The Flame in the Flood

A survival game that hoards atmosphere

I have never really played any survival games before, but a friend who is a very big fan of Chuck Ragan, who created the soundtrack for this game, told me about it some months before release. After checking it out, I kept a eye for its release date, and I have to say that I am not disappointed.

The art has Picasso-like quality that stands out and portrays a skewed sense of despair and uncertainty, while the music does a top notch job of drawing you in to a back-water country river jaunt. This package is put together by a small team of ex-Irrational, Harmonix, and Bungie developers after the post-Infinite breakup funded by a Kickstarter a year and a half ago (October 2014).

You have to manage your hunger, thirst, body temperature, and exhaustion while traveling down the river with your mysterious, yet trusty dog companion. Floating down the river you in your raft you have to avoid flotsam, rocks, and rapids deciding where to dock and scavenge or spend the night. At each location you search for food and supplies while contending with predators and hunting wildlife. A robust crafting system for tools, clothing, traps, and raft upgrades always keep you looking for more supplies and weighing risk vs reward for braving the wilds with the ever present predators while balancing your basic human needs.

As this is my first survival game, I have found myself frustrated, not being used to high-tailing it out of dodge when not ready to square off with a predator, but the supplies and enemies seem balanced with the checkpoints they provide across 10 zones in the story mode. There is also an endless mode is available to select from the start if that is more your style, or for replay value.

All in all, though, I have found this game to be very engaging, from its art direction, music, and gameplay, I'm sure that I will keep on floating to see where this river leads.