Over the last few years Humble Bundle and GoG have handed out dozens of free games, most of which I've yet to even try. I think it's time I at least acknowledged their generosity.
The first time I played The Flame in the Flood I died of dehydration. Then I died of exposure. Then I drowned. Then I was gored to death by a boar.
It's fairly unforgiving like that.
The Flame in the Flood is a survival exploration game that I am not very good at. One part involves negotiating your way down an occasionally hazardous river on a raft, the other is exploring the locations you discover.
My usual pattern of play (in the mere 3 hours I've devoted to it so far) is to seemingly do well at first - my inventory overflowing with useful things - but to then suddenly die horribly through my own stupidity. Fortunately you can restart near the last point of death, but for some reason without most of the warm clothing you'd previously acquired.
I feel like I'm missing out on quite a lot of the game. Building a fire seems to be a fundamental component of success, but I've only managed it once. There's a load of upgrades available for the raft, but I've never come close to finding the materials needed. And there's a Steam achievement for killing a wolf, but that seems like a distant impossibility.
Survival games like this are a bit of a mix for me. I find that the thrill of achieving the next objective is often dampened by the frustrating inevitability of failure. This results in great anticipation for playing The Flame in the Flood, but then not feeling like I've fully enjoyed it afterwards.
It is fairly compelling though. The unusual setting of a Cajun flavoured semi-wasteland, the varied soundtrack, the total lack of any explanation or backstory for your character, the mix of foot exploration and rafting, and the slightly creepy Tim Burton-esque graphic style; elements you'll find in many other games, but blended together in a very original feeling experience.
An experience that will mercilessly kill you over and over again.
The Flame in the Flood is available on Humble Bundle for £14.99.
Actually hang on
Not very long after I wrote this article, I managed to make significant progress with The Flame in the Flood, and felt it only fair to mention that here. Specifically, I figured out how to kill a boar, which was tremendously satisfying. I then discovered that the same technique would work on a wolf, and successfully killed two of them.
It seems the trick to making progress is to never start a new game. Even though you lose some progress and crafted items, restarting from a previous point is always a higher foot on the ladder to success. I've even now managed to upgrade my raft - admittedly only with a rudder, which seems to make little difference to it, but progress is progress.
Buoyed by this progress, I continue. My enthusiasm for this game has definitely gone up a notch.