Flotsam is free to claim on the Epic Games Store from November 5 at 16:00 UTC until November 12 at 16:00 UTC (normally $24.99), so a lot of players are about to start their first floating town at once. These Flotsam tips for beginners cover what to do first, how to keep water and food flowing, how to scavenge without clogging storage, how to lay out the town around weight, and how moving the town actually works in the current 1.0 build.
Game systems below come from Pajama Llama Games’ own Steam patch notes and store page. The priorities and “our tip” lines are our reading of those notes, not official advice.
Table of Contents
Quick answer: Flotsam beginner priorities
- Play the tutorial first. It starts from the Main Menu and walks through the early stages with dialogue and objectives (added in 0.8.5).
- Water before everything. The store page’s core loop is “Desalinate water, gut fish and board up a shelter”. Get a Desalinator running and keep Firewood coming.
- Homes early. Since 0.9.0, a drifter without a home takes a morale penalty, and morale now sets work and movement speed.
- Watch storage space. Since 1.0.1, landmarks and Buoy Makers show an error when storage is full, and drifters will not salvage there.
- Build light. Every construction adds weight, and 20 weight tiers raise the energy cost of moving the town.
- Stay out of polluted regions early. Swimming in polluted water builds up pollution, and fully polluted drifters get sick.
- Claim it on Epic before Nov 12, 16:00 UTC. Our earlier post on Flotsam and Idle Champions as Epic’s free games has the full giveaway details.
A grown Flotsam town: everything hangs off the Townheart in the middle, and floating plastic around it is free salvage. Image: Pajama Llama Games
Which version of Flotsam you are playing
Flotsam spent six years in Early Access (it shipped on Steam on September 26, 2019) before version 1.0 arrived on December 4, 2025. Version 1.0 added a full main story, specialist questlines, two new regions, building upgrades and achievements, so guides written before December 2025 describe a different game. Use this table to check which version you are on:
| Item | Current state (checked Nov 5, 2026) |
|---|---|
| Developer / publisher | Pajama Llama Games / Stray Fawn Publishing |
| Full release (1.0) | December 4, 2025 |
| Latest main-branch patch on Steam | 1.0.1f7 (June 9, 2026) |
| Price | $24.99 on Steam; free on Epic Nov 5-12, 2026 |
| Platforms | Windows PC (Steam lists no Mac or Linux build) |
| Modes | Single-player only, full controller support, 42 Steam achievements |
| Minimum PC | Windows 7 SP1+, Intel Core i5, 8 GB RAM, GTX 650, 600 MB storage |
| Weather | Experimental branch only (1.1.0e04); not in the main game yet |
Pajama Llama posts its patch notes on Steam, and we could not confirm which build number the Epic version runs. If your game has no weather zones, that is expected. Weather is still being tested (more on that below).
Flotsam tips for beginners: the first hour
- Name the town and follow the tutorial objectives. The quest tracker shows the next step. Panels with a “?” button open the matching Tutorial Page, and the Glossary lists every building and resource with its recipes, storage space, weight and pollution.
- Start fresh water. Desalinating seawater is the first survival loop on the store page. The Desalinator burns Firewood, so a Chopping Block (which turns Wood Junk into Firewood, per 0.9.1) belongs next to it.
- Get fish in. Fish are the early food source the store page highlights (“gut fish”). Since 0.9.0, the Fishing Chair can catch any type of fish within the town’s swimming range, not just the small Nibbler.
- Build homes before the first night. Homeless drifters lose morale (0.9.0). When every drifter is asleep, time runs 25 times faster, so nights pass quickly once everyone has a bed.
- Salvage the closest landmarks first. Drifters swim or take a boat out to floating junk and ruins. Their trips take time, so the landmarks nearest the town give the best return early on.
- Only move once local salvage runs dry. Moving costs energy, and the map shows your maximum movement range before you commit.
Our tip: set game speed to normal for the first in-game day. Fast and Very Fast speeds were made faster in 0.9.1, which is great later on but makes it easy to miss a thirst or storage warning while you are learning.
Water and food: keeping drifters alive
In the current main build, the Desalinator is your water source and Firewood is its fuel. Early Access notes (0.4.0 and 0.7.2) describe an Electric Desalinator upgrade that swaps the Firewood cost for energy, so it is worth planning for once Eel-ectricity is running. One warning from the 0.9.0 notes: the Desalinator gives off a pollution cloud when it is used in polluted regions.
