Flintlock could be the perfect entry point into the Soulslike genre

When I think of Soulslikes, somber images of Dark Souls immediately come to mind. No wonder, since the game practically invented the genre and is incredibly popular. However, it is particularly known for its tough bosses, for whose victory one can reap a lot of admiration on the net. This is also where the greatest difficulty lies for beginners, because it often feels like being thrown into cold water – not in a calm lake, but in wild waters that only professionals otherwise dare to venture into. Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn could be just the right alternative.

From where I know this? Well, I got to see some Flintlock gameplay at Gamescom. No pre-recorded video, but played live for me on site. While I would have liked to have been able to hold the controller myself, I think it made sense to put someone there who already had some practice and more to offer than a gray death screen.

A Soulslite? Only if you want!

Flintlock, unlike FromSoftware’s Souls games, will use different difficulty levels. An easy mode, where we can enjoy the complex story and experience success faster, and a hard mode, where even the die-hard Souls fans get their money’s worth, ensure the right experience for every player.

The open world in Flintlock is not a depressing hole, but is a little brighter and more colorful than the pioneers of the genre. All hope has not been sucked out of the world everywhere, suffering, death and ruin are not everywhere. Nevertheless, the enemies and other NPCs look pretty epic – even if they don’t quite come close to the ingenious nightmares from Dark Souls, Elden Ring and Co. But in Flintlock there is a little black fox named Inkie (or Inky) who accompanies us at every turn and just makes me a little bit happier to look at. No, there would never be anything like that in a Dark Souls.

Inkie the fox can steal energy from opponents to let you use your ultimate faster, teleport or give you buffs, and distract smaller enemies so you can focus solely on the boss. You can use potions to heal yourself along the way and have the ability to rip off enemies’ armor to do more damage.

The hurdle for beginners is lower

Defeating an enemy with an ax grants you passive ammo, killing her with a gun grants armor. This is how developer A44 Games invites you to experiment and ensures that you are prepared for close combat in the event of the ammo shortage and vice versa.

In addition, a safe zone is created at all locations where you have tripped an enemy. The well-known campfire mechanism is also practical. This always grows as you progress in the story and meet new people – and you can summon it pretty much anywhere and don’t have to waste time going back home.

It’s an all-around more beginner-friendly approach, and I really like that. This is also reflected in the combat system, because you are very flexible when it comes to how you want to fight. Various skill trees enhance your melee combat with axes, your ranged combat with shotguns and other firearms, or your companion Inkie. If you reinforce him, you let the fox do most of the work and only support him with his magical attacks.

The closest thing to the classic Souls experience is the ax melee, the developers tell me. But if you use the right skills on the right opponents, you can always defeat them quickly. Pleasantly, the on-site fight also looked a little less choppy than it did in the Summer Game Fest trailer.

Death is what you make of it

If you fall in battle, it’s a little less tragic than in Dark Souls. You lose your influence completely. These are points that you get for completing certain tasks and can be spent on special resources in the black market. However, you can regain the points by visiting the place of your death and standing near the skull there. If you touch the head, a new boss will appear. A pre-warning has not yet been implemented for this.

However, if you do get caught up in such a fight out of curiosity, you can still use the open world to your advantage. Either you run away or you try to lure the enemy into an area advantageous to you. Apart from that, quests, mini-games and other secret bosses await you.

A little fact on the side: The gods you fight against speak a language that you don’t understand – unless you learn it. Similar to Klingon, the language of the gods is an imagined but working language that was invented in collaboration with linguists.

While I’ve always kept a healthy distance from Souls games, I can see myself giving Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn a chance. Visually it is much more refreshing than Depri-Souls, lures with relaxed beginner features, but also keeps a door open for hardcore fans and I just can’t say “no” to Inkie.