Flotsam

First off massive thank you to Pajama Llama games for sending me a copy of the game its greatly appreciated, so let’s get into it.

Flotsam is a city builder on a boat in a world over taken by water, yes you read that right your playing a city builder on the water and at the center of it all is your tug boat I mean let’s be real if you’ve plays airborne kingdom or the wandering village this isnt a far stretch.

So thankfully the game has a tutorial and its really well done it teaches you to move and build as well as how to navigate the map and gives you quest along the way so your not bored its really well done and I enjoyed my time with the tutorial. So my first run or my tutorial run to better put it I played 5.5 hours into it and I managed to do a lot until it all crashed and burned let’s dive into more of the game.

The world is over literally the oceans have risen and your boat is your life line so you travel around in search of materials to use and forage the main one being plastic and wood you see the plastic is used to make what’s called floaters which are basically jugs that wont sink and everything in this game takes plastics which sucks cause in my run there was times I couldn’t find any plastic at all, then there’s wood which you will find floating in the ocean or on little islands where you can cut the trees down and use them to make planks or firewood which sadly both are used alot so the struggle is real so you always gotta think about how to spend your wood as it is very valuable.

Then there’s food I mean let’s be real you just survived the end of the world you gotta eat right so let’s find some food thankfully the food variety is plenty as the first you find is seaweed which is turned into a salad or rope but then you move up to the next tier which is fish and around the world there’s plenty of fish I think there’s 3 different types of fish for you to find and cook. Then there’s the next tier which you find old abandoned super markets and grab food there finally the last tier are the farms where you will find potatoes, corn, wheat and more which I haven’t gotten that far yet. So food is solid lots of great options just gotta find it.

The next problem you’ll encounter is storage and housing which you will need lots of both the houses thankfully help with another aspect of the game.

That aspect Morale every survival has a morale compass basically and the happier they are the more productive there gonna be which there’s a lot to learn with the characters you see they level up but they also have there favorite things to do so its good to make sure you have the right people working in the right spots it helps things go smoother.

Now this is where things started going bad for me I had 9 residents and was working on getting electricity going to make some things easier for my people boy was that a bad idea you see the power grid is very volatile if you dont prepare enough for it you see as your town gets bigger it gets heavier making your main vessel waste electricity faster making it harder to find stuff and progress so you gotta build batteries that help you store more energy but thats not the only problem you see there’s buildings that waste the electricity and they drain it faster then you can make it go figure the game does have a few options to produce energy a bike generator a wood burning generator and oil burner and finally solar panels. But again you gotta know how to balance it so you dont screw yourself over.

This game focuses hugely on production and balance one item feeds into several others and so forth. My next run was much better I had less people so food and water could last longer but with less people production is slower cause you need those people to do everything from gathering to crafting to researching so needing more people is a must but again balance is needed.

My play time isnt a huge amount clocking in just over 12 hours ive come to learn that this city builder really pushes your thinking skills to some im sure it will be a cake walk to others they might crash and burn a few times but not once did I rage quit or get angry at the game I wanted more to keep building and finding stuff to make my characters better and give them the home they so desperately want during these trying times, Flotsam takes a page out of other city builders but keeps it going in an original formula a floating city during the end of the world the games graphics are also very relaxed and colorful nothing to over powering or demanding.

There are a few things I would love to see added maybe a way to make our own plastics also I would love to be able to zoom out more and look at the whole map and not just be limited to a certain area also when your not in the tutorial it feels like you struggle a bit finding people and getting the story going I dont know if thats a user error or if its designed that way.

All in all flotsam is a very solid game and you can easily lose yourself playing it easily sinking hours into it so if your looking for a cozy city builder check out flotsam on steam its worth it thank you for stopping by take care and as always game on.

Bellwright

Bellwright the survival game that takes survival very serious but can it be fun though, let’s talk about it.

But first huge thank you to Donkey Crew and Snail Games USA for sending me a copy to check out greatly appreciated.

So I was recently sent bellwright to check out there new content update called the maiden voyage, now my history with survival games is very limited Conan exiles and rust being the ones I had most time in but recently ive played others so I had some confidence going into this game and was hoping for a good time.

Is there a tutorial ima be honest I cant remember so we’re gonna dive into the game so you pick your character and start in some ruins there you have your first mission now the story from the cut scene is your looking for the person’s responsible for your parental figures death you are a child that lived there life in hiding all because you were at the wrong place at the wrong time which we all know how that goes guilty without a doubt throw them in jail and melt the key type drama. But anyways you escaped the harsh times and lived until now where your brought back to your old stomping grounds for answers and God damn it you will get answers.

