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: The Siege of Dawn is a massive achievement by A44, let's not forget that. This is a relatively small team that has spent years realising a game that in almost every way competes far outside the team's normal weight class. In that sense, it's amazing that there aren't more compromises or failed design attempts, because there are very few things you can point to that really don't work here. It's not for everyone, but for me this has been solid summer entertainment, and for that reason it's pretty easy to recommend to anyone with a penchant for this formula, as long as you can overlook the jank.

Flintlock is a fun "Soulslite" that has an interesting plot despite bad storytelling. It will hook you with its satisfying combat, fast-paced exploration, and fascinating environments. You're armed with an axe, a pistol, and magic while going up against both human and supernatural foes with a fox-like creature at your side. Knowing when to use what attack makes all the difference. There are three difficulty modes to choose from, so you can find the best playing experience. Plus, this game allows you to pause whenever you want, making it more accommodating than other Soulslike games out there.

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is a lot of fun if you engage with all of it. At first, I was flying through the main quest before I slowed down and explored every inch of each map. Once I made that change I went from enjoying my time to loving it. It’s not the tightest game out there, but it has a lot of great ideas that come together for a package well worth experience.

With a stimulating combat system and an ambitious proposal of accessibility for soulslike newcomers, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn oscillates between highs and lows. A well-constructed story could also make the game better, especially given the potential of the Flintlock universe, but studio A44 has left this point too far aside and prevented the action RPG from taking higher flights.

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.

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

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn tries to chart its own path down the ever-growing souls-lite genre. In some ways, like exploration and its reputation system, it succeeds. In others, especially with its late-game combat, Flintlock shows more rust than polish. More balance felt needed in the grand scheme of things. Simple amounts of grinding or just getting into the groove of things trivialize most challenges that previously made you sweat. Everything together creates a package that at first feels hopeful and intriguing but ends in a chamber full of wet gunpowder.

By the time we rolled credits, that was the prevailing feeling we were left with. While we found more enjoyment in the latter two thirds of Flintlock than in the initial intro and opening area, we couldn't help but feel let down by Flintlock in almost every way. It's still a competent action-RPG that you can have fun with, and the pieces of the experience have been stitched together decently - Game Pass is a great way to check it out. However, so much here feels underdeveloped or half-finished that Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn was likely most damaged by its ambition when the project was in its early days. Now, in July 2024, upon the game's release, we get the sense that the ammo in the development chamber simply ran out.

Despite its ambitions, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn turned out to be an unnecessary and thoroughly secondary game. All interesting ideas were not properly realized, while the ending of the story is disappointing.