'Garbage town builder' Flotsam mixes survival and city building in new trailer

Last year we caught a GIF-y glimpse of Flotsam, a city builder set in an oceanic world, back when it was so early in development that Pajama Llama Games didn't even have a release date in mind. It's since evolved into an interesting little game published by Kongregate and due to arrive on Steam in 2019, as evidenced by its new trailer. 

Flotsam is part city sim and part survival game. It's set in a never-ending ocean, so you have to build your town from driftwood, flotsam and whatever garbage floats by in the waves. Hence the nickname, "The Happy-Go-Lucky Garbage Town Builder." Once you cobble together a respectable floating town, you can strap some sails on that bad boy and take it around the world to hunt for new resources or plunder underwater cities. 

You also need to support and oversee the citizens of your garbage town, your "drifters," by providing food and water and putting them to work. They can collect rainwater, hunt for fish, or scoop up more building materials caught in the tide. It's hard work from the looks of this guy's furrowed brow: 

Here are some other shots featuring Flotsam's distinctive cel-shaded art and cartoonish characters: 

Austin Wood
Staff writer, GamesRadar

Austin freelanced for PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and has been a full-time writer at PC Gamer's sister publication GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a staff writer is just a cover-up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news, the occasional feature, and as much Genshin Impact as he can get away with.

Latest in Games
Henry from KCD2 wearing nice outfits
'Diversify your fashion endgame' with this Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 mod that gives Henry fly new gambesons, pourpoints, and caftans
Masked Counter-Terrorist in helmet in forefront with sunglasses and beret-wearing CT in background touching headset
There's hope yet for Classic Offensive after its Steam rejection: The team behind the Counter-Strike 1.6 revival mod is in touch with Valve about its 'concerns'
Orithopter shooting down another in Dune
Dune: Awakening confirms air-to-air combat in ornithopters
Inzoi - A Zoi's face in three graphical presets showing a progression from a slightly blurry minimum specs to a higher fidelity recommended specs.
Oh great, the full Inzoi system requirements are posted and I'm barely above the minimum specs so I guess my Zois will be beautifully blurry
Mark Darrah
BioWare veteran says a big delay is better than lots of little ones, because sometimes you just gotta 'burn it down and take the other fork in the road'
Two rising ronin facing each other
Rise of the Ronin is another crappy PC port, performance patch coming 'soon'
Latest in News
Henry from KCD2 wearing nice outfits
'Diversify your fashion endgame' with this Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 mod that gives Henry fly new gambesons, pourpoints, and caftans
Masked Counter-Terrorist in helmet in forefront with sunglasses and beret-wearing CT in background touching headset
There's hope yet for Classic Offensive after its Steam rejection: The team behind the Counter-Strike 1.6 revival mod is in touch with Valve about its 'concerns'
Recently appointed Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan.
Here comes Intel's new CEO: a semiconductor veteran that won the same prestigious award as Jensen Huang and Lisa Su
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 15: Protestors attend the SAG-AFTRA Video Game Strike Picket on August 15, 2024 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Lila Seeley/Getty Images)
8 months into their strike, videogame voice actors say the industry's latest proposal is 'filled with alarming loopholes that will leave our members vulnerable to AI abuse'
Orithopter shooting down another in Dune
Dune: Awakening confirms air-to-air combat in ornithopters
live action Jimbo the Jester from Balatro holding a playing card and addressing the camera
LocalThunk forbids AI-generated art on the Balatro subreddit: 'I think it does real harm to artists of all kinds'