Floodland

About

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.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

56%

Audience ScoreBased on 450 reviews

gameplay37 positive mentions

optimization24 negative mentions

The game features a unique post-apocalyptic setting with beautiful art and a captivating soundtrack.
Gameplay involves interesting mechanics such as clan management, exploration, and resource management, providing a challenging experience.
The developers are responsive to feedback and actively working on patches to improve performance and fix bugs.

The game suffers from significant performance issues, especially in late-game, leading to long save times and crashes.
Many players experience frustrating bugs that can corrupt save files or prevent progression, making the game feel unfinished.
The micromanagement of multiple clans can become tedious, and the relationship mechanics between clans are poorly explained.

gameplay
110 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 many players appreciate the unique concepts, such as clan interactions and resource management, the lack of clear explanations for mechanics and the repetitive nature of gameplay detract from the overall experience. Despite its potential and addictive qualities, the game suffers from a lack of polish and balance, making it difficult for some players to fully enjoy.
- “Addictive gameplay and concept.”
- “The buildings and mechanics involved around gathering resources and improving the lifestyle of your citizens are cool and interesting.”
- “The game has a very addictive mechanic; I stayed in the same save for 6 hours in a row and didn't even see the time pass.”
- “The inner mechanics are not well explained and you have to repeatedly stumble around trying to figure them out.”
- “Limited gameplay, lack of direction, and an extensive lack of polish make this game pointless.”
- “There are a wealth of technical bugs and the gameplay systems themselves are poorly thought-out with major issues.”
optimization
94 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
65%
26%
The game's optimization has received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with players reporting severe performance issues, including crashes, long loading times, and significant frame rate drops, especially in late-game scenarios. Many users express frustration over the lack of updates to address these problems, leading to a consensus that the game feels unpolished and poorly optimized. While some players find enjoyment in the core gameplay, the persistent technical issues hinder overall satisfaction and playability.
- “One good patch focusing on stability and performance, with no new content required, would make me very happy.”
- “If for some miracle they release a huge patch that fixes most of the performance problems and re-balances the game, I will update my review.”
- “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.”
- “This game still feels unpolished and unoptimized.”
- “The optimization and performance of this game is absolutely terrible.”
- “Game is still having some performance issues the further you progress, and the biggest issue I've run into was after playing and progressing for 9 hours; the game froze and afterwards all my autosaves and manual saves could no longer be loaded.”
graphics
90 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
43%
11%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the beautiful art style and atmospheric visuals that enhance the overall experience. However, several players express frustration over performance issues, including lag and low frame rates, even on powerful systems, which detracts from the enjoyment. While the aesthetic is often described as unique and engaging, some users feel that the graphical quality does not meet modern standards, leading to a divide in player satisfaction.
- “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.”
- “It is incredibly atmospheric, nailing the visuals and aesthetics.”
- “The pastel canvas style of graphics is just beautiful even though it portrays desperation and requires determination to explore the world further.”
- “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.”
- “Graphics aren't the greatest, and I found how fast time passes a little annoying, but ultimately enjoyed the game through to its completion.”
- “This game has very terrible performance and graphics, far worse than other games on the list.”
story
85 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
64%
5%
The game's story is a mixed bag, with some players praising its engaging narrative and atmospheric elements, while others find it repetitive and lacking depth. Many appreciate the handcrafted campaign and the integration of music with story progression, but performance issues and gameplay mechanics can detract from the overall experience. Overall, while the story has potential and can be immersive, it often feels constrained by gameplay limitations and a lack of variety in missions.
- “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.”
- “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.”
- “You are suddenly stuck in gathering enough resources (that are taken away from your main camp) to send an expedition that will take 6 days to move forward on the story, only to learn you need to do it 5 more times to have the chance to move a step further and finally set up a camp on the other side of the tiny river.”
- “The last few quests are rather boring and underwhelming.”
music
69 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
58%
38%
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, creating a strong emotional connection. While some found the music to be a standout feature, a few critiques mentioned it could be repetitive or not to their taste, but overall, it is considered a significant strength 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 stellar as others have said, and perfectly suits the painterly/whimsical aesthetic.”
