Flintlock: The Sige of Dawn is a fast-paced, self-proclaimed Souls-lite from the creative minds at A44 Games and Kepler Interactive. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Review Overview
What is Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn?
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is a fast-paced and heavily stylized "Souls-lite" where you fight against the endless legions of the dead and their divine masters. Set in a world where the gods are anything but benevolent—save for a certain vulpine companion—you must survive long enough to close the Door to the Great Below and end the plague of death unleashed on the surface.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn features:
⚫︎ Fast-paced souls-lite combat
⚫︎ Skill-based parry and interruption mechanics
⚫︎ Expansive skill trees for ranged, melee, and magical combat
⚫︎ Unique reputation system encouraging flawless combat
⚫︎ Non-linear map design with plenty of secrets to discover
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn's gameplay and story.
| Digital Storefronts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 PlayStation |
 Xbox |
 Epic |
| Price: | $34.99 | ||
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Satisfying Combat Difficulty Rewarding Map Design Truly Creative World-Building |
Story is Hard to Follow Lacks Some Polish |
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Overall Score - 80/100
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is many things, literally. From the myriad design inspirations of its aesthetic to its Frankenstein’s monster of a gameplay loop, it’s pretty much every Soulslike rolled into one. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing and I do think that the game managed to stand out with its own merits, but the constant thematic tug-of-war can leave players a bit confused at times, if not outright lost. Still, there’s nothing glaringly bad about this game, and I think the opportunity to power game every Soulslike at once would sit well with the genre’s biggest fans.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Story - 8/10
Flintlock’s story weaves together a tapestry of influences, from classic high-fantasy to industrial-age innovations and everything in between. Such a densely themed world could easily collapse under its own weight, but Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn holds it together remarkably well. While it can be confusing at times and leaves several world-building questions unanswered, it delivers about as well as one could hope, given the complexity of its inspirations
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Gameplay - 9/10
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn proudly embraces its label as a "Souls-lite," and it delivers on that promise with impressive flair. The gameplay is fast-paced and brutal, slicing through challenges like hot steel through flesh. For the most part, it feels responsive, showcasing a blend of genuinely innovative concepts alongside a wealth of the genre's most iconic mechanics.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Visuals - 9/10
This game’s visuals had every reason to be messy and incoherent with its ten or so design inspirations, and yet, it managed to pull through with something that’s both eye-catching and unique. The game’s world-building certainly did more legwork in that regard, but its visuals brought these chaotic ideas to life in ways words never could.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Audio - 6/10
This game’s audio is a mixed bag when it comes to quality. The music is top-notch, and the sound effects are equally impressive. However, the same can’t be said for its voice acting, as it suffers from poor delivery and severe audio balancing issues.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Value for Money - 8/10
Although Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn has its drawbacks, its price tag of $35 is significantly lower than the typical AAA game, while still delivering much of the quality. It may not be winning awards anytime soon, but the quick and brutal combat, coupled with its uniquely captivating audio and visuals, ensure you're getting your money's worth, especially if you’re a Soulslike fan.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Review: Every Soulslike, All at Once
Usually, when a game mirrors its inspirations too closely, it's deemed derivative—a mere copycat. At best, it might be seen as a respectful homage or a clever easter egg. Approaching Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn with this mindset, the review would be over in five seconds, since this game is pretty much just every Soulslike stitched together like a certain early boss from Elden Ring.
However, I prefer to look beyond these similarities and assess whether the game can stand on its own two legs, even if those legs were borrowed from somebody else. As my investigation revealed—and if you’d permit the Godric the Grafted imagery for a second longer—Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn took those parts and created something quite impressive, though not without its flaws.
Let’s address the patchwork elephant in the room: the game's Soulslike influences. As the genre's name implies, this is the first aspect scrutinized whenever a game claims to be a Soulslike. I was on the lookout for anything reminiscent of bonfires, Estus Flasks, hearth-like hub worlds, or forlorn NPCs to guide me.
