So what’s the twist?
Soulslikes, or at least heavily-inspired action games, are everywhere, with FromSoftware’s influence creeping ever further.
Thankfully, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn developer A44 Games has some clever ideas of its own.
Every time an enemy is killed Nor earns Reputation, but this must be banked.
Temptations await, though: kill additional enemies before banking and the combo multiplier will be boosted.
Kill enemies with a variety of abilities and it will be boosted further.
However, a single hit is enough to lose your multiplier and any unbanked Reputation.
(There are difficulty levels to choose from too.)
Still, Reputation is dropped upon death and must be re-collected.
Bloodborne is the most obvious Souls inspiration, with Nor wielding both an axe and a rifle.
She only has three shots, but these are replenished by melee hits.
As such, Flintlock has a stuttering rhythm and I never felt I got into the flow of combat.
It’s also too floaty.
Frustration quickly sets in.
So far at least, the game as a whole is lacking some variety in its early stages.
And that’s a shame, because there’s potential for some proper magic here - literally.
I’m interested to see what further assists Enki’s skill tree provides.
Yes, Flintlock has its own minigame involving moving pebbles on a varyingly shaped grid to form a triangle.
I’ll take the Reputation received, though.
