and art direction are really refreshing.”
“The character development is incredibly well thought out, making each character feel unique and relatable.”
“I love how the characters evolve throughout the game, with their backstories and motivations being deeply explored.”