Flintlock The Siege of Dawn Review

Axes, guns, and magic oh my!

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Platform: PS5 PC Xbox X|S

Reviewed on: PC

Developer: A44 Game

Publisher: Kepler Interactive Limited

Release: July 18, 2024

Time Played: 11.5 Hours

Genre: Action Adventure RPG

ESRB: M

Intro:

Here you will be taken through different lands fighting hordes of the dead as they sweep through nations destroying everything in their path. Using a mixed combat utilizing guns, magic, and axes on your mission to take out the gods causing the mayhem. After sprinkling in some minor souls mechanics and a skill tree does that sound like a good time to you? I’ve spent about twelve hours with the game and would like to share with you some of the finer points of the game before giving it a final rating so please stay a while and listen.

Where it starts

The dead have been coming up from the below for a while, and in one final push the Coalition is going to blow up the entrance the dead are using. You will be playing Nor, a sapper in the Coalition who spends most of their time in the trenches fighting the dead back. As the explosion goes off you are blown off the platform into the river below, soon after you meet Enki, a god who informs you that the problem with the dead is so much worse now, but he is willing to help you fix it.

Can the kids watch

The language was clean in the game, but there were a lot of combat sequences involving some blood splatter as you fight. There is also a sniping sequence that slows the bullet down for you to see it hit an enemy’s head. I wouldn’t say it was a terribly graphic scene, but there were some blood lines flying around their head when it happened. Most of the enemies were undead monsters, standard zombies and skeletons, nothing too frightening.

Nor & Enki

Nor is a human, who grew up in a world where gods are to blame for the dead rising and causing problems. Enki is a god from the below offering to help, together they make for an interesting couple to take on the world’s problems. Enki, being a god from the below, has access to magical attacks and curses. He can also help Nor move around in special areas by flying through portals to reach otherwise inaccessible areas. Nor has been well trained to fight with rifles and axes, seamlessly using both in fights. Together they combine their respective abilities to bring the pain against any who opposes them.

Building Reputation

The experience points used for purchases and skills were known as reputation in this game. Rewarded after finishing quests and defeating enemies. While in combat you could build up a minor reputation enhancement by using different attacks, increasing the percentage added to the total. You could keep the combo in between fights, choosing to take it whenever you wanted, but if you took a single hit you would lose your combo, taking the base reputation building up. You also lose it all on death, with the option to pick it back up before dying again.

Skill Tree

There were three trees to work on, with each skill purchased increasing the overall damage of their respective tree. As you moved up the tree some skills would crossover into other sections, mixing things like axe skills and magic attacks, increasing the damage of both in the process. The higher up the tress you go, the more reputation you would need to save up, but those skills would make a huge difference in combat.

Hodgepodge Armor

Armor in the game didn’t increase your ability to take hits so much as grant you special benefits in combat. Nor can wear a helmet, one pauldron, and one gauntlet covering only the right arm. The different pieces belong to their own set, if you manage to equip them all you would unlock a synergy bonus increasing your combat prowess even more. But you may want to forgo a synergy bonus and just take the abilities granted by the separate pieces, depending on your preferred playstyle.

New Clothes

While exploring you will find Hamlets under attack requiring you to fight your way to the local boss and beat em up. After saving a Hamlet you could speak with the local coffee shop host for an extra heal charge, side quests, and clothes. As the game progresses the available clothes will increase, giving you plenty of options for designs and colors to put on Nor, that is, if you were willing to part with some of your reputation to purchase them.

Camp

In between the exploring and the action you will find yourself in the base camp. As the game moves forward and you meet old friends, they will begin hanging out at camp, available to offer you services such as upgrading your equipment. Not one person can upgrade everything, they each specialize in a certain area. Your friends will also give you special Sapper quests expanding a little on their story and rewarding excellent equipment.

Play areas

The game is spread across three main areas full of collectibles, side quests, and a lot of baddies. Their design is linear with branching paths that could take you across the entirety of it, but if you follow just the main storyline there will be a lot of areas left unexplored. Some of those areas are needed for side missions while others hide special items like collectibles or gear. Thankfully there is an option to go back to a previously explored area if there was anything you missed.

Outro:

When I first saw Flintlock a long time before it was released it looked like a fun game full of action and exciting combat. But after beating it I have quite a different perception. I did have a few issues with bugs in the game, most of them during the final fight causing me to restart my game quite a few times before I could finish it, but those issues aside it still felt like Flintlock fell short on a few things.

The visuals look great from a distance, but close it left me wanting. The characters looked bland and some of the enemy designs didn’t feel like I was about to take on a strong foe. Don’t get me wrong, some of the designs were very good, Enki for instance was probably the best-looking thing in the entire game, but as a whole I’m giving it a two.

The story had a very interesting premise; however, the execution wasn’t very well done. I understood the feelings the characters have regarding the problems they had to face, but most of the character growth happened in between major areas with a short cut scene. There were small stories full of love, betrayal, and heartache, but none of them stood out enough to be remembered. It’s getting another 2.

Gameplay had its ups and downs. Flying through the sky from different portals was an exciting process, but not a major feature in the game. I was impressed with how fast Nor could swap between the axe and pistol in the middle of combat and some of the magic skills were a blast to use. I did have some issues with the parry mechanic, it seemed to be a narrow window I had to be standing in for it to take effect, unless I was fighting a big boss, then it was easy to get off. And the combat felt slower than I would have liked at one point I just started to dodge and attack repeatedly until the enemy was defeated. I’m handing out another 2.

This game does not hold any replayability for me. I did most of the side quests and nearly maxed out the skill trees before I completed the main story, and there are no rewards for beating the game, like new game plus. It’s the kind of game you go through once and never look at it again, earning it a 1.

Fun was very back and forth. The start of the game was rough trying to figure out the combat scenarios until I got some skills and equipment to help. After that very few fights turned into a challenge, mostly being the boss fights. By the end I was just happy to be done with it, I’m handing one another 2.

Giving Flintlock: Siege of Dawn an average score of 1.8 out of 5. Earning it a spot on the bottom shelf. I wasn’t expecting much when I started the game, but it didn’t stand out after I finished it. It was available on Game Pass so if you have nothing better to do, why not check it out for yourself, but with all of the options available I would put this aside for something else. If you still really want to check out the game for yourself, I recommend waiting for a sale or some updates to fix the various bugs still ailing the game.