I know, I know. I don’t have the slightest growing or intrinsic interest in what we’re forced to call “Soulslike,” which in many cases barely contains any “Souls” at all and liberally uses borrowed mechanics and systems that give FromSoftware titles their iconic status.
But at the same time, it’s almost impossible not to find yourself in a more receptive mood when these particular systems have worked together to give so many games an exciting premise and an engaging gameplay experience. In other words, maybe not all of these studios made this particular list of FromSoft hits, but does it matter if they dance to the song when it sounds this good, right?
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn mixes an easy-to-understand central idea of vengeance with a (self-invented) punk-punk fantasy world and, you guessed it, a set of FromSoftware-style mechanics and systems that many people may find recognizable but perhaps a little boring at the moment. Your main currency is reputation, which is used for everything from basic skill upgrades to upgrading individual pieces of gear.
When you die, you lose those resources and must return to the place where you died to collect what you lost. You can do this by activating the Lodestones (which we all know are bonfires) and at these points that mark your progress through a challenging gameplay experience filled with enemies that take good hits, hide behind every corner, and are a little bit capable of attack patterns and visual design. From the HP bars to the interface elements to the overall flow of combat, the source of inspiration is as clear as the aiming flash when Nor Vanek fires his ancient musket at a zombie soldier.
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It may sound like a cruel criticism, but it really isn’t – it’s not what it seems to be at its core. With even Studio A44 taking a page from FromSoftware, they, like many others, have managed to add a subtle layer of class that makes Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn something relatively unique, or maybe just… well.
The world of Flintlock is dark and merciless, in which a mysterious door has opened, opening the way between the world of the living and the so-called “Great Below”, from which a constant stream of undead flows. Nor Vanek is already participating as a sapper in the trench warfare against the endless wave of zombies, but a desperate attempt to close the door forever leads to her and her companions letting the gods out, thinking that they are neither particularly understanding nor interested in helping humans, but rather in forcing them into complete submission. Nor is it about killing the gods, who now enslave humans at all costs, in three huge areas that are not only relatively open, but generously borrow elements from games like God of War: Ragnarök and, in turn, a number of FromSoftware titles that balance on the fine line between open and linear structure.
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Nor moves from Lodestone to Lodestone, using a mix of melee attacks and firearms to defeat a variety of enemies, each with relatively unique moves and attack patterns. Scanning your surroundings for enemies, mowing them down, learning these patterns, and executing quick and decisive attacks is vital, and as you lose life you have a limited supply of healing potions that replenish at each Lodestone.
It’s all pretty recognizable, but again, it would be unfair to call it a complete disaster based solely on the origin of these items. First, “Flintlock” has a rhythm, a loop that is enormously satisfying from start to finish. The wide corridor, which we can practically call “linear+”, invites exploration, and the three fairly large worlds are great for both exploring and looking for a hidden weapon, mini-boss, or some extra resources. In addition, these worlds have a surprisingly vertical design, and while it’s not like “No Rest for the Wicked” or “Shadow of the Erdtree,” the world is impressively structured in levels. If you’re curious, you’ll always find a major improvement.
But Flintlock has other ideas too. As you move through the world, you gain reputation by hitting enemies and pulling off combos. As you use your skills better, both your reputation and its multiplier tend to increase. You can stop that whenever you want. The total is calculated, but if you get hit once, just once, you get your reputation, albeit without the multiplier. It’s a constant cost-benefit analysis, and reputation is the only currency for upgrading gear and buying skills – which is crucial for players to consistently earn enough. So managing the multiplier and avoiding damage from enemies suddenly becomes very important.
Beyond that, the combat is quite satisfying, but doesn’t go beyond the norm. We’ve already seen plenty of individual elements, such as mowing down a targeted enemy while trying to read their movements in individual attacks. You can dodge, counterattack, and combine a melee weapon with a pistol or rifle, as well as choose the abilities of your companion Enki. There are plenty of opportunities to demonstrate a unique strategy on the battlefield, both through an extensive skill tree and a range of crafting options. Combined with the suitably believable physics, you’ll have quite an epic adventure in this Flintlock, and neither the plot, game design, nor combat are the game’s real weaknesses.
In fact, the game looks pretty impressive most of the time. Yes, the more detailed you look, the more apparent the pseudo-“AAA” quality becomes, such as lip syncing, facial animations and particle effects. But A44 has done well with pretty vistas and imaginative art design. No, the problem is probably the connective tissue that technically holds all the actual elements of the game together. For the sake of simplicity, let’s call it what it is: garbage. We find nonsense here and there in this title, and the sound mixing, interface elements and physics mentioned above, among others, sometimes cause problems in maintaining immersion. It’s not a dilemma, in the long run the garbage can be eliminated through updates. But when writing this article, we have to put games like Flintlock in the group of Vampyr, which also suffered from excessive garbage back then, but underneath it beat a solid heart without any evil intentions with a hint of Soulslike.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is a huge achievement from A44, let’s not forget that. This is a relatively small team that has spent years developing a game that the studio competes with in almost every way with a greater weight than it is used to. With that in mind, it’s incredible that there aren’t even more compromises or failed design attempts, because there are few things to point out. It’s not for everyone, but in my case it was a quality summer pastime and for that reason it’s very easy to recommend it to anyone who likes the formula, as long as they overlook a little of the nonsense.