Introduction

Flintlock: Siege of Dawn, man this was a game that I was looking forward to since I saw its reveal trailer. I really did show an interesting setting, and hearing that it would have some souls-lite elements and have a semi-open world got me interested in what type of experience this game would be. Flintlock, is a the latest endeavor from A44 Games the developers behind Ashen a souls-like experience that released back in 2018.

Now here we are with the release of Flintlock and I can't help but feel wanting for more from this experience. It's not like I feel Flintlock is a bad game by any means. But it feels like outside of its combat, the game feels middling with things you've seen before and a story that takes forever to get going, and characters that feel very dull, one note. There is a mixture of pacing issue from its narrative to how it handles its open areas, and it leaves aspects of Flintlock feeling a little stale.

Whilst its combat and progression systems can feel fun at times to engage with and I do feel have a decent variety of customization and mechanics tied to them, there is this certain awkwardness to the whole combat package, that feels like a mixture of good ideas, clashing and consequentially making the combat, movement and exploration feeling underwhelming. I think Flintlock ultimately ends up feeling misguided and awkward, with a story that fails to hook or get you invested. So with all that said, there are some things here that I do like here, but even as I write this review I struggle to consider recommending it to you, and I'll tell you why, so let's get into my review for Flintlock: Siege of Dawn.

Story

First and foremost I want to kick things off with the story for Flintlock and man, I feel like this is one of the weakest elements of this whole experience. It feels cookie-cutter, familiar and dull with the characters feel fairly one-dimensional thus far and the overall motives feel a little played out.

So what is the story for Flintlock, well Flintlock see's you playing as Nor, a member of The Coalition and you're caught up in the middle of a conflict who fighting back against the old gods, who're overrunning the world. After losing her friend, who we get to know for all of five minutes we're set on a warpath for revenge to stop the leading antagonist, a god called Uru, and we'll have the assistance of our four legged god of our own Enki. The story will have Nor and Enki travelling place to place and felling each of these Old Gods, alongside her Coalition companions who're still alive. I feel like Flintlock, has this way of creating a scene they want you to feel emotional or have a connection to, but they really haven't built any of the foundation whether it is in the world building, the companions, Nor and Enki's relationship, or even various enemy factions. None of these elements are really explored and it would be fine if the story didn't take itself seriously, but it feels like it wants you to get invested, but it meanders and takes forever to even introduce us to these Old Gods in-game. Overall, it was something that I struggled to care about, and if you're considering this game for its story, I'd absolutely advise against it.

Combat

Now I'd like to talk about Flintlock's greatest strength and that is its combat and more so the rhythm of Flintlock's combat is actually a lot of fun. On top of that one of its strong suits is how it handles different tools such as your sword, your musket, and of course your Flintlock. It creates a nice flow of combat where you'll need to attack enemies with your axe, to regen your bullet meter which allows you to shoot enemies with your Flintlock.

You'll also have your little mythical companion Enki assisting you in battle, similarly to how in God of War you can call Atreus to attack enemies, you can call Enki to attack an enemy and it will fill up a bar over the enemies head that operates similarly to the posture and stagger bars you'd find in a souls-like. The way the game intertwines Enki and Nor's abilities offers up a good variety of kit to approaching many of the different enemies early on.

The weapon feeling of the axe, does feel a little weak like I get this is a double AA game but take the weight and impact of the Leviathan axe in God of War, where you can feel the weight of each swing. Also couple this with how floaty some of the movement can also feel as well and it really does make engaging with combat at times feel a little janky. It isn't just the combat, but even when you jump, you feel this absence of control and I understand why they have this in place, because it plays into the little bomb thing you throw the propel you in a particular direction. The overall movement, and overall control of Nor feels a little unresponsive and sluggish. But underneath these hurdles is a set of tools and mechanics that keep Flintlock afloat and feeling fun to play through, despite some teething pains, with it's feeling of movement.

One interesting addition that I feel Flintlock brings to the table is this combo multiplier which enables the player to see how long they can go without getting hit by an enemy and incrementally rewards them an added percentage of all the accumulated reputation, you’ve acquired from the foes you’ve previously slain.

