It’s nearly two years since I first got a chance to take a look at a hands-off, vertical slice to Aurora44’s upcoming title,Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn. Back then, I described the New Zealand team’s latest as that of being far-reaching when it came to what kind of inspirations – primarily those in the gameplay mechanics department –Flintlockwas drawing from. Inspirations that may have seemed overwhelming, maybe a little too “…but the kitchen sink” in just how much one needed to engage with and keep track of. In a sub-genre and style of combat-focused set-up that, on a global level, has been approached by teams all over.
Developers of varying sizes and equally-varied ideas for how best to utilize and hopefully build on the foundation we all know (and for the most part, enjoy). I expected this more committed focus on gameplay – how best to add to it – to wind up perilously close to collapsing in on itself. Substance for substance’s sake – an artificial semblance of challenge. In my own words, my feelings were that of, as I put it, naive optimism – a hint that maybe A44’s taste for the experimental could lead to a promising marriage of east and west. The finesse and satisfaction of a Japanese or maybe just Eastern-Asian studio yet with one or two characteristics from that of the Western game development world.
I was expectingFlintlock’sapproach, now having experienced the game’s opening few hours, to come away feeling more like a clash, rather than a unity, of ideals. AA ambition (and perhaps ultimately limitations) but with an understanding of why this brand of combat – this Soulslike style – still persists in both consumers' and budding developer’s minds.
I Am Your Liberator
What I was not expecting…and please, hear me out because I’m more than aware of the reaction such a statement is bound to conjure: was that the more-apparent, specifically-Western ideas A44 would borrow from, could sit right at home in any modern-day Ubisoft game. Wait hang on game, I ask with a bit of a baffled expression. Are you…asking me to liberate outposts? More surprising of all – a shocking admittance given one’s own apathy for anything modern-day Ubisoft related – it somewhat works? I have to start by proclaiming how surprised I am that for what be one of the most overused and relied-on slices of gameplay employed in a fair number of Western AAA games, open-world or otherwise, it’s A44 andFlintlockof all games, to actually find an inventive way to include it.
One’s time in the early segments capped off with an objective to clear a port of enemies. All but one sub-boss styled enemy entirely optional to hunt down and kill. Maybe it’s the fact these segments presented a nice change of pace from the predominantly linear, semi-open channels that the level design is restricted to. Maybe it was the fact that one’s own decisions on who and who not to engage with could become an important factor. Maybe it was the particular music track that plays as you’re boldly (perhaps foolishly) sprinting up, down and through narrow channels as you try and locate the aforementioned sub-boss. An important note: during said segments, you’re never told exactly where your objective is located, meaning that especially on one’s first go, you’re never sure what kind, or more importantly, where exactly hostiles could be located. Either as some obstruction, or in classic Soulslike fashion, a means to ambush you.
A World Without Meaning
There’s enough of a curious orchestration just to these singular moments inFlintlock: The Siege of Dawnalone that it almost cancels out all the other aspects to the game that, sad as it is to report, I feel not just mixed on, but disappointingly lost on. Almost in a fittingly-poetic way, as to bring up the Ubisoft mention: my mood is one of complete apathy. Most of said problems stem from the way the game handles its writing. From character dialogue, to storytelling, to the very world it’s trying to get me to stay invested in. At the risk of sounding so disinterested in what the game is professing without even giving it a chance,Flintlockspends little time putting in the work to make you either care or ponder curiosity as to what all these plot-threads and elements at play may potentially lead toward.
What are the stakes? What’s the state of the world at present? Do people actually care hordes of the undead seem like a normal occurrence? How exactly is this setting grounded – how much relevancy should we be placing in its mixture of fantastical, medieval and supernatural-esque leanings? It’s hard to get a basis for where one should be feeling whenFlintlock, from the word go, comes across itself lost and unsure in its own scramble for an identity. Thrust into the shoes of player-character Nor Vanek, we’re given little time to breathe before it’s straight into the tutorial stylized as a military-like offensive against an army of supernatural creatures.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Receives First Gameplay Trailer
Some faux-emotional deaths and a “you’re meant to fail”-styled boss battle later, it’s onto the next scenario. Here, our companion Enki is introduced; he’s a god you see, but not like the other gods, so he’ll aid us. “Do anything suspicious and I won’t hesitate to kill you,” Nor remarks, because as you may or may not know, it’s “the Gods” who are the antagonists here. Teaming up with what should be assumed is the enemy is uncalled-for. Sarcasm aside, far from original this set-up may be, it’s something tangible. An idea that needn’t require a text-heavy monologue to explain, for players to offer some semblance of a chance in building out from.
