The Flame in the Flood has been on my personal radar for a while, blending survival game with roguelike and taking a much more interesting look at a post-apocalyptic America than most. It’s all over-grown wilderness and abandoned shacks, long rivers and big meadows rather than bombed-out shelters and radioactive wastes. Monsters are untamed beasts, rather than mutated horrors, and there doesn’t seem to be sight nor sound of another human anywhere. Plus, you have a cute dog. It’s coming out of Early Access on February 24th, where its been chillin’ and improvin’ since September.
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The news comes accompanying a new trailer, which introduces all the ways different elements of the world can interact with one-another. You’ll need to react to different threats in different ways, using what you’ve crafted and found to fend them off – but this can attract further problems.
Something about this trailer actually reduced my excitement for the game. It’s possible it’s just that seeing all the mechanics in plain view and interacting like a videogame took away some of the sheen of mystery. The game certainly still looks beautiful, and is exactly what it said it was, but an element of the unknown is gone forever. The perils of Early Access.
That aside, the game involves exploring, scavenging and hanging out with your clever dog, who does most of the rummaging for food. Developers The Molasses Flood are ex-everywhere, including the art director on Bioshock and other alumnis from Irrational. They’ve also grabbed an original soundtrack composed byChuck Ragan, a successful country singer.
The price won’t be changing from £14.99 / $19.99 / €19.99 once it leaves Early Access, something they’re doing right on schedule for their 6 month estimate. You do not see that every day. Grab it on Steam, if you’re interested.