Food has quality tiers, and better food needs longer production chains. These tiers come from separate patches, listed here from lowest to highest:
| Food quality | What the patch notes say |
|---|---|
| Icky | Much easier to produce since 0.8.0 |
| Ordinary | The step that used to strain mid-game food production, which led to the 0.9.0 food rework |
| Tasty | Added in 0.9.0 to bridge Ordinary and Yummy in the mid-game |
| Yummy | “Requires proper pipelines” (0.8.0). The Mill turns wheat into flour for it (0.8.2) |
| Culinary | “A step above yummy”, added with the Chef in 0.8.2 |
Since 0.9.0, Wild Farmland landmarks yield only potatoes by default. Tomato, wheat and corn landmarks are rare, so do not plan an early food chain around them. Seaweed can be grown from Seaweed alone, and Pine Trees grow slowly and give Drywood.
Our tip: the Weather update on Steam’s experimental branch adds calories. Drifters eat when hungry, drink when thirsty, need more food in the cold and more water in the heat. If you opt in to that branch, build extra water capacity before you sail into a Heatwave zone.
Scavenging: tools, storage and salvage errors
Most of your resources come from landmarks and floating junk. Since 0.9.0, the junk you collect is split into Plastic Junk, Wood Junk and Electric Junk, and each has to go through the Recycler to become scrap. Tools come in six types (Demolition Tools, Chopping Tools, Precision Tools, Power-Tools, Pumps and Ladders), and each type unlocks different resources from a landmark. 0.9.1 added Containers and Protective Gloves, which you need to salvage liquid or polluted resources.
Storage is where most new towns stall. Since 1.0.1:
- Landmarks and Buoy Makers show an error when there is not enough storage space, and drifters stop salvaging there.
- The Medium Storage holds 40 resources, and the Huge Storage Yard holds up to 300.
- You can copy and paste storage filters between Storage Yards. A Gameplay Setting decides whether a new storage accepts all resources by default.
- Every building now has a Buildable Overview tab that lists all the buildings in the town, which helps you find a full storage.
Our tip: leave “accept all” on for your first storage and filter later ones. A salvage run stalled by one full category costs more than a messy storage.
Town layout tips: weight, walkways and the Townheart
Everything is built off the Townheart and the walkways connected to it. Buildings snap to grids on attachable edges, and you can turn the grid and snapping off in the build menu. The Townheart’s propeller blocks some building space, and the preview shows that area. Walkways can’t be removed if that would cut part of the town off from the Townheart.
Weight is the main limit on layout. Since 0.9.0 there are 20 numbered weight tiers, and each one raises the cost of moving the town once you pass its threshold. The Town Tugger, which needs the Engineer since 0.9.1, only raises the town’s weight capacity. Two upgrades made in the Fabricator cut weight: Gas Bags and the Plastech Floater.
If you outgrow your first layout, the Architect specialist unlocks the Architect Station and Architect Mode, where you can move or store buildings and rebuild your pipelines (0.7.5). Pajama Llama says Architect Mode still has some unresolved issues (1.0.1f4 notes), so save before big rebuilds.
Townheart choice matters at the start, too. Since 1.0.1f5 you can pick a Townheart when you start a game. Early Access buyers get the Classic Townheart. The $4.99 Support Pack DLC adds a Support Vessel Townheart, which is larger, has extra storage and comes with its own liferaft boat.
How moving the town works
Moving the town is how you reach new salvage, and it runs on stored energy. Per the 0.9.0 notes, your movement range is set only by your energy storage capacity, and weight raises the cost of each move. The map shows your maximum movement range, and you can steer the Townheart forward, backward and around (see the screenshot below).
The map shows the town's maximum movement range and nearby landmarks before you set off. Image: Pajama Llama Games
| What affects movement | Effect (source) |
|---|---|
| Energy storage capacity | Sets the maximum movement range (0.9.0) |
| Town weight tier (1-20) | Heavier tiers raise the movement cost (0.9.0) |
| Town Tugger | Raises weight capacity, needs the Engineer (0.9.0, 0.9.1) |
| Torque Thruster (Townheart upgrade) | Faster town movement (0.9.1) |
| Lubricant (Townheart upgrade) | Better energy efficiency while moving (0.9.1) |
| Gas Bags / Plastech Floater | Lower a building’s weight (0.9.1) |
Scouting tells you where to go. It reveals your current region and the regions next to it, including drifters and notable landmarks (0.9.0). The Watchtower can’t spot drifters at night. Regions include the Shallows (no landmarks, but flotsam and fish), Farmlands, Rural Ruins, Woods, the polluted Polluted Woods and City, and the end-game Industry region. Industry is the most polluted area and has Polluted Goop and Electric Eels.
