![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
COMPLETE: The Flood
Jul. 3rd, 2018 08:40 pmThe Flood is a freeware relaxation game involving steering a boat down a debris-strewn disaster site, presumably after a flood. WASD moves and... that's about it, really.
As the stressed-out high-strung mess that I am, I love relaxathons, and I really wanted to like this one, too. The graphics and music are well done and suitably meditative, even if it's a bit hard to describe a disaster site as "pretty" or "serene." The game has a very strong message about slowing down to enjoy the scenery (ruined as it may be,) it's about the journey and not the destination, etc. and honestly, I am 100% on board with this premise.
The problem is that the gameplay really does not support its own message, and even in a free 6-10 minute "game" that boils down to traveling the length of three screens before credits roll, I found myself frequently frustrated by what felt like impossible demands made solely so it can preach at you for not obeying them. "Slow down, don't go so fast or you'll miss the scenery, the river naturally flows as it will," the text says, in a game where easing off the W key brings you to a near-instant dead stop and literally the only way to continue is to speed up. "You can't change the flow of the river, but you can change your direction," the text offers in its most fortune-cookie-sounding voice, in a game where the river is a single fixed linear path and there is nowhere to go but forward.
It's... not great, is what I'm saying, but it looks and sounds good enough, and I just do not have the heart to downvote something where someone clearly tried. I'm giving this a thumbs up on Steam solely because I have to vote yes or no (there's no "meh, it was okay" option) and I just can't bring myself to say no. Not when it's short and free and I honestly can't say I'm out anything for having had the experience.
As the stressed-out high-strung mess that I am, I love relaxathons, and I really wanted to like this one, too. The graphics and music are well done and suitably meditative, even if it's a bit hard to describe a disaster site as "pretty" or "serene." The game has a very strong message about slowing down to enjoy the scenery (ruined as it may be,) it's about the journey and not the destination, etc. and honestly, I am 100% on board with this premise.
The problem is that the gameplay really does not support its own message, and even in a free 6-10 minute "game" that boils down to traveling the length of three screens before credits roll, I found myself frequently frustrated by what felt like impossible demands made solely so it can preach at you for not obeying them. "Slow down, don't go so fast or you'll miss the scenery, the river naturally flows as it will," the text says, in a game where easing off the W key brings you to a near-instant dead stop and literally the only way to continue is to speed up. "You can't change the flow of the river, but you can change your direction," the text offers in its most fortune-cookie-sounding voice, in a game where the river is a single fixed linear path and there is nowhere to go but forward.
It's... not great, is what I'm saying, but it looks and sounds good enough, and I just do not have the heart to downvote something where someone clearly tried. I'm giving this a thumbs up on Steam solely because I have to vote yes or no (there's no "meh, it was okay" option) and I just can't bring myself to say no. Not when it's short and free and I honestly can't say I'm out anything for having had the experience.