SINK OR SWIM

Beginning at the end in soggy citybuilder FLOODLAND

- Tom Sykes

Floodland, in a lot of ways, is an epilogue to the traditional citybuilder. Civilisation is in ruins as a result of climate change, and now you have to rebuild with the flotsam and jetsam we left behind. There’s no lush, untouched meadow to stick a motorway on, as in Cities Skylines. There are a lot of smashedup cars and collapsing houses, rotting boats and wonky skyscrapers, and you’ll plunder all of these to rebuild society, for good or ill.

Even before you’ve set down your first structure, you’ll need to scout the area, sending settlers into the fog of war in search of resources. The most urgent is rubbish, which you’ll cobble together into homes, along with job stations so you can put your citizens to work.

It might be a world of scattered islands in a flooded apocalypse, but at the start you’re almost overwhelmed with resources. Build Sorting Huts to collect the rubbish, Fishing Docks and Field Kitchens to get food, and Water Purifiers to bring in clean drinking water. There’s no radiation to worry about in a game has a refreshingly hopeful tone – we’ll be alright, after the world ends, if we work together.