The Flame in the Flood delivers a brilliant twist on the survival genre. The inability to linger in one place makes the game feel like a proper adventure with some additional survival trappings.

The Flame in the Flood offers up a sometimes overly-difficult survival adventure, but the fantastic visuals and tense gameplay provide plenty of reasons to keep going.

The Flame in the Flood is a rogue-like survival game with great attention for exploration and inventory management.

Flame in the Flood doesn’t burden player with too many details: there simply was a flood, and now a brave girl and her dog are trying to get as far as possible downstream. Good Samaritans are all but non-existent, waters are rough and shores are rougher, so survival isn’t going to be pretty. [Issue#208, p.56]

Whether it be from lack of supplies or enemies after your sweet juicy flesh; there is always something guaranteed to go badly each game.

Its view of America is simple, but simplicity keeps the game focused on survival in a wilderness that refuses to be tamed.

Overall, the experience of playing The Flame in The Flood is more frustrating than nerve-wracking. I get that survival games won't be easy, but their systems should feel balanced, not bullshit. And the nodal method of traveling down river can feel futile in its own way. There's a big, bad wolf between me and any desire to play this further.