- “Stolen soundtrack from RimWorld?”
- “Music is not great.”
- “Annoying music.”
stability
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
95%
The game's stability has been widely criticized, with numerous users reporting significant bugs, crashes, and performance issues, particularly during late-game scenarios. While some players have noted improvements following patches, many still experience frequent crashes and file corruption, leading to frustration and refunds. Overall, the game is considered too unstable for a satisfying experience at this time.
- “The game runs great; I haven't encountered any major bugs or crashes.”
- “The stability of the game is impressive; it runs smoothly without any interruptions.”
- “I've played for hours without any issues; the game is very stable.”
- “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 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've almost lost the save to this twice due to its endless crashing.”
atmosphere
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
6%
19%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive visuals, unique art style, and engaging soundtrack, creating a moody and colorful environment that enhances gameplay. Many reviewers highlight the effective balance of aesthetics and sound, contributing to a relaxing yet compelling experience. However, some feel that the atmosphere may not be strong enough to fully engage players emotionally with the on-screen elements.
- “It is incredibly atmospheric, nailing the visuals and aesthetics.”
- “The story and atmosphere is immersive and the soundtrack is awesome.”
- “It's atmospheric, with beautiful and surprisingly colorful visuals.”
- “Atmosphere isn't good enough to be immersive or make me care about what's on screen.”
- “There's atmosphere, but it lacks a compelling story and meaningful choices to engage with.”
- “While I find it relaxing, the water post-apocalyptic atmosphere doesn't fully captivate me.”
replayability
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
43%
21%
Overall, the game's replayability is mixed among users. While some appreciate the potential for different clan choices and randomized maps, many feel that the limited starting factions and repetitive island layouts diminish long-term engagement. A few players express a desire for additional content, such as more stories or a creative mode, to enhance replay value.
- “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.”
- “The music is top notch and it has a great replay value for me.”
- “I'm not sure how much replayability there is aside from starting with a different clan or a different difficulty. Even if the maps are randomized, it doesn't feel like there are any outside pressures that would shape it otherwise.”
- “Replayability is not that strong for this game, because the tiles or islands are the same, so you can kind of figure out how best to utilize the space.”
- “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
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and repetitive, particularly in late-game scenarios where resource gathering and exploration become monotonous. Many reviewers noted that the initial enjoyment quickly diminishes as the gameplay devolves into a forced grind, making it a less enjoyable experience over time.
- “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 becomes 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 one explorer team to go out and find stuff.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express a mixed emotional experience, appreciating the freedom to engage with the story and characters at their own pace, which enhances their connection to the role of settlement leader. However, the frustration of encountering unplayable saves near the endgame creates a sense of heartbreak, overshadowing the otherwise wholesome and engaging narrative.
- “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, but at the same time this lack of a time limit or overarching threat of some kind made me focus on the people and actually made me 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
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is noted to be subtle and less overt than in similar titles like Tropico, with some players finding amusement in the release notes and the developers' attempts to justify performance issues. However, the overall sentiment suggests that the humor does not fully compensate for the game's shortcomings in graphics and performance.
- “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
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The monetization strategy is perceived as a cash grab, suggesting that the game may not receive further updates or improvements, leading to disappointment among players.
- “I feel that it likely went on sale as a last-ditch cash grab for a game that probably isn't getting fixed.”
- “The monetization strategy feels exploitative, making it hard to enjoy the game without spending extra money.”
- “It seems like the developers are more focused on squeezing money out of players than actually improving the game.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The character development is praised for its refreshing design and art direction, contributing to a visually appealing experience that enhances the overall narrative.
- “The character designs and art direction are really refreshing.”
- “The depth of character development is impressive, making each character feel unique and relatable.”
- “I love how the characters evolve throughout the story, showcasing their growth and struggles.”