The Flood is a free 5 minute experimental game about paying attention to and enjoying the journey you’re on instead of focusing on the destination. Players navigate a small boat down a river in a region that has recently flooded while listening to calm upbeat music and reading text.

Release Date: March 30th, 2018
Developer: Simple Ghost
Publisher: Simple Ghost
Format: PC Game
First playthrough time: 15 minutes

Major Pros:

• Great soundtrack
• Relaxing atmosphere

Minor Pros:

• Simple and easy

Major Cons:

• Very experimental

Minor Cons:

• Very short

Experimental games are a unique genre. While they tend to be hit or miss, I often enjoy them for their interesting concepts and unexpected execution. The Flood plays with the concepts of goals and hurrying. Often in games the purpose is the goal and getting there as quickly as possible. The Flood challenges the notion of goals and hurrying by presenting the player with a single path to travel and clear end, but spending the gameplay encouraging the player to slow down and value the journey. Traveling the path provides the player with calm scenes and a wonderful soundtrack. There’s no winning, simply completing the journey ends the game. I spent more than the advertised 5 minutes by trying to find secrets or easter eggs, which probably says something about what kind of player I am.

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Overall I found the experience very relaxing and enjoyable, a particularly good way to unwind in a few minutes with good music. But many players will find it lacking (purposefully) in the gameplay department, so if the player isn’t looking to enjoy The Flood for its atmosphere and metacognitive text, they probably won’t enjoy it at all. For those that will, I recommend it as a short free game you can pick up and share to support a solo developer.

Find this game at the developer’s website or on Steam.