The first village you stumble upon is called heardean village there your greeted with a cold shoulder from the mayor which after some talking you gotta prove yourself with some missions one being killing a pack of wolves and this brings us into our first foray with the combat system and boy im not a huge fan at all the combat system feels like they ripped it out of for honor you know circle on screen with an arrow pointing to which way your attacking thats how the combat in bellwright is now for the side swings its not bad its the overhead strike thats the issue since your moving your mouse the camera angles get a bit wonky and makes it harder to follow combat against multiple people.

But combat aside you finish the mission and start warming up to him you keep going until finally you are given the freedom with building your own home now this game world is huge the map is huge and there’s a hell of a lot to explore which guess what explore you have to you see its the only way your gonna come across new materials to help you build stuff this is where I wish the game had taught you more cause some stuff you cant find in the wild you gotta kill bandits or find vendors for it other stuff just keep exploring and hope your able to find it.

For example im stuck on a mission where I need to give a person 2 cloves of garlic well everything ive explored doesn’t have garlic and the vendors that ive found have been no help at all but since the main premise of the game is survive and explore well thats what I gotta keep doing.

Each village has a reputation meter that progresses the more you help them out and trust me you will wanna help them out its the only way to recruit the good workers into your settlement.
Now in your settlement your able to build some of the basic stuff but the real good stuff you cant make until you unlock a town hall and guess what for a beginner game that shit is hard to many resources to try and save or find with no luck so research and build what you can cause every bit helps grow your settlement into the illustrious village it will be one day.

Now for the update the maiden voyage dont get me started on this I am no where near the point I can do anything with the update so I’ll come back in the future and talk about it once ive gotten the chance to actually experience it.

The hardest thing ive had to find in the game is food and telling my villagers what to do im still learning on how to control them and my advice go to YouTube look up some videos save yourself the headache which I need to do so I can get them working properly. The food is scarce you have a couple berry bushes that regenerate but the good food comes from wild life your able to trap rabbits for food but they dont give enough sadly wolves are a bit better but the good food comes from the deers which I have not been able to get any from since there so fast and run away from you at first sight. I dont know if there’s better arrows or what but im stuck with the starting gear.

This game has a lot to do and survival is key as you deal with bitter winters and no food supply as well as keeping your people happy so they dont abandon you. At some point I will have to update you guys with more news i only have 9 hours into the game and this is no where near enough to experience the game as its so grand and offers a lot.

If your a fan of survival games with city builder elements then check out bellwright its in 1.0 full release and just got a major content update with maiden voyage I’ll keep you guys posted down the road as I keep playing trying to survive this game thank you all for stopping by take care and game on.

Witchspire gameplay reveal

Magical Open-World Adventure ‘Witchspire’ Reveals First Gameplay

Enchanting gameplay reveal shown as part of PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted 2025 showcase

Stockholm, Sweden (December 4, 2025) – Envar Games was delighted to present the debut gameplay reveal for Witchspire during the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted 2025 showcase. Additionally, the studio has opened playtest signups via the game’s Steam page, with access to be granted to successful players in early 2026.

Watch the Witchspire gameplay reveal:

YouTube | Download

For your witch and other players in co-operative multiplayer, the journey across Witchspire’s handcrafted, open-world world is treacherous but teeming with things to see and do. Put your magical abilities to the test by casting brilliant spells against the environment such as summoning forests and calling down comets to gather resources or to combat corruption and battle the ancients of this mystical world.

Even exploration is part of the fun as you traverse magically by foot or soar through the air on broomsticks. Encounter wild creatures along the way, bonding with them and bringing them back to help out at your base – a base that you yourself crafted, using your Astral Projection abilities to create high, low, and to conjure the home of your dreams.

Key Features of Witchspire:

From Foes to Friends: Turn beasties into besties with creature collecting gameplay, as you collect familiars to team up with you in battle.
Go Vroom on Your Broom: Whizz around a large open-world with multiple biomes via your broomstick and on foot, but boosted with abilities such as spirit jumps, and blinks.
Choose Your Coven: Begin by choosing your Coven and gaining a specialized starting outfit and passive boost, before collecting and crafting additional stat and aesthetic-boosting outfits throughout the game.
Your Witch, Your Way: Define what sort of spellcaster you’d like to be, with an entire cosmos of customization options. Character levelling and the cosmic Luminaries tech tree allow for further upgrades to your abilities.
Safe and Sound: Design a sanctuary base for you, your friends, and your familiars to hang out in. Using astral projection to move around, you’ll never need to build a makeshift ramp, or cobble together a random staircase to get to hard-to-reach places or to get your window placement just right.

Witchspire will be released first on PC in Early Access in 2026. Playtest signups are now live via the game’s Steam page.

You can keep up to date with Witchspire by signing up to the official newsletter, joining the Discord, or following on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and TikTok.