I'm not alone in my dread of drowning - I can happily swim and I have no fear of water in general, but the idea of being stuck underwater just chills me to the core. Thankfully 'The Flood: Salvation' by CouldGears is about saving someone from drowning, but the idea of leaving a person at the mercy of someone's logical puzzle solving skills feels like a strange twist on a Saw movie like trap.

Putting my own issues aside, the gameplay is incredibly clever and where most physics-based puzzles have a fairly static environment to deal with, The Flood pits you against a rising tide of water that changes how objects react. Relatively simple interactions such as using a floating device to lift a barrier are easy enough to mentally conjure up at the start, but things quickly ramp up in difficulty with players squaring off against traps and obscure Rube Goldberg constructions to ensure 'Joe' reaches the surface.

A bit of trial and error is required on most later levels to truly understand the interactions available to you, but it's this experimentation that proves to be immensely fun, especially when you take your time to consider collecting bonus coins scattered around the level as well. A hint button is available, though it's help is limited, especially when it simply points out obvious elements without providing a hint to the solution itself.

The Flood won't win any prizes for its fairly basic presentation, but new objects are easy to identify and the frame-rate remains solid even with multiple objects performing complex tasks while Joe flails his way to the top of the screen.

The difficulty curve for The Flood: Salvation may catch some gamers flat-footed, but for a game in a genre that has had more than its share of imitators, this one manages to truly stand out and provide something unique. Worth checking out if you're a fan of puzzling titles.