The Flame in the Flood
Death waits for her, halfway between the ocean and the sky
Developer THe Molasses Flood publisher THe Molasses Flood price $ 19.99 AvAilAble At sTeaM themolassesflood.com
Some of the most unsettling apocalypse stories are the ones where you’re never quite sure if there’s been a apocalypse, or if the apocalypse is still underway, or just revving up, or whatever. The original Mad Max is the lectotype for ambiguous apocalypse, and obviously The Flame in the Flood is very different... if not necessarily any less brutal.
A closer match is Rivers, a novel by Michael Farris Smith that tells of a near future US constantly smashed by an endless line of hurricanes. It causes the collapse of civilisation along the Gulf Coast. The Flame in the Flood could be set in this world. There’s no sign of war, zombie plague or alien invasion. Just the near-constant driving rain and a vast river in permanent flood.
Into this world comes a dog named Aesop, who carries a discarded backpack to a girl named Scout. In the bag, she finds a radio and begins a journey on the river to locate a signal that could be other people.
This is a survival game, and a roguelite, and to some extent a runner. Scout can only travel downstream, and success is measured in the miles she can survive on her journey.
For the first few playthroughs, those miles are going to be pretty short because this game is brutal. A halfsecond lapse in effective raft control will leave Scout with two broken legs. A night spent in the rain without fire or shelter will give her pneumonia. Wolves crouch in the shadows, and if they don’t spot Scout, crows will scream as she passes by. They want the leftovers.
To discourage Scout from (literally) camping for too long, locations are mostly small islands. As the current
A half-second lapse in effective raft control will leave Scout with two broken legs
drags her downstream, she’ll have mere seconds to hook a rope over a halfsunken jetty and make fast. Ashore, Scout must rummage through the ruins to find resources which she can craft into a range of tools, medicines, food and of course clean water. She must manage her hunger, thirst, warmth and fatigue to survive the journey. Inventory space is tight, but Aesop the dog can carry a few things, and kit can also be stashed on the raft.
If the Steam player reviews are to be believed, real survivalists love The Flame in the Flood because the survival elements are more “realistic”. The focus on warmth and dryness over food, the limited inventory space, the way it’s so easy to lose it all with a single mis-click.
The game has been in Early Access for months, but the recent full release adds a campaign mode. Now there are NPCs to visit, traders to barter with, and of course that signal to track down.
This game has an amazing aesthetic. It looks different, in a good way. It has an amazing soundtrack, especially when Scout is on the river. But the gameplay? It’s tight. Very tight. The game feels small. The vast worlds that PC can offer you? You won’t find one here.
Still, if you want an intensely evocative sense of a world that is ending, not with a bang, but with the sensation of little rivulet of water slipping under the back of your collar... the Flame in the Flood will take you there. Anthony FordhAm