The Flame in the Flood tasks you and your lovable doggo to explore and survive the wilderness of a forgotten American landscape. Playing out as both a survival game and a roguelike game, you are going to be challenged around every corner in this game. The aim of the game in The Flame in the Flood is to raft down a large and expansive river, making stops along the way, and ultimately finding your way out.The Flame in the Flood is a gorgeous indie game that gives you the freedom to mostly play how you want. Whether you want to play on the easier "traveler" mode or the more punishing "survivalist" mode, you can find the best way to enjoy this game, or simply opt for the endless mode. The following tips should help you out when first diving into this gem of a game.
6 You Need To Manage Your Survival Basics
The Flame in The Flood is all about wilderness survival. As with most other survival games, you need to focus on eating, drinking clean water, sleeping, and maintaining your overall energy and temperature in order to stay alive and persist in this world. This is no easy feat because your survival meters drop pretty quickly in this game.
While this game isn't quite as robust as other more punishing survival games, you are still going to need to scavenge for supplies, cook food, and rest at appropriate places as often as possible. The roguelikes nature of this game makes it hard to know what items you will get next on the river, however, keep a keen eye on the survival basis at the bottom of your screen.
5 Repairing And Upgrading Your Trusty Raft
Apart from your lovable and trustworthy dog, your other main "companion" in The Flame in the Flood is your wooden raft. Your raft is being utilized all the time considering it's a main component of gameplay here. You are able to hop on and off your raft at each new location while you head downriver. However, your raft, like your characters, isn't invincible.
In order to maintain your raft, you will need to make repairs and upgrades at specific locations, typically at the various marinas you discover. Each repair or upgrade requires a specific item or material such as wood or cords, so it's a good idea to load up your pack when possible.
4 Check-In On Different Cache Locations Often
During your adventures downriver, you will often come across specific mailbox caches. These caches are clearly marked and easily identifiable given that they have the world "quest" plastered on them. The caches are valuable since they provide new quests to work towards completing as well as various resources.
You can pick up multiple quests at a time with myriad caches all over the game world, typically near campfires or cabins. Be sure to check in at each one you find to see if you can pick up a new quest or get some juicy resources that will help you survive just a bit longer.
3 Search Absolutely Everything
Simply put, search every single container you come across in this game. Resources and materials are crucial to survival in this game and the only way to obtain good portions of items is to search high and low Searchable containers are clearly marked and can be utilized by holding down a button.
While your backpack can only hold up to twenty items when first starting out in the game, it's still encouraged to gather as many food items, crafting materials, and other macguffins that you come across. Even if you end up having to empty your pack, chances are that you can use some of them in the moment to help lighten the load.
2 Craft Items At Campfires
As mentioned in a previous entry, crafting is one of the necessary gameplay mechanics in this game. You are going to need to craft all of the time in order to obtain the most useful items for healing yourself, repairing and upgrading your raft, and generally just surviving in the wilderness. The only way to successfully craft items is when sitting at a campfire.
Typically, campfires are found at campsites, cabins, or other resting locations. You can sometimes create a fire in other areas, however, it's best to just look for an already created campfire location. Each item to craft is clearly denoted, showing you just how many of each material you need in order to create it. Also, keep in mind, some more complex crafting items require you to first craft something smaller as a building block, so to speak.
1 Be Aware Of Various Afflictions
One surefire way to meet your demise in the early game are afflictions. Most survival games feature a variety of illnesses, diseases, or other afflictions that hinder your survivability, and this game is no different. You can pick up multiple afflictions simply by mistake. For example, you might walk through an area of plants and end up with poison ivy.
Afflictions are marked in two distinct areas so you always know when you have an affliction. The first location is right above your other survival basics with the other being in your notebook. The notebook keeps track of each affliction as well as the necessary remedy, such as aloe for poison ivy. If you find yourself unable to successfully heal or progress, perhaps check to see if you gained an affliction.