The Flame in the Flood - PS4

ESRB Rating:
Release Date: 1-17-2017
Moby Score (1-10): 7.1
Genre(s): Action, Post-apocalyptic, Diagonal-down, Roguelike, Survival
Media Type(s): Physical

Now features the option to view subtitled director's commentary in game. The Flame in the Flood: Complete Edition is a wilderness survival game in which a girl and her dog travel on foot and by raft down a procedurally-generated river. Scrounge for resources, craft tools, remedy afflictions, evade the vicious wildlife and, most importantly, stay healthy in a dangerous wilderness. This Complete Edition includes various gameplay enhancements and a Director’s Commentary mode. The Flame in the Flood also features an original soundtrack by acclaimed Alt-Country rocker Chuck Ragan featuring The Camaraderie, The Fearless Kin and other special guests.

The Flame in the Flood is a roguelike survival game set in a post-apocalyptic version of the Southern United States where civilization collapsed. The goal is to have the girl Scout and her dog Aesop survive as long as possible, either in the Campaign mode with different missions and an ending, or in an Endless game mode. There are different strips of land and ramshackle settlements that can be explored on foot. They are linked together by a large river, as most of the environment is flooded. Scout can navigate the river using a raft. The game can either be played with the Traveler difficulty level where there are checkpoints and an abundance of supplies, or in the harder Survival mode with permadeath, fewer supplies and having Scout's stats diminish at an increased rate.

Next to health (both for Scout and the raft), the four main stats to manage to ensure survival are hunger, thirst, body temperature and fatigue. In later stages of the game it often becomes impossible to maintain all stats as resources become rare and then choices have to be made where to spend them first. The raft can be freely moved around to visit different locations, but rapids usually make it impossible to return, so often only one of three available locations can be visited and the player has to make a choice. The environment is also randomized for different sessions. Both Scout and Aesop (who follows automatically) have an inventory where items can be stored, either by grabbing them from the environment or by looting caches or houses. These items can be used for crafting, for instance to create weapons, bandages, food or clothing items. By combining lumber, tinder and flint for example, Scout can create a campfire to raise her body temperature and to sleep or cook. Cattails can be woven into rope, which are in turn used with branches to create traps to catch animals for food. Water can be gathered from many places, but often it is polluted and needs to be purified first, or risk becoming sick. She can also have many types of afflictions and needs to find remedies, for instance by locating fungi. The inventory space can be made larger using a pouch and next to a little room on Aesop, the raft can be used to stash as well.

In the Campaign game mode completing goals is rewarded with items, like schematics to upgrade the raft. This can be done at a marina. Next to repairs it is possible to upgrade the motor, frame, storage and rudder, or add a stove, shelter and water purifier. The game has a day-and-night cycle and many weather conditions with rain and storms. During rain Scout needs to find warmth quickly as well as shelter. Rain also extinguishes flames. There are predators such as wolves in the game world, but it is often encouraged to avoid them. During confrontations combat is played out in turn-based fashion and next to basic weapons many items can be crafted to assist. All other parts of the game are played in real-time. Items can be assigned in a tool belt as a quick use menu with three categories: first aid, consumables and utilities.

*** Data by MobyGames.com ***

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