Flotsam (Early Access Build 0.8.5f2) is a cute little city-builder with cartoony graphics, some interesting ideas, and an ambitious price tag. It will appeal to certain players (see "Recommendation" section below for the tldr), but in the absence of a "neutral review" option, I can't recommend it.

✅ The cartoony dystopian art with Borderlands-style lines is charming and unique for this genre. I especially like the ramshackle nature of every workstation and how the scrap-plastic paths genuinely appear to be crafted from flotsam.

✅ Multistep crafting requires some strategy, especially early on: salvaged goods must be refined into plastic scrap, which is refined into floaters, which is required to build new workstations. Wet wood needs to be dried to create dry wood and then chopped into firewood so you can distill fresh water.

✅ Villagers have randomized pre-flood and post-flood backgrounds that give morale and skill benefits to certain jobs. You start with three villagers, can recruit more, and can adjust their priorities to boost morale and production. The Steam page mentions that villagers have dislikes as well, but I rolled a bunch of characters and never saw a dislike or negative effect.

✅ Hilariously, your post-apocalypse villagers are as fussy about food as I am; an endless diet of seaweed and fish bits will tank morale, especially on a raft full of foodies. I found myself researching culinary upgrades over survival upgrades.

✅ The map function is pretty neat: You can see resources and ruins, but only within range of your ship or around a previously scoped-out tower. Moving your ship uses eel-ectricity and villagers can only gather resources within a certain range, so you need to be clever about where you park.

❎ It wasn't long long before the gameplay loop of "move - gather materials - wait - craft - wait" started to feel tedious and repetitive. Your villagers aren't particularly intelligent, so you need to turn off stations to keep them on task, but other than that, everything is so automated that I was playing on max speed and actively watching YouTube.

❎ For a 0.8 version, the tech trees are short; in 90 minutes, I unlocked a chunk of them in the hopes that more would appear as I advanced, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

❎ The tutorial is long and a poor example of gameplay. I spent around 10 minutes with it, and learned far more by just playing the game.

❎ You're stranded in an ocean, similar to Havendock , but build your city around a moving boat. There's so much potential for clever mechanics or some additional crunch (e.g. balancing lift/tilt/thrust in Airborne Empire), but the actual implementation is bland.

❎ When idle, your villagers form a single glitchy gyrating mass in the center of the boat. There's a weird "oh" sound effect that makes it feel particularly... inappropriate.

While I initially wrote a "tentatively" positive review for Flotsam, my opinion of it decreases every time I play another city-builder.

Six years after launching into Early Access, Flotsam feels more like a polished pre-release demo than a game worthy of a $25 USD price tag. While the character backgrounds are quirky and the art is cute, the actual gameplay is monotonous and lacking. Progression is limited and largely hands-off, so there's not much for the player to do or engage with. I was bored, and uninstalled after writing my first review.

If you love resource gathering, exploring, and building pre-fab shantytowns, and you're looking for something a little mindless and repetitive to play while watching TV, then this is a good pick. I'd also suggest it to cozy gamers who enjoy multistep crafting and moving at their own pace, or who want a little more art in Havendock or fewer mechanics in the Airborne games.

This is not for you if you like hands-on management or conflict, or if you're looking for a unique spin on city building. You might find better options on this list of City Building/Management games.

Follow Eekz Today for more crafting, life sim, management, strategy, and story-rich recommendations.

[b]Flotsam[/b] (Early Access Build 0.8.5f2) is a cute little city-builder with cartoony graphics, some interesting ideas, and an ambitious price tag. It will appeal to certain players (see "Recommendation" section below for the tldr), but in the absence of a "neutral review" option, I can't recommend it. [h3]What Works For Me[/h3] ✅ The cartoony dystopian art with [i]Borderlands[/i]-style lines is charming and unique for this genre. I especially like the ramshackle nature of every workstation and how the scrap-plastic paths genuinely appear to be crafted from flotsam. ✅ Multistep crafting requires some strategy, especially early on: salvaged goods must be refined into plastic scrap, which is refined into floaters, which is required to build new workstations. Wet wood needs to be dried to create dry wood and then chopped into firewood so you can distill fresh water. ✅ Villagers have randomized pre-flood and post-flood backgrounds that give morale and skill benefits to certain jobs. You start with three villagers, can recruit more, and can adjust their priorities to boost morale and production. The Steam page mentions that villagers have dislikes as well, but I rolled a bunch of characters and never saw a dislike or negative effect. ✅ Hilariously, your post-apocalypse villagers are as fussy about food as I am; an endless diet of seaweed and fish bits will tank morale, especially on a raft full of foodies. I found myself researching culinary upgrades over survival upgrades. ✅ The map function is pretty neat: You can see resources and ruins, but only within range of your ship or around a previously scoped-out tower. Moving your ship uses eel-ectricity and villagers can only gather resources within a certain range, so you need to be clever about where you park. [h3]What Doesn't Work For Me[/h3] ❎ It wasn't long long before the gameplay loop of "move - gather materials - wait - craft - wait" started to feel tedious and repetitive. Your villagers aren't particularly intelligent, so you need to turn off stations to keep them on task, but other than that, everything is so automated that I was playing on max speed and actively watching YouTube. ❎ For a 0.8 version, the tech trees are short; in 90 minutes, I unlocked a chunk of them in the hopes that more would appear as I advanced, but that doesn't seem to be the case. ❎ The tutorial is long and a poor example of gameplay. I spent around 10 minutes with it, and learned far more by just playing the game. ❎ You're stranded in an ocean, similar to [i][url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2020710/Havendock/?curator_clanid=45365863]Havendock[/url][/i] , [b]but[/b] build your city around a moving boat. There's so much potential for clever mechanics or some additional crunch (e.g. balancing lift/tilt/thrust in [i][url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2438680/Airborne_Empire/?curator_clanid=45365863]Airborne Empire[/url][/i]), but the actual implementation is bland. ❎ When idle, your villagers form a single glitchy gyrating mass in the center of the boat. There's a weird "oh" sound effect that makes it feel particularly... inappropriate. [h3]Final Thoughts[/h3] While I initially wrote a "tentatively" positive review for [b]Flotsam[/b], my opinion of it decreases every time I play another city-builder. Six years after launching into Early Access, [b]Flotsam[/b] feels more like a polished pre-release demo than a game worthy of a $25 USD price tag. While the character backgrounds are quirky and the art is cute, the actual gameplay is monotonous and lacking. Progression is limited and largely hands-off, so there's not much for the player to do or engage with. I was bored, and uninstalled after writing my first review. [h3]Recommendation[/h3] If you love resource gathering, exploring, and building pre-fab shantytowns, and you're looking for something a little mindless and repetitive to play while watching TV, then this is a good pick. I'd also suggest it to cozy gamers who enjoy multistep crafting and moving at their own pace, or who want a little more art in [i]Havendock[/i] or fewer mechanics in the [i]Airborne[/i] games. This is not for you if you like hands-on management or conflict, or if you're looking for a unique spin on city building. You might find better options on [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45365863-Eekz-Today/list/138164/]this list of City Building/Management games[/url]. [quote][b]Follow [u][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45365863/]Eekz Today[/url][/u] for more crafting, life sim, management, strategy, and story-rich recommendations.[/b][/quote]