What you need to know
- Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is a "soulslite" developed by A44 Games and published by Kepler Interactive that released on July 18, 2024.
- The AA adventure has recently reached an impressive milestone of over 500,000 players since its launch.
- In our own review, we scored the game highly, specifically pointing out its satisfying combat and interesting world.
- It's a far more approachable game within the soulslike genre thanks to the ability to change difficulties at basically any time.
- You can play Flintlock on PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Game Pass, and PlayStation 5.
It seems like ever since the massive and unexpected success of Elden Ring in 2022 there has been a lot more attention on soulslike games. FromSoftware's epic action RPG and its lengthy Shadow of the Erdtree DLC pulled a lot of new people into the genre. Even so, some still find soulslikes to be a bit too unforgiving for their gaming preferences, even as they are tempted by the challenging title. Perhaps in answer to this, developer A44 Games and publisher Kepler Interactive's Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn came onto the scene on July 18, 2024.
The developer describes its game as a "soulslite," basically a slightly more approachable adventure within the genre. Recently, the game has reached a pretty impressive milestone having reached over 500,000 players since launch.
A more approachable soulslike
I'm honestly not surprised at all by the game's success, which might seem modest by AAA standards. However, this is technically a AA game and so reaching half a million players is a decent feat.
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So why am I not surprised by the game's success? In my own Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn review, I noted that this game is very satisfying to play. While not the best game of all time, I will say that Flintlock is my favorite soulslite. It provides satisfying combat enhanced by its risk-to-reward multiplier system, a world that rewards exploration and an interesting plot to keep players engaged. I often found myself willing to push myself further than usual while fighting enemies in the hopes that the game would reward me with more Reputation (experience points) for my trouble. Pulling that off always felt good and encouraged me to do it more. Plus, the amount of useful items hidden around the world makes it fun to just mess around and see what you can find.
Flintlock is also easier for a wider audience to enjoy thanks to the fact that, unlike other soulslikes, it allows players to change the difficulty at almost any time if you find it too hard or not challenging enough. There are Story (easy), Normal, or Possessed (hard) difficulties to choose from. This means that more people can enjoy the game at a level that suits them. You can even work up to harder difficulties and get more value out of the game that way. In contrast, FromSoftware and the soulslike genre in general typically only have one difficulty option, and it's usually very challenging.
What's more, you can pause Flintlock whenever you want. Does someone in your home need your attention? You don't have to divide your attention between them and your game. Is someone delivering something at the door? Just press pause and go get it. This might seem like a silly thing to get excited about since pausing is possible in so many games, but it's not typically a thing in FromSoftware titles, which is purposeful since it adds to the challenge. The problem is that it's extremely inconvenient a lot of the time.
Now, I won't say that Flintlock is all good. I'll be the first to point out that the dialogue between Flintlock characters is filled with cliches, and the relationships that develop aren't very convincing. But the rest of the game is enjoyable enough to help look past these disappointing areas. What really matters is that the gameplay itself is fun. In fact, I think it's something most people will enjoy.
If you haven't checked Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn out yet, I recommend you do so. It's available on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. If you have Xbox Game Pass, you can also gain access to this soulslite through your membership.
