Review - Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn... Defusing Review Bombs

 

Image courtesy of A44 Games

Review bombing has become something of an unfortunate part of the gaming community in recent years. I feel like it never used to be a problem until the divide in this country started deciding to politicize any and everything that gets put out. If a character is gay or trans in a game, review bomb it. Protagonist a female? Okay, I guess... but! Is she not as cute as you like? Review bomb it. Those 1/10 bombs do more damage than you'd think, as the people who decide to just look at the overall user scores are less apt to purchase a game simply due to the crushing score a group of bitter people decided to give it.

    Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is one such game. On Metacritic, you can see the user score as a 4.7/10, but on IGN's Playlist app you can find it at a much closer to accuracy 6.7/10. That's a two-point differential that nearly had me skip this game over had I not looked into the possibility of review-bombing. Sure enough, just like what happened to one of the greatest games of all time (The Last of Us Part II), Flintlock was suffering from haters over A44's character choices and their collaboration with Sweet Baby Inc. (a company labeled as being "woke"). This happened to the point of crippling their sales count and likely destroying any prospects of sequels in the future.

    That's a damn shame.

    Flintlock pulls us into the story of a war between men and monsters in the form of the reanimated dead. These corpses have spilled everywhere all over the world with an agenda to make life a living hell for those who haven't joined them in death yet. After setting off a cataclysmic event, the protagonist Nor Vanek meets and unites with a little foxlike creature known as Enki. Enki, a god himself, promises to help Nor take down the other gods of the world as they are the ones responsible for this death march. It's a union of convenience, but the buddy trope plays out well here with similar flavors to God of War (2018) and The Last of Us.

The Good

Visuals first. Incredible. For a AA title, Flintlock outshines its competition quite easily. This may not have been the case upon its release, but I like to review games as they are when I play them. I only know what I have seen, and Flintlock does not disappoint in the visual department. Nor and Enki look great, as do all the characters they slap around in breathtaking environments that span from desert scenes to skyscraping temples.

    Audio-wise, Flintlock has some great things going for it as well. The sounds of the explosions and potshots, it's called "Flintlock" for a reason, are on point especially given the wide range of weapons that we can play with. On top of that, the soundtrack is great. I think the best part of the soundtrack would have to be in the City of Writ, especially as you come closer and closer to the temple, but the fact that I can remember that alone speaks volumes for the musical choices that A44 went with.

    Characters are written well. Nor has a small band of troops that she hangs out with called sappers. Just like in days of old, sappers are the experts of demolitions and knocking things out of the way so the rest of the troops can swarm in. They are known for being the true badasses of the battlefield, especially in Flintlock, and do their best to wreak havoc on the enemy lines. The best character of this bunch, specifically, is the narrator of the story and Nor's father figure found in Baz. Baz is voiced by the calm and collected Elias Toufexis, a veteran in voice acting that brings a grounded level of realism to a battlefield strewn with magic and walking cadavers. The true medals for their acting belong to Nor and Enki, however. The animosity between them in the beginning blossoming to a true friendship by the end is something we've all seen before, but they make it feel fresh and new due to their delivery.

    Combat is another plus for Flintlock. It's incredibly fun. Like I pointed out above, there are lots of weapons to choose from. Muskets, cannons, mortars, oh my! You can snipe enemies across the battlefield or lob grenades that will decimate their whole squad. Get up close and personal, too, that's the design of the game. Nor excels with the flintlock pistol at her side interjecting between swings of a handaxe or crippling hammer.

The Bad

There's not a whole lot here to dun the game on.

    Was it similar to other games I've played before? Absolutely. It reminded me a lot of a game called Stray Blade that I played and got the platinum for last year. There's something about these indie soulslikes that make getting a platinum trophy fairly easy. I was able to do it with Flintlock too. Not that I'm complaining about that. Being labeled the Hero of the Coalition is certainly a badge of honor that I'll wear with my typical smug grin. But what does it mean?

    That's the true downfall of the game. Story. There is lore peppered throughout, but not as much as I'd like. Not enough to clarify some of the things happening in game. Enki explains a decent amount about his past, but even after his big "reveals" there's not much that gets pushed forward narratively. Nor and Baz each have their own moments of explaining what is happening in the world, but there are such large gaps in the player's knowledge that much of this does not really give full justifications as to the gods' actions or the humans' responses. How long has the Coalition been fighting against the dead? Why is it even called a Coalition? How many nations are involved in it? There's a field marshal in charge of the forces at the titular city of Dawn, but who is in charge of the nations around the globe? These are all questions that should have been answered in game, and if they are answered at all they're so glossed over I didn't even take notice. After twenty-four hours spent in Flintlock's world, it would have been nice to know a bit more about it.

The Glory

"Strength and honor." That's the only line missing from the moments when Nor is about to jump down into the trenches of Dawn. Well, maybe also a bit more explanation as to what the hell is going on. That would have bumped my score up a bit.

    Nevertheless, I'm proud to put this game into the Glorious category. It does not shy away from punishing combat that makes you have to decide whether you want to gamble your score with its reputation bonus % or just take it all now before you potentially get hit by an enemy. Audio and visual components hold up on the same level that you would find in a AAA title, and this is only pushed forward by the great voice acting shown in the main characters and narrator.

8/10

Glorious

Like the idea of flintlocks blasting and swords swinging? Check out my book Severance.