Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn – A competent Soulslike with a rough demo

We played Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn during Summer Game Fest, a new Souslike from the studio behind Ashen, and while it’s shaping up to be at least a competent entry in the genre, a peculiar demo left a rather odd taste.

Demonstrating new games to press and content creators isn’t the easiest thing. Depending on where you are in development, you essentially have to pivot your efforts to polishing a vertical slice in order to ensure previews go smoothly. For that, I do not envy dev teams already under the pump.

It’s with that preface I say the demo I played of Flintlock over Summer Game Fest wasn’t exactly ideal. While I got a rough idea of what the game is and how it plays, being thrown to the wolves, so to speak, in a Soulslike, led to a more confusing session than anything else.

Nonetheless, Flintlock looks to be a solid enough spin on FromSoft’s beloved genre at its core, though a brief hands-on session did little to distinguish it in any meaningful way. What makes this one worth playing? What differentiates it from all the rest? How does it improve or innovate on the tried and tested formula? After playing for roughly 20 minutes, none of those questions got clear answers.

A souls-lite?

Announced two years ago, Flintlock is now on the verge of release as July 18 looms. Barely a few weeks out, however, it’s still tricky to gauge its identity. One part Soulslike with challenging combat, a bonfire-esque save system, and resources that drop where you die, it’s also one part God of War, with epic third-person animations, larger-than-life abilities, and some traversal opportunities out in the open world.

In trying to merge the two, without the AAA hallmarks found in its inspirations, the game ultimately feels a little rough around the edges, unable to hone in on any particular strength. In one moment, I was firing off explosives, easily knocking down foes from afar. In another, a single enemy took me out of action in two strikes. Then, I found myself in the middle of a platforming-based puzzle. It was all a bit jumbled together with little in the way of proper direction.

When it comes to combat, you have a few options at your disposal. There are your typical melee weapons, a titular flintlock firearm, and a handful of abilities on cooldown. One such power is to leap into the air before crashing down on foes in the vicinity, all pretty standard fare.

Helping to mix up the formula a bit is an animal companion that’s always by your side. By mashing an input over and over, you’re able to have your companion target an enemy and deal a decent chunk of damage. On the balancing side, this felt a little off as I was able to just stay at a distance and spam one button press over and over, effectively getting free kills.

Before long, even in the brief hands-on window, I found myself simply ignoring most enemies. With multiple sprawling paths forward, I found it more effective to just avoid combat altogether, sprinting through areas to get to the next step in the quest. Though I’m not entirely sure that’s how the game is meant to be played.

On the plus side, exploration was quite fun thanks to the animal companion. There are a number of portals littered throughout the environment, allowing you to teleport from one place to another, carrying the momentum forward as you ascend to otherwise out-of-reach areas. It’s a fun little quirk and could prove instrumental in combat arenas later in the game, but nothing to truly distinguish Flintlock.

The benefit of the doubt

As you’ve no doubt put together by now, my impressions of Flintlock felt marred by a rather awkward demo experience more than anything. Upfront, devs repeatedly said the game is difficult, the section we’ve been dropped into is challenging, and that they’d help lower difficulty if needed. Though it wasn’t the game’s difficulty per se, that hindered the experience, more so the lack of context during our brief window.

Dropped right into the mix, learning controls on the fly, and understanding the rules of the world in just a few respawns, it’s just not an ideal way to come to grips with a title of this nature. Proper onboarding is vital, even if not explicitly telling a player what to do or where to go, the full game will no doubt have a smoother introduction.

So with that in mind, my expectations are in check for Flintlock. It seems to be a competent enough Soulslike with a bit of added flair, but its limitations are also quite evident. Existing in that AA space and presenting decently enough, but not being quite as epic in scope or dazzling with its visuals to draw folks in, it’s a bit of a tough sell. It’ll no doubt find its audience on Game Pass but don’t expect this one to set the world on fire.