The new action RPG Flintlock lures with a unique setting, sees itself “between God of War and Elden Ring”

A number of new games were presented at gamescom 2022 and exclusive, first insights into the upcoming titles were given. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus was able to watch Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn in gameplay and sees it the ideal game for everyone who needs new fodder after the Elden Ring.

What is Flintlock? At the beginning of 2022, the new action RPG in Dark Souls style was presented. In Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn you play Nor Vanek, a soldier who is part of the army trying to protect what is left of humanity.

Because the undead flow into the world after the Old Gods have returned and the gates to the underworld have been pushed open. With an axe, pistol and a cute, magic-talented companion, you face undead foot soldiers, mini-bosses and the gods themselves.

When the first gameplay was shown at the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase, I was immediately hooked on Flintlock and have now taken a closer look at it at gamescom 2022.

The developers showed a live run with several fights and answered some questions about the game and the world. You can see the trailer for Flintlock here:

The gameplay looks promising, the world is absolutely crazy

This is what I saw in gameplay: In the short hands-off session, the developers showed me the combat system and the world of Flintlock. In terms of gameplay, the game is very reminiscent of the genre-founding Soulsborne games.

One of the two developers slices through opponents with ax and pistol and competes against elite opponents and later even one of the old gods. He shows variations of melee and ranged combat as well as magic and evasive jumping to master the fights.

The setting is based more on the early 19th century, using black powder and flintlock pistols as special game elements. Flintlock is peppered with many fantasy elements and has completely wacky characters, as you know them from Dark Souls.

As an example, the developers show me an undead made entirely of hands. In their afterlife, undead pursue the activities they have enjoyed doing in life. Obsessed with providing good coffee, these hands have opened “Coffee Shops” that serve as fast travel points.

However, according to the current status, the story is unfortunately not set to German, only in English with German subtitles. However, one does not want to exclude the possibility that a dubbing with sound will come.

How much “souls” is in Flintlock? Flintlock inherits many features that should be familiar to veterans of the Soulsborne games. Parries, ambushes and various attack combos are part of the gameplay.

An interesting trick: depending on how you attack, you get different loot from opponents. If you kill them with the pistol, you get armor. Killing them with the ax will give you ammo. Magic is used for support, for example to weaken or stun opponents.

There will also be a skill system, although we haven’t seen it live yet. But you will be able to build different builds that have different focuses like: dark magic, ax and armor or pistols and explosives.

However, Flintlock follows an approach that goes more into adventure and arcade approaches. It is about possible to jump properly and even necessary. In the boss fight shown, some attacks came in such a way that they could only be avoided by jumping early.

Travel skills such as double jumps and short flights with your fox are also part of this and are necessary to discover secret paths. Flintlock mixes several genres here.

A Soulslike “between God of War and Elden Ring”

When asked where the developers would see themselves between Dark Souls and Horizon: Zero Dawn, the answer came: “Interesting comparison. We would say more like halfway between Elden Ring and God of War.”

The focus of the game is on the narrative and the communication between Nor and her environment. The universe should feel alive and big, the story should feel deep. It’s like making a movie and a game at the same time.

But what really excited me is the language of the gods. This is not just confused babble, but according to the developer actually developed with the help of linguists language.

At the same time, Flintlock wants to be Soulslike at heart and comes with a corresponding challenge – and a controversial feature: levels of difficulty. Something that is actually frowned upon in the Souls genre. The boss says:

The community wants to know they’ve mastered a game that’s testing them. […] The difficulty with this was that you can’t just introduce difficulty levels to make the game easier. Because the heart of the game is this fine line that you always have to feel. […] If you play in Hardmode, then you always have this fine line and get the full Soulslike experience. […] If you play in story mode, you’ll get the deep story in its entirety.

It should be noted that the entire story should also be easy to grasp without having to dig through umpteen wiki articles, as is often the case in the original Soulsborne games.

However, the closeness to the Elden Ring is also shown by optional bosses in Flintlock, which can be done in any order in the open world for additional rewards.

Flintlock will be released in early 2023, but without co-op

When and where does Flintlock appear? The new action RPG is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2023 for PlayStation, Xbox and PC (Steam and Epic). However, we don’t yet know how much it will cost.

Is there multiplayer? no As the developers explained to me, they wanted to focus fully on the story with Flintlock. So there is neither a co-op nor a PvP mode, as known from invasions, for example.

However, more games are planned in the universe. The plan is to expand Flintlock with more games. Since Ashen, the studio’s predecessor game, already had a co-op mode, it is possible that later parts will support multiplayer.

In the video we present you our highlights of gamescom 2022:

My impression of Flintlock is consistently positive. The game was already one of the highlights for me at the replacement shows of E3 2022, especially since settings that are rarely used, such as the age of flintlock pistols here, are incredibly appealing to me.

Although I generally collect hard in Soulslike games, I’m looking forward to Flintlock, especially since it could hit my niche with the story mode and the game mechanics that are somewhat more reminiscent of adventures. At the same time, Hardmode should be ideal for everyone who is slowly having nothing to do in Elden Ring and is waiting for the next Soulslike.

Unfortunately, Flintlock will be a single-player game, but switching off a bit without voices in your ears is certainly a pleasant change. And if you need co-op in your games, The Last Oricru is for you:

New co-op insider tip on Steam coming in 2022 – Wants to mix Gothic and Soulslike