Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn offers us a solid and satisfying experience, aimed primarily at anyone who wants to approach the souls genre for the first time. The pleasant combat system, rewarding exploration, and a longevity of between 20 and 30 hours confirm the prowess of the A44 team; it's not a perfect game, but it exudes heart and passion, something not always a given.

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn has a lot of heart, and is more than capable of providing an enjoyable playthrough. There is a challenge there, and a good story, but it could have done with that final bit of polish to make it a classic must play game.

Flintlock wants to pack a lot of good ideas into a fresh and exciting setting. Unfortunately, for some of them, this plan backfires.

In the end, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn has a lot of good ideas and the potential to be a standout ARPG. The problem is, that all those strengths are counterbalanced by issues that chip away at its quality. Good writing and acting, some interesting character dynamics, and fluid movement compete with bad sound mixing, janky combat, and inelegant level design. I think that in the end, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is worth playing, especially for casual RPG fans. Hardcore Soulslike players will find it harder to ignore the game’s missteps and flaws.

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn isn’t a particularly necessary addition to the Soulslike genre. It doesn’t stand out in any major way, and it’s certainly rough. It is nonetheless amusing in its own scrappy way, the many tools at the player’s disposal are well presented, and after a touchy start it develops into a decent bit of fun...Just a shame they didn’t stick with the trench stuff. Quite a missed opportunity to separate itself from so many similar games on the market. Oh well.