One should be looking forward to how Nor and Enki’s rocky start may smooth over and grow to being comrades in arms fighting against the same foe. And then it doesn’t. So many questions yet little is answered in a game that has already given the impression we’ve already skipped four or five meaty chapters of story-telling.Flintlockwants the status of being some high-stakes, against-the-odds tale of a world on the precipice of disaster, but barely spends time giving any reason for the player to feel invested or intrigued by such a conflict and such a world-state. No, some brief dialogue about how Nor feels regret over…something…won’t cut it. Players need something to grasp onto and in its introduction alone,Flintlocksadly does not provide.
“Well That Just [Sort of] Happened!”
But before you can even begin to process just how much we’ve hoped to cover in the span of the first thirty minutes, it’s off to the next chapter. In an entirely different part of the world and what feels like a game with much different narrative stakes and a tone lifted off from an entirely different project altogether. Oh and that comment before from our protagonist of not hesitating should our god-like companion try anything? You’d think that would lead to the start of some otherwise more interesting friction, or at the very least a continuing exchange of dialogue between Nor and Enki as to their differences, their respective group’s past histories maybe? Nope, it isn’t long before they’re exchanging banter and light quips as to how well Nor is applying herself to the newfound abilities her godly, animal-like cohort is providing.
It’s notForspokenlevels of eye-rolling, bottom-of-the-barrel grade “witty” writing, but the fact one’s time was spent concerned about the prospect ofFlintlock’sown respective character dialogue committing the same sins. The issue isn’t that the game is veering in this direction – faint praise this may sound and with that caveat that this of course is still early days in the game’s progression. The issue is thatFlintlockdoesn’t know what tone it wants to strike. It’s not post-apocalyptic at the very least, that’s a good start. A soulslike that’s not going down that most trusted/safe/predictable of narrative/tonal routes. As a consequence, progression through the game in so far as the regions you explore, the settlements you pass through, even the characters you meet become less and less present. To the point their semblance of importance and notoriety is about as crucial as a plank of painted wood.
You’re simply “going through the motions:” go here, do this, run through there, move on, cue the next story-critical cutscene. I struggle to recount the name of any locale or segment traversed so far and while it would be easy to lay blame at A44’s art department, I feel that would simply be a scapegoat for what ultimately feels like a more universal problem with, again, the game’s identity. How mythical is this world, how fantastical is it? How critical to this world are its factions, its antagonists, etc? Give me something more than just “get to the next objective” to warrant me paying close attention. Because a solid-enough combat system – another one ofFlintlock’sbetter showings – can only take you, figuratively speaking in this case, so far.
Investing in Where It Matters
Again, here’s where the whiplash takes hold in fundamentally definingFlintlock’searly impressions to that of an extremely polarizing case of a game of both genuine good and equal bad alike. To bring one’s thoughts back to that of positivity and hopeful faith that for all its writing woes,Flintlockcan at least deliver where it matters: combat nestled into that specific niche of a Soulslike that rewards parrying without forcibly making it the be-all, end-all in every encounter.
Sure, there’s a lot from the very beginning to juggle and keep track of. Your standard, axe-wielding attacks, dodging, parrying moves, using Enki to deliver poise-depleting damage – a system that very quickly proves paramount to tackle given most bosses' vulnerability is dictated by the need to destroy their armor first and foremost. Then you have finite resources like one’s trustee pistol whose ammo is scarce but can be refilled after enough successful hits are landed on a target. Later on, one’s arsenal is added to by longer-range rifles with their own novel inclusion of the active-reload system of timing one’s input correctly for an added bonus to the next shot.
Complimented by an optional boss fight near the end, where two hits can kill you, it’s clear to spot thatFlintlock’s combat is by far its greatest asset. It’s by no means flawless: the sluggish cool-down rate for certain abilities could do with a minor tweaking. Likewise, the clumsy way your special moves are implemented mean that said flashy aggression doesn’t equate to a feeling of inflicting great damage – added to on top by the fact target lock-in is removed and can have you facing in a completely random direction shortly thereafter. But for the most part,Flintlock’sparticular brand of combat is one you can quickly get accustomed to and approach with an understanding of what it is the game wants you to prioritize. Even if it’s not the most fluid-feeling or even impactful of systems – enemies too at times seeming to enter an attack animation without given warning.
So then, how to feel about a game that isn’t shy of throwing up a surprise interpretation here or there. And for around half its total package delivers on a relatively-enjoyable flair of soulslike combat. It’s been a while that a game such as this has left me so on the fence as to where things might be leading. ThatFlintlockfeels so much on a knife’s edge – just about holding out on its strengths, yet at the same time perilously close to losing players before things have even properly begun.Flintlock: The Siege of Dawnis very much that extreme case of a mixed bag whose polar-opposite elements are at loggerheads to determine which, of the two of them, “wins out” in deciding this game’s fate.
Aurora44 have just about earned enough of one’s faith to keep pushing on. But if the early signs are an indication of things to come,Flintlock’s biggest concern, sufficient combat and all, isn’t that it’ll falter, but that its playerbase will have grown too uninterested and apathetic to stick around long enough to watch it unfold.