From my experience, this game initially looks like it leans lightly on the Souls
aspect of Soulslike. It lacks a central hub world and NPCs for interaction. The bonfires, while frequent, come in two varieties, and the game's equivalent of an Estus Flask is much more forgiving. The weapon variety is limited, and the dynamic third-person action camera feels more akin to recent God of War titles than Dark Souls. At first glance, the Soulslike elements seem sparse, but the true homage lies within the game's combat system.
Given your characters’ weapons of choice—a light, single-headed axe and a short-ranged firearm—this game’s combat most closely resembles Bloodborne. Indeed, enemies can be staggered by gunshots, and players are generally encouraged to press the attack whenever possible. However, the combat design also draws from other influences. Players can parry and counter-attack as they could in the mainline Dark Souls games. Additionally, enemies feature a secondary health bar akin to God of War, allowing players to exploit staggered foes for execution or further weakening.
The influences don't stop there; the game showcases significant verticality in its platforming and combat reminiscent of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. It even includes mechanics for long-range sniping, similar to those in recent titles like Rise of the Ronin. Despite what one might expect from such a diverse set of mechanics, Flintlock has managed to create a combat loop that is both fun and rewarding.
You essentially have three avenues of attack: melee, ranged, and magic. Melee is the most reliable but also the riskiest, as it puts you right in the enemies' faces and can be blocked by shields. Ranged combat hits harder from a distance, but bullets are limited and can only be replenished through melee attacks. Magic attacks are the most powerful and usually hands-off, but they take time to set up and are otherwise ineffective. This creates a rock-paper-scissors style of combat that rewards precise decision-making over reaction time.
As for other gameplay elements, the game features a semi-linear map with plenty of nooks, crannies, and byways to explore, much like God of War. Exploration is often rewarded with crafting resources and new gear, making it almost always worthwhile to take the side path when there's a fork in the road. These rewards aren't limited to new equipment; some create shortcuts for backtracking or increasing your reputation gain. Speaking of which, let's talk about the game's most unique feature: reputation.
Reputation serves as the game’s currency, earned through your performance in combat. Enemies don't drop a fixed amount of souls or runes upon death. Instead, you gain Reputation based on how quickly, elegantly, and flawlessly you defeat them. Each hit you land increases your Reputation gain percentage, with melee, ranged, and magic attacks contributing different amounts. Mixing up your attack styles yields a higher score, but getting hit ends your streak and banks your current Reputation. This system creates a risk-reward balance in every encounter, encouraging a careful approach and—again—precise decision-making.
Moving on to platforming, it’s far more dynamic and efficient than any Soulslike I've encountered, featuring jumps, dashes, flips, and double versions of each. Fast travel between bonfires is available from the start, and special platforming elements called Rifts help reduce travel time. This unique dynamism helps Flintlock stand out, although I must admit that the camera angles can make it a hellish experience at times.
Now, let’s discuss the game’s visuals and inspirations, which are abundant. This game incorporates design elements from Sumerian mythology, colonial Europe, Confederate America, classic high fantasy, Steampunk, Asian tribalism, medieval Europe, and even Sci-Fi. There are many more influences I haven’t mentioned, but you get the idea. Despite this eclectic mix, the various inspirations blend seamlessly, creating a cohesive and intriguing world made of many distinct and varied parts.
This variety extends to the game’s narrative and world-building as well, presenting themes of heroism, loss, divinity, and duty across a rogue’s gallery of characters. Though they are not particularly standout, including the protagonist, Nor Vanek, they are endearing enough to care for and are written satisfactorily. I will admit that the shifting themes, both narratively and visually, can be confusing at times, but they never openly contradict one another and still come together cohesively in the end.
Finally, let's talk about the game's audio, which is its weakest aspect and most in need of improvement. The music and sound effects are adequate, but the voice acting is borderline unusable. Many line deliveries fall flat, and the audio balancing makes most characters hard to hear over the battlefield's roar.
