Flotsam

This game has come along way. After 4 years in EA, at this point (August 30th 2023) it still gets regular great updates. It's clear they want to make this the best game they can and little by little they're certainly getting there.
As someone who loves citybuilders I can definitely recommend this one.

Fun game. No story or ending yet. Good for a few hours of playtime. By then you will have researched and built everything and there is nothing more to do.
Game is in early access, so makes sense.

Originally I stated the weight limits ruinred the game. Developer was quick to respond and let me know a function of the game to get around that.
So this is a great start to a fun game. But low on content.

I have been along for the journey of this game right from the start! It is a quirky, fun and challenging game that is full of fun animations.
A great 'survival' game which is different from the rest.
It is just so darn cute!

I've been playing Flotsam a couple months now. Initially I wrote a scathing review because I hadn't played enough and didn't know all the tricks yet. Food & Water are hardly scarce, there are abandoned stores and water towers all over the map. Plus you can cook seaweed, and on the research station you can get to the Water Distiller in about 3-4 days. The rest is resource management, watching your storage, and waiting until the game devs fix fishing. It is easy to fish, but there are 4 types of fish I have encountered, and each one makes only one part of a total meal. And for most fish meals you need 2-3 parts to make one meal. So you'll need fishing boats, a fish unbottler, a fish washer, a fish grill, and the huge food truck (which sucks like 6,000 eels of power during it's operation!!!). And so you spend all your time collecting fish, prepping them, and waiting for all the parts to be ready for 10-15 meals? And if you have 15 drifters on the raft, that's 1 day of food. I stick to seaweed, easy to harvest, farm and cook. There is only seaweed, fish meals & canned food; no other food options. No you can't eat seagulls or people... yet! When drifters die, they will lay and rot and drive morale down. There is no way to get rid of bodies. I've dried destroying walkways to push them in the water, but the body just jumps to the next available surface. With 2 or more research stations, it's really easy to max out research. So I hope they add more options in the future. My most populated raft at it's peak was 18 drifters & 5 seagulls. But my drifters started starving after getting 10, so now I try to keep it to 9.

So far so good, though this is very much an Alpha. Looking forward toward some much needed balancing. It's too easy to get behind on food and water, especially when first starting, and finding seaweed or the seedlings is too cumbersome. Might need to increase the amount of seaweed a seed provides. Sticking with it for the time being to see where it go's.

A very nice game. Loving the whole being on water and scavenging. The graphic reminds me of Borderlands which is a good thing. A lot of details in the structures. For me it is worth the money and support.
It can feel difficult in the beginning but after a try or two you quickly figure out a strategy that works.
- I would like to see more added to the game such as trading, towns and similar things to make the world seem more alive. Maybe a town where you can replenish your stocks, trade with people and such.
- Expanding the research tree even further.
- A bigger world would be nice and customizeable settings for difficulty. Maybe a sandbox mode as well.
- The ability to get children and age would be great.|
- Maybe be able to make an outpost which generates clean water so you can travel there once in a while to refill. Or something similar.
Depending on how small the developers want to keep the game, it has many directions it can go.