Rebuild society after a climate apocalypse in city builder Floodland

Floodland is a city and society builder set in a world ravaged by rampant, apocalyptic climate change. It has the distinction of not being just a colony-style city builder, but a society builder ala Frostpunk, where your decisions shape laws: How people behave and what they can do.

We first got a look at Floodland earlier this year, at the Future Games Show.

What I was most struck by with Floodland was its color and motion. The paintery palette lends it the aspect of an impressionist work, both more subdued than brighter candy-colored city builders and more vibrant than most muted and grimy post-apocalyptic work.

Floodland climate change city builder — (Image credit: Vile Monarch)

Floodland's society-building aspects aren't highlighted in this demo, but they're somewhat present. You choose which people you're leading from one of four tribes, each with their own place on the political axis of Old World-New World and Liberal-Authoritarian positions.

It's a promising look at how developer Vile Monarch has designed societies to be shaped by their ideals in new circumstances, and once you get more than one of those clans in one place I can imagine that it'll be difficult to balance their traits in order to get everyone's benefits. More so once you start passing laws to mandate or prohibit certain behaviors.

You can find Floodland on Steam, where it'll release on November 15, 2022. The YouTube channel for publisher Ravenscourt also has several trailers and videos highlighting the world, its setting, and how Floodland is played.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.