And that wraps up Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn. It's a blend of influences and qualities that makes it a less-than-perfect but endearing entry into the ever-popular and growing Soulslike genre. It introduces its own innovations and isn't afraid to borrow and improve upon inspirations. While it has its flaws, you won't hear me complain about a game that embodies a bit of every Soulslike all at once.
Pros of Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn
| Things Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Got Right |
|---|
|
Satisfying Combat Difficulty Rewarding Map Design Truly Creative World-Building |
Satisfying Combat Difficulty
Difficulty is an important aspect of the Soulsike genre that requires the most amount of balancing. While the baseline difficulty is higher than in most other genres, too much can make a game inaccessible and unfun. Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn hits the sweet spot by making fights winnable through memorization and precision rather than relying solely on raw skill and reaction time. It’s also deeply satisfying with its speed predictability, effectively turning every encounter into some sort of dance that you can take part of.
Rewarding Map Design
The game’s map design is deeply rewarding with its multitudes of paths less traveled and settlement liberation system. The latter is a unique exploration/combat mechanic introduced in the earlier parts of the game that allows a player to liberate a settlement under hostile occupation. Doing so requires extensive backtracking and plenty of enemy encounters, culminating with a mini-boss encounter designed to test your skill.
In addition to unlocking a cosmetic shop, liberating a settlement also unlocks new sidequests for more reputation gain, and even some NPCs to talk to and play in-universe board games with. Combined with the various points of interest you can just randomly walk into in the game’s semi-linear map, these settlements create the sense of a thriving world just waiting to be saved.
Truly Creative World-Building
Considering all its narrative influences, one might think Flintlock’s world-building was already laid out for it. On the contrary, it’s precisely because of its diverse narrative and aesthetic influences that the game had to work overtime to create a world where all these themes could co-exist peacefully. It’s a delicate balance that the game didn't hit perfectly, but given how far-out and starkly contrasting some of its themes are, it did a pretty impressive job.
Cons of Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn
| Things That Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Can Improve |
|---|
|
Story is Hard to Follow Lacks Some Polish |
Story is Hard to Follow
I can hardly blame Flintlock for this one, as extremely indirect storytelling is a defining feature of the Soulslike genre. Still, Flintlock’s story would certainly be easier to digest if it was paced slower and if it info-dumped less often. It already has a lot more story to tell than most other Soulsikes due to its myriad narrative themes and inspirations, doing so at a hundred miles per hour hardly does it any favors.
Lacks Some Polish
Although the gameplay mechanics themselves blend together well and are mostly responsive, there remain some areas for polish and refinement, specifically with the hit registration of some player attacks and the wind-up time of some enemy lunges. It’s happened often enough that I miss an enemy entirely despite them clearly overlapping with my attack’s hitbox that I consider a point of concern. The same goes for certain enemy attacks which have little to no telegraphed windup.
Is Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Worth It?
Yes, Especially if You Love Soulslikes
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn has most of the charm and quality of a AAA Soulslike at almost half the price. $35 is a lot of money to spend on a game, but this is among the worthwhile ones, especially if you’re used to the $60 price tags of bigger titles. It’s got the same beats and even has some of the same mechanics. You’re going to have to forgive the lower-quality polish and audio, but hey, it’s much cheaper, and you still won’t regret buying it.
| Digital Storefronts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
PlayStation |
Xbox |
Epic |
| Price: | $34.99 | ||
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn FAQ
Will Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Have Multiplayer?
No. Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn was designed to be a single-player experience. There are currently no plans to add competitive or co-op multiplayer support.
Is Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn an Open-World Game?
No. Although Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn’s maps are large and filled with different paths and platforms, it is not a true open-world experience, and is better described as a "semi open-world".
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Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Product Information
 |
|
| Title | FLINTLOCK THE SIEGE OF DAWN |
|---|---|
| Release Date | July 18, 2024 |
| Developer | A44 Games |
| Publisher | Kepler Interactive |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam, Epic), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S |
| Genre | Soulslike RPG |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | M |
| Official Website | Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Website |
