As it becomes increasingly popular, the Soulslike genre continues to pump out new games for players who enjoy a decent challenge, and it doesn't seem its popularity will wane anytime soon. Developed by indie game developer A44 Games and published by Kepler Interactive, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is an upcoming game soon to be added to the genre's growing library. However, it is technically classified as a Souls-lite due to its higher accessibility than most Soulslike titles. Flintlock puts players in control of Nor Vanek, an elite member of a Coalition army formed to save humanity from extinction, as the Door to the Great Below has been opened and granted the Gods and their armies of the Dead free rein over the lands of Kian.
Based on our brief time with the game, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is a unique Souls-lite game, combining diverse features and mechanics from games even beyond the Soulslike genre for a set-apart experience. While it's fairly easy to pick up on Flintlock's many influences, that doesn't stop it from offering features that most other traditional Soulslike titles can't without risking unfaithfulness to the well-established formula. Flintlock's combat and traversal mechanics already appear to be its bread and butter, and it is within these bounds it takes liberties to craft an experience unfamiliar to the genre it claims.
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Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn's Story
Soulslike games like Elden Ring and Dark Souls are generally very lore-heavy, with an extensive and often surprising amount of history behind each game's many characters and locations. There's a chance Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn could be similar in that respect, as there are bits and pieces of lore scattered here and there that seem to indicate a much larger world than the preview let on. Still, there is a story to write home about here, although only a small portion of it is revealed during the preview.
In Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn's story, the Door to the Great Below has been opened, unleashing the horrors behind it to wreak havoc upon the lands of Kian. Players are one of the Coalition's elite members, Nor Vanek, who has been sent to the Door to repel the Dead bursting out of it. Unfortunately, something goes wrong and Nor is separated from her group, only to be greeted by a mysterious fox-like creature named Enki, who is also a god. From there, Enki acts as a guide for Nor and partners with her to stop Uru, a god who plans to bring an end to humanity and the world as they know it. It's a familiar video game trope, but it effectively moves things forward and gives Nor and Enki purpose.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn's Gameplay
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn's Combat Is God of War Meets Dark Souls
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn's gameplay is unique because it borrows features from both Soulslike and non-Soulslike games for an original experience. Flintlock's combat is the height of its action, but fans of traditional Soulslike combat will find it to be a bit of an adjustment. Specifically, Flintlock's combat feels like God of War in a lot of ways, albeit a slower, more Dark Souls-combat God of War. The best way to describe it is as a dance, as players will spend the majority of their time in combat combining appropriately timed pistol shots, parries, dodges, and melee attacks. As its name suggests, the star of Flintlock's combat is Nor's Flintlock pistol.
The Flintlock pistol in Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is not used for damaging enemies as much as it is for interrupting attacks, which makes this particular Soulslike highly distinct from others. It almost feels like Bloodborne in this regard, but not quite the same either. Players will find attempting to take out an enemy from range with the pistol to be an unsuccessful venture, as it doesn't deal much damage. Instead, enemies will occasionally attack players with an attack that cannot be parried with Nor's melee weapon but can be interrupted with her pistol. When an enemy is interrupted in this way, they are briefly stunned and left vulnerable to attack. Despite the pistol's inability to deal with enemies from range, players will unlock more ranged weapons as they progress, which will even allow them to perform critical headshots on enemies.
Flintlock also has a parry system like God of War, in which players can perform perfect parries and then follow up with a counter-attack to inflict even greater damage than a normal attack. Armored enemies in Flintlock, who are resistant to damage, can have their armor broken once players perform a perfect parry counter-attack on them, adding an entirely new layer of challenge to combat.
Once players meet up with Enki shortly after Flintlock's prologue, they'll gain access to a new magical combat system that they can use against enemies. The system in question is called "priming," in which players can build up an enemy's priming gauge by commanding Enki to attack them. Once their priming gauge is full, players can inflict a powerful critical attack on them. Additionally, commanding Enki to attack an enemy inflicts them with the "curse of death," which then allows regular melee attacks to fill the priming gauge.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn's Traversal Mechanics Mirror Forspoken
Flintlock could also be justifiably compared to Forspoken, at least when it comes to its traversal mechanics. Nor ends up paired with Enki, a magical being who can speak to her in her head, much like Forspoken's Cuff. He also provides her with magical traversal abilities like Cuff does Frey in Forspoken, and Flintlock's traversal mechanics have Forspoken written all over them.
With Enki, players can fly through Rifts in the air using Rift Travel, which acts as a method for quickly getting from one location to another or for reaching otherwise inaccessible places. Players have special platforming skills provided by Enki, allowing them to double-jump either vertically or horizontally. Enki's powers also help Nor evade attacks much easier by allowing her to utilize special dodges. This emphasis on traversal is not traditional for a Soulslike, so it helps Flintlock stand out in the crowd.
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Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn's Progression System Is Dark Souls With an Upgrade
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn utilizes standard Soulslike progression but with a twist. As players defeat enemies, they gain Flintlock's version of Souls, Reputation, which can then be used at camps to unlock skills and upgrade weapons. Players can also use Reputation to purchase new clothing for Nor, although it is purely cosmetic. Despite following the traditional rules of Soulslike progression, Flintlock adds a multiplier to Reputation earnings. With it, players can gain increased Reputation as they defeat enemies, but the multiplier will reset once they are hit.
As per usual with Soulslike games, players will drop any Reputation they've acquired upon being defeated and must retrieve it before being defeated again. The main appeal of gaining Reputation is to unlock more melee, range, and magic skills when visiting a camp or one of the game's fast-travel points, a Lodestone.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn's Exploration Combines Elden Ring With Far Cry
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn has plenty of worthwhile exploration opportunities, encouraging players to veer off the beaten path from time to time without ever directly leading them there. It's surprising to see what initially seems to be a fruitless venture turn into an entirely new explorable area, and it is here that Flintlock's Elden Ring and Far Cry influences come out to play. Much like in Elden Ring's open world, players can find plenty of secrets behind every corner and are rarely driven to these areas by the game itself. Instead, most of what players will find in Flintlock will be because of their curiosity leading them there.
As players progress through Flintlock's open-world areas, they will discover Hamlets, which function similarly to Far Cry's enemy outposts. In Flintlock, these Hamlets have been taken over by the enemy and must be liberated by defeating a leader. Once the leader is defeated, villagers return to the Hamlet and players can utilize its newly-opened Coffee Shop to purchase new outfits for Nor, rest, and pick up side quests.
Despite taking some familiar features from plenty of other games, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is already shaping up to be a unique and original experience for fans of many different genres. Combining elements of God of War, Elden Ring, Forspoken, and even Far Cry, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn appears to have a lot more in store beyond the opening hours of the game.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn releases on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on July 18, 2024.
