I’m always on the look out for games that straddle genres or subvert a genres expectations and that search led me to FloCity. This game is a calm(ish) city builder but you don’t really actively build your city. Instead you take control of a terraforming cursor to map out shipping lanes for resources. Welcome to what I’ll call the Canal Sculpting Game!
Each level in FloCity starts off with a donut of resources. It is literally a giant donut and it is sinking slowly, placing a time limit on each level. You need to get the resources from the donut to your various ports dotted around the level using your convoy of ships, but the ports are likely to be landlocked or blocked by land masses. Enter your terrain tool, one of those things you can do in FloCity. Much like From Dust over a decade ago, you don’t really have direct control over your world but you can terraform it. In FloCity this means digging downwards to create canals and waterways to enable your ships to go from donut to port in the most efficient manner. Its as simple as point and press and the land gives away and your AI ships will reroute mid journey to find their next destination. It provides instant feedback as your ships zip around passing resources from port to port. As levels progress, you need to be more careful about how you dig because rocks, industrial waste and odd city walls get in the way. Dig too close and they’ll collapse in and block your route. Slow and steady wins the race here.
This element of FloCity works well and whilst your powers diminish and need replenishing with timers, I understood what was going on. Sadly, the actual city building element is totally confusing.
When ports are built, you can switch to a building tool to earmark spots for building placements. Ports will then laser beam resources to random plots of lands you’ve earmarked and slowly buildings are created. Buildings mean points and you have to cross 2,500 before the donut sinks in order to win and unlock the next map. The problem with this is that FloCity gives absolutely no explanation on how this achieved. Ships don’t seem to prioritise anything and neither do the ports. Some ports build up tens of thousands of resource and refuse to build anything near them, others are shooting beams across the map, nothing is built in order and you can’t pick where you want to build. There is absolutely no rhyme of reason about what is going on and even though I completed the games 6 levels, I still have absolutely no idea what triggered what. It was as if FloCity played itself so long as I kept laying down some foundations. It was extremely unsatisfying and confusing, and I felt like I was just wasting my time.
Its a shame really because FloCity has a unique spin and a relaxed vibe. There is a day/night cycle and some lovely ambient music that sets the mood. When you complete a level you are taken on an automated ride through your city in slow motion by either a gondola, airship or floating home. It looks sublime and really sells a vaporwave emptiness and stillness. It is all for nothing though when the basic rules of the game are so shrouded in mystery and randomness.
Although some gamers like me will enjoy having came across a genuine oddity in gaming, I cannot recommend this to a standard gamer. Yes, it has a chill vibe but that alone does not make a city builder, a puzzle game or a terraforming tool showcase. I wanted to like FloCity but it was just an empty, baffling and dull experience.
Review copy provided by developer. Out now on Steam.
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