Sieges are prolonged military campaigns rooting out a city or a settlement’s inhabitants and defenders. Fortunately, soulslite action RPG Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn‘s campaign isn’t an excruciatingly long siege, despite its title. It offers players an entertaining gameplay loop that manages not to overstay its welcome. I’m mightily impressed by Flintlock’s surprisingly meaty primary campaign and many side quests, though I am not overly familiar with the soulslite genre or excessively fond of video game shooting mechanics.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn tells the tale of Nor Vanek, a soldier called a Sapper in this dark fantasy world. The dead have risen behind a shimmering gate in the city Dawn, with the Coalition’s Sappers and their trusty flintlock pistols as the first line of defense in the trenches, holding back the hordes. Nor’s adopted father Baz, a Sapper long overdue for retirement, volunteers for a suicide mission believed to be the only chance to truly stop the invasion from spreading, the news not sitting well with Nor. She forces herself onto the mission team, only for things to go horrifically wrong when they pass through the gate and into a terrifying encounter with a god from the mythic realms below.
Upon regaining consciousness, Nor encounters Enki, a small, talking foxlike creature who informs her that the gods have escaped into her world to wreak havoc alongside the unconfined dead. Enki just so happens to be a weakened god himself, offering Nor a proposal: help him defeat his brethren to save what remains and maybe, just maybe, gain vengeance for both of them in the process. Nor reluctantly agrees, which begins their tentative partnership. Together, they travel to three different regions of the world and assemble a ragtag team of experts to take down the doors of Dawn for good while killing malicious gods along the way. What secrets will they uncover, and will their quest even succeed?
An action RPG, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn’s most significant draw is undoubtedly its combat mechanics. The game boasts an exciting fighting approach, as Nor initially carries a pistol and an axe to provide her with some traditional combo-based melee attacks with the opportunity to damage foes from a distance. She only has so many black powder charges at her disposal, so you have to strategize when it’s best to pull off a shot versus going in with slashing. However, you replenish charges through melee combat, making their brief absence negligible if you play your cards right. Eventually, Nor also gains access to longer-range “sniping” firearms such as a musket. They’re slower to use but can be downright powerful when strategically implemented, like pulling off a shot against one of the dead enemies who explodes on contact, potentially taking out multiple enemies at once.
Once Nor and Enki team up, Enki will provide magical assistance in combat with a simple button press. Magic attacks can curse opponents to speed up their demise, and attaching different mystical stones to Enki gives his attacks added status effects like poisoning a target enemy. When the magic meter fills up during combat, Enki can perform a devastating super move that holds foes in place to damage them further. Combat in Flintlock starts clunkily but becomes more fluid with practice. I had a blast seamlessly switching between melee and pistol attacks despite not usually being the best with shooting mechanics. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as successfully pulling off a critical attack or counter in Flintlock!
Given that the game includes three main types of combat, a robust skill tree allows you to customize further and strengthen Nor and Enki as you see fit. Nor earns reputation as you battle enemies, beat opponents at an optional minigame called Sebo, or complete quests. Reputation serves as the game’s currency and experience point system. You need it alongside gathered crafting materials to upgrade equipment and items, though you also spend it at shops and advancing the three branches of the skill tree: melee, pistol, and magic. I tended to focus more on melee and magic, making Nor a powerhouse frontline fighter. Still, the ways you can experiment to create a unique playstyle is entertaining. My only real complaint with the reputation system is that you constantly have to choose between strengthening Nor’s skillset or gear, but that’s also another way you can tailor the game experience.
When defeated in combat or through environmental challenges such as not sticking a potentially tricky landing, you return to the last fast-travel checkpoint you visited. These checkpoints will be a lodestone or campsite on the world map or a coffee shop in a safe-zone hamlet that you liberated from an area’s tougher sub-boss. When defeated, you lose any reputation you gained beforehand if you hadn’t already spent it, requiring you to travel to where you perished to reclaim it. Unfortunately for me, that often meant returning to potent boss fights and getting defeated again if I failed to reclaim the reputation beforehand, making those points again lost on subsequent retries. That is certainly frustrating, especially if you’re saving up reputation for a specific reason but have to start all over.
As far as difficulty goes, there’s quite a bit of potential challenge in Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, especially when dealing with god fights or horde battles. I had to restart one particular boss fight several times before devising a workable strategy. The challenges aren’t insurmountable; they require you to think carefully and strategize. This surmountable challenge is even true when positioning yourself during teleportation or platforming sequences on the world map. They’re fun, but only if you can determine how to approach them best. I credit the game for becoming more accessible through its three difficulty modes, allowing you to make it challenging or less intimidating as desired without penalty and allowing change between the modes whenever and however you wish. There’s a gratifying feeling when you manage to conquer the fights and challenges that wait for you in Flintlock. I even went out of my way to uncover new areas of each region’s map to discover new side quests to complete.
Visually, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn has a graphics and art presentation reminiscent of many other WRPGs, especially in its serviceable but not at all unique UI. I do appreciate the burst of color sometimes in the game’s world, though, as I don’t tend to associate that with Dark Souls-esque titles. Plus, the character and monster designs are eye-catching, particularly for Nor, the coffee house hostesses, Enki, and the other god characters. The game’s camera angles are decent, though there was one boss fight and horde battle where I somehow mislodged the camera, missing critical visual cues. Occasionally, glitches such as floating characters also occur, but I enjoy Flintlock’s graphics overall.
The story and script work for Flintlock are exceptionally well-written, even with much of the world-building relegated to overheard ambient conversations and found literature. I enjoy how Enki’s wide-eyed innocence and wonder about the mortal realm, such as his reaction to a water wheel, translated to Nor sharing insightful moments with him. I also really liked how much of the world-building stems from their dialogue. Seeing the way they talk together change as their partnership evolves is fascinating. Enki is an excellent character with a lot of complexity and depth, even if I sometimes call him “Goth Carbuncle” under my breath! Nor is terrific, too. I love how she’s shown to be extremely capable but still kind and thoughtful. She’s driven yet depicted differently from how I initially thought she’d be from early game trailers. Nor and Enki’s dynamic is the narrative’s heart and soul. However, I also love the importance of the familial bond between Nor and her father figure, Baz, and the dynamic personalities and viewpoints of the small cast of supporting characters traveling with them.
The sound effects, in particular, are amazing throughout Flintlock. One sidequest, in particular, has you exploring what you think is an abandoned derelict manor, and the footsteps creaking with every movement further helped illustrate how unsettling the area is. Voice acting is also top-notch, with special kudos to Nor’s and Enki’s actors for their passionate performances. Some excellent music pieces were sprinkled throughout the soundtrack, though the haunting central theme, “Flintlock,” with vocals by Monica Martin, deserves special mention.
It took me roughly fifteen hours to play Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, but I could see it taking someone else either longer or shorter, depending on how they approach the game world, battles, and quests. I enjoyed every moment I played it and was astounded whenever I uncovered something new about one of its massive areas or thrilled when I came up with a winning strategy for a tough fight. Regardless of your thoughts on soulslite games, I think Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn succeeds at being an engaging action RPG. Nor and Enki are fantastic characters with whom I immensely enjoyed traveling. There’s more than enough black powder charge left in this pistol to make a spark happen if you decide to pull the trigger!
