Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Review: This Soulslite Is Fun But One Key Element Is Disappointing

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Setting out to design a Souslike game to be as accessible for newcomers as possible while still catering to veterans seems like an almost impossible task, and yet that's exactly the tightwire act attempts. It's a valiant effort that's supported by some excellent art direction, voice acting, and combat but when it comes to wrapping all those separate components together into a single package, it struggles to stick the landing. There's plenty of fun to be found in Nor Vanek's quest to kill the gods, but the story that ties it together is disappointingly thin.

Set in a «Flintlock Fantasy» world, players are tasked with stepping into the boots of the aforementioned Nor Vanek, a Sapper (or combat engineer who specializes in demolitions) who inadvertently unleashes a trio of monstrous gods upon the world.To make up for her mistake, she partners with Enki, a mysterious yet adorable entity who wishes to aid her journey, although his motivations are suspicious, to say the least. Exploring a handful of fantasy tropes, the duo must grow in strength to defeat their enemies and hopefully liberate Dawn from the tyrannical entities laying waste to the world.

Before discussing the things does well, it's worth pointing out early that the game's story is underwhelming. The actual premise is compelling, especially given how rare the «Flintlock Fantasy» genre is within the realm of video games, but skips over its characters and setting, rushing Nor through the opening segments to get her into the core gameplay as quickly as possible. There's very little context given to anyone and anything, which makes the dramatic opening death, which is presented as something players should care about, hollow and pointless.

The rest of the narrative largely serves as a means to have players move from hamlet to hamlet, striking down whatever enemies they come across. This doesn't need to be an issue; is a prime of example of using a narrative to simply contextualize its mechanics. Yet when attempts