Flame in the Flood vs Sphere - Flying Cities
Flame in the Flood
Flame in the Flood is a rather unique survival game that's developed by the ex-developers of Bioshock. Instead of featuring an open world, the game places you on a rickety raft, which you can then upgrade as you gather the necessary materials, that's being dragged down a long windy river. The waters aren't always smooth and easily navigatable as you might expect and from time to time, particularly in between "zones", you'll encounter a stretch of whitewater rapids that will truly challenge your rafting skills.In this game, you will also encounter locations where you can dock your raft at and explore. From churches to farms, each location offers varying amount of resources for you to gather, and if you're lucky, a place for you to take shelter for the night. These locations aren't all safe though! Aside from the more harmless wildlife like rabbits, you may encounter dangerous animals that can cause severe harm to your character - you may even die either from being gored by a wild boar or from injuries sustained from the fight.
As a survival game, there are several indicators that you'll need to keep your eyes on. Fail to do so and you may die of exhaustion, thirst, hunger or hypothermia. The game also features a pretty in-depth crafting system where you can produce useful items like bandages for your wounds and clothes to keep your character warm.
Flame in the Flood is a truly hardcore survival game. It's merciless in its gameplay, pitting you against challenges after challenges until your character can take no more. If you get frustrated easily, this is definitely not for you, but if you love a challenge, you might just want to give this game a try.
Sphere - Flying Cities
Sphere - Flying Cities is a city-building game that’s somewhat similar to Frostpunk except that it has a sci-fi theme, and allows for more exploration. Set in a world devastated by an asteroid, the remnants of humanity has managed to invent an anti-gravity machine which allows them to levitate a chunk of earth’s surface and move that piece of floating island around a world enveloped by debris and other dangers.Unfortunately, Sphere – Flying Cities falls short of what it aspires to be. The bugs and glitches aside, the gameplay here feels slow – very unlike the kind of urgency that Frostpunk offers, and the amount of player control over how many workers to assign to a facility is oddly restrictive for a city-builder. Personally, I would recommend keeping this game on your wishlist first and let the devs work on improving their game.