Our tip: before you leave, top up water and food and empty a storage yard, so drifters have somewhere to put the next landmark’s salvage.
Drifters, morale and specialists
Morale runs from 0 to 100 and changes how fast drifters work and move (0.9.0). Low-level drifters get an Expertise morale boost that shrinks as they level up. Drifter attributes also change how fast they work, and the School (where drifters use books to gain experience) was reworked in 1.0.
Specialists are rescued drifters who unlock buildings and questlines. Since 1.0, you choose which specialist or quest to chase through Radio Signals at the Radio Station. Here is what the patch notes say a few of them unlock:
| Specialist | Unlocks (per patch notes) |
|---|---|
| Doctor | Med Pod and Apothecary for curing pollution diseases (0.7.0) |
| Engineer | Town Weight focus, Town Tugger (0.9.1) |
| Electrician | Eel-ectrical upgrades (0.9.1) |
| Chemist | Chemical Lab and Oil Refinery (0.9.1) |
| Birdkeeper | Birdhouse and access to Seagulls (0.9.1) |
| Aquaculturist | Fish Farm (0.9.1) |
| Architect | Architect Station and Architect Mode (0.7.5) |
| Botanist | Botany duties for all drifters once rescued (0.8.0f1) |
Pollution and disease
Pollution shows up later in the game, mainly in the Polluted Woods, City and Industry regions. Drifters who swim in polluted water slowly build up pollution. Some landmarks give off pollution that affects nearby drifters, and resources such as Seaweed from those regions have to be cleaned before they can become clean food. A fully polluted drifter catches a disease. Smogbreath, Spongehead and Musselmouths each need their own medicine (0.9.1), and building a Med Pod needs Medical Fluid.
The Fabricator makes the upgrade that matters most here. An Air Filter installed on drifter homes reduces pollution every sleep cycle (1.0 launch notes).
The Fabricator makes upgrades such as Air Filters, which cut drifters' pollution while they sleep. Image: Pajama Llama Games
Our tip: build your Fabricator and first Air Filters before you head into the Polluted Woods, not after drifters start getting sick. The medicine chains need resources, such as Moldy Paper for Spongehead medicine, that a young town may not have yet.
Weather: what is coming next
Pajama Llama’s October 29, 2026 developer update says weather is close to leaving the experimental branch. Weather comes in permanent zones on the map, now forecast ahead of time, in five types: Freezing Winds, Cold Fog, Heavy Rain, Tropical Rain and Heatwave (1.1.0e04 brought the last three). Zones can boost crops and fish or halt production. In a Heatwave, Dead Trees become Burnt Trees that yield Charcoal and farms wither into Bio-waste. No release date has been given. To try it now, pick “Experimental” under Betas in the game’s Steam properties.
If you like Flotsam’s mix of survival and city building, our Frostpunk survival guide and the Frostpunk 2 factions tier list cover a harsher take on the genre. More free picks this week are in free games this week across Epic, PS Plus and Steam and the November 2026 free games roundup.
FAQ
Is Flotsam free on Epic?
Yes, from November 5, 2026 at 16:00 UTC to November 12, 2026 at 16:00 UTC, per Epic’s free games listing (checked Nov 5, 06:31 UTC). Outside that window it costs $24.99.
Is Flotsam multiplayer?
No. Steam lists Flotsam as single-player only.
Is Flotsam finished?
Yes. Flotsam left Early Access with version 1.0 on December 4, 2025, which added a full main story with an ending. Updates have continued since, with 1.0.1 on the main branch and weather in testing.
How do you move the town in Flotsam?
Open the map and steer the Townheart. Your range depends on stored energy, and every move costs more as the town reaches heavier weight tiers. Town Tuggers raise weight capacity, and the Torque Thruster and Lubricant upgrades make moving faster and cheaper.
Sources: Flotsam on Steam (store page and app details, checked Nov 5, 2026); Pajama Llama Games’ Steam announcements: Flotsam 1.0 launch notes, 1.0.1: Quality of Life Storages, 1.0.1f5, 1.0.1f7, 0.9.0: Radio Technician, 0.9.1e1: Specialist Quests, Developer update on Weather (Oct 29, 2026); Epic Games Store free games listing (Nov 5, 2026).
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Featured image: AI-generated illustration