The combat at times feels like it can be a little janky at times, and enemies moves feel weird to engage with given the position of the camera. It’s interesting because in a lot of ways Flintlock does feel like it tries to tap into underlying systems of a souls-like, but the actual way that it plays is more akin to a third-person adventure.

Another gripe I feel I have with Flintlock's combat is that I do think it throws a lot of good tools and mechanics at you, but I feel it throws a little too much and some of which I feel is redundant. I think the elemental effects whilst I get the curse meter, the rest feel like they don't serve any purpose outside of draining the enemies health. It isn't a major complaint, but it would've been interesting to see different enemies have a different type of response to the particular elemental types. Alternatively, I also feel like if Flintlock pulled back a little and focused the foundations of its combat, the overall experience would feel a lot tighter and fun to engage with overall. Because here's the thing, Flintlock's combat is fun when you're in this flow and using all of its tools, however, like I've said earlier, it can feel awkward, unresponsive with its lack of impact, and this floaty movement which makes controlling Nor feel like somewhat of a chore. I feel if A44 do continue this story, one thing I'd love to see is a much more tighter form of combat that does focus on solid movement, and satisfying weapons that feel good to use, with the other tools being factored on the side.

Gameplay Systems

Progression

Flintlock's progression is divided into multiple different components spanning from the typical Skill trees which are comprised of three different vehicles of upgrades that being your Axe, Enki's abilities, and your Flintlock. These abilities are all quite good actually providing a sense of flexibility and expansion to your arsenal with each new skill you acquire. It makes upgrading your skills feel meaningful and you can unlearn skills too, allowing you to tailor your skills to particular skillsets and playstyles you want to focus on.

There are also a good variety of weapons here to find in the wild spanning from different axes and Flintlocks and they all do come with unique abilities and boons that make switching between each one feel worthwhile, but I did find once I found one that worked for me I tended to stick with it.

There are three upgradeable pieces of gear that can also be found in the open world and upgraded and this is helmets, shoulder pads and gloves. These all come with an ability attached that does in some way benefit your playstyle. You can gather materials in the open world and upgrade these armor and weapons you find, however much of the upgrades will be nothing more than minor stat increases, and honestly I'm ok with that.

Exploration

The exploration for Flintlock takes the semi-open world approach providing some routes that go off the main beat and path offering some optional bosses, collectibles, and these different forts that you can take back called Hamlets which serve as the types of bandit camps that occupy many open-worlds and conclude this activity with a boss encounter. The thing that I thing makes Flintlock's Open World interesting is the way that it utilizes your various different abilities, such as being able to dash a platform, or these interactable devices that allow you to teleport to new destinations. It feels fun, and it makes the world feel open, but linear enough in a meaningful way that any direction or avenue you open up will lead to something new.

In the realm of Open-Worlds I think Flintlock does a good job at making the traversal fun and some activities feel interesting. The majority of these activities are comprised of collecting hidden items, fighting an optional boss, or clearing one of these mentioned hamlets. I think that the side content never feels forced, and at the same time it doesn't overstay its welcome either providing a sufficient amount of this side content.

Performance

The overall performance for Flintlock feels mostly steady, I was running it on a 2080ti in performance mode and it ran well for the most part, however I did notice some hiccups, especially during combat, or when doing some platforming.

Not to mention that the game has this overall awkward feeling to its movement, and given you'll be doing a lot of platforming, it can never feel like you're sure you'll actually grab a ledge or surface and usually you do, but there's this weird lack of responsiveness and the performance issues I unencountered only hindered this more.

It is worth noting at the time of this videos release A44 have released a patch and when I tested the game, it did feel less sluggish, although I would still get dips at times. So keep that in the back of your mind when picking this one up.

Conclusion

Overall, to bring this video together there were genuine moments where I was enjoying exploring the world of Flintlock and at times the combat did feel like it was fun to hot switch between the various tools at your disposal. However, the game felt like it took to long to get to the more meaningful boss encounters, the story felt underwhelming, and the combat and exploration whilst at times provided me some quality enjoyment, it wasn't enough to make this experience feel like an overall worthwhile one. I do hope that A44 take another crack at this style of game, because I do think there is something here that can work really well, but unfortunately Flintlock: Siege of Dawn is not that game, and unless you're checking this out through Game Pass or a deep sale I think your time and money is better spent elsewhere.

Thank you for watching