Edwin’s been appreciating the acrobatic twist that Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn puts on the Soulslite formula, but not everybody’s magical zip-zooping has been going as smoothly. Following the Steam and PC Game Pass releases yesterday, there are widespread reports of heavy stuttering spoiling the fun; I’ve given both versions a test, and indeed, Flintlock does have a serious case of the framerate stammers. Especially the Game Pass build, which is significantly worse for it.
]]>I increasingly judge Souls-adjacent games not by the height of their bosses or the depth of their dungeons, but the cleverness of their shortcuts, and Flintlock: Siege Of Dawn has my favourite shortcuts in an age. Rather than just being routes around to the other side of a barred door - though there are plenty such Lordrannish loops to find in this game - they consist of aerial chains of magic, purple triangles that suck you toward them when you hold a button. They lend vigour to a branching, faux-Napoleonic world that might otherwise be a collection of atmospheric strolls between bonfire-equivalents and fights defined by taut resourcing systems. They're idiot-proof grappling points from which you can launch yourself at another triangle, a ledgeful of upgrade materials, or a loitering musketeer who is in urgent need of a ground-pound.
]]>Excuse me, sorry, pardon me, can I just, thank you, ah, sorry, thanks... Phew, made it. Steam Next Fest is pretty crowded, eh? As if the unholy swarm of trailers and game announcements from Summer Game Fest was not enough, this week the fearful megalords at Valve decided to drop their regular cavalcade of coming-soons onto their megastore. The beautiful (and terrifying) thing about Next Fest, of course, is the overwhelming number of demos that come out during the event. A small herd of video games are standing on my toes as we speak. But that's okay, we are expert curators. Here's a handy list of our nine favourite demos of the lot.
]]>How do you like your coffee? For those who answer: "served by a barista with ten arms wearing a mask adorned with intense scarlet lipstick", you are in luck. The multi-limbed coffee shop owner of Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is, indeed, a reassuring sight, since they are the ones who sell the player fashionable jackets and trousers to wear while you axe enemy heads to bloody fragments. In this soon-to-sally-forth soulslike from the makers of Ashen, the creature design is a highlight. Whether it's a good souls 'em up remains to be seen. I've only played a couple of hours in the Steam Next Fest demo. But I want to make clear that, among the reservations I've collected on my murder jaunt, nothing will diminish the espresso-pumping hand-haver of the game's first café.
]]>Swashbuckling third-person action-RPG Flintlock: The Siege Of Dawn is, amongst other things, a gentle homage to New Zealand, developer A44 Games's country of origin. You do have to look for it, mind you. The game's art direction at large is an elegant hodgepodge of inspirations that deserves to be unpicked carefully after release.
Main character Nor Vanek - who is on a mission to massacre various escaped underworld gods - is kind of a Napoleonic superhero. Rakishly attired in braided frock coats and knee-high boots, she can use sparking "blackpowder" pistols both to inflict damage and to double-jump or dodge while performing snappily choreographed, one-handed sword and axe combos, straight out of God of War. As regards locations, there are pale medieval citadels with stained-glass windows, coffee shops run by eerie, many-armed "Hosts" that glean from the ambience of Turkish bazaars, and certain other fantastical areas and characters - including Nor's spectral fox sidekick Enki - that are influenced by ancient Mesopotamian mythology.
]]>Flintlock: The Siege Of Dawn is one of those third person action adventure games I've been quietly looking forward to ever since I first read about it in Edge in May 2022, even though we've seen and heard relatively little about it since. Thankfully, the Flintlock train does seem to be kicking into a gear a bit more now that it's steaming toward its Summer 2024 release window, as yesterday developers A44 Games released a new gameplay teaser trailer for it, ahead of a wider reveal planned for next month. The trailer shows more of its melee and magical combat, though personally, I'm just glad to see that heroine Nor hasn't been neglecting her leg days, as we get to see some meaty and powerful kicks in there, too. Love a big kick, me.
]]>Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, previously described by Ed as "an exciting action-RPG mix of Elden Ring and God Of War" has a new trailer - and cat-lovers, you are in for a treat, because this game has a cat called Enki which you can use as a magic grappling hook and a handy source of lightning for your groundpounds. Enki has big cute ears and a beaver's tail, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's related to one of those awful, many-limbed gods Flintlock's protagonist Nor Vanek is trying to slay.
I'm sorry, it's my first time writing about Flintlock, and I realise the "OMG it has a cat!" ship has probably long since sailed. Only hang on, Ed thinks Enki is a squirrel, while Graham thinks it's a dog. Which of us is correct? Developer A44 Games describe Enki as "fox-like", further muddying the waters. There's only one thing for it: you'll have to watch the video and decide for yourself.
]]>I'm still mostly only excited about Flintlock: The Siege Of Dawn because it's from the makers of Ashen. I'll need to wait longer to find out whether it can justify that excitement on its own terms. Developers A44 announced today that the action-RPG has been delayed until 2024.
]]>When action RPG Flintlock: The Siege Of Dawn was revealed in March, its cinematic trailer struggled to conjure up anything more than a slight tinge of excitement. Then a gameplay reveal arrived later at Summer Geoff Fest and it immediately slid into the "Cor, this game looks a bit good doesn't it?" category of my brain. Finally, another game befitting A44, the studio behind minimalistic Ashen which Brendy quite enjoyed.
Colour me excited when I had the chance to see a half-hour presentation of the game in action at this year's Gamescom, and chat to A44's CEO Derek Holding at the same time. It was even better than I'd expected, honestly, and I've come away with the belief that it may just be one of the best Soulslikes to arrive in quite some time.
]]>I wasn't impressed by Flintlock's announcement trailer last week, but I'm still interested in it because it's from the developers of the beautiful and ambitious Ashen. Those developers released a behind-the-scenes video of Flintlock during tonight's Future Game Show, offering more detail on their new action RPG.
]]>Ashen excited me with just a few seconds of animation in a tweet, back before it even had a name. The new game from developers A44 has been announced with considerably more grandeur via a cinematic (but in-engine) trailer. It's... a lot less exciting for it. But Flintlock: The Siege Of Dawn sounds more interesting in writing: it's an open world action RPG in which you use axes, guns and magic to fight old gods.
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