So what’s the twist? Soulslikes, or at least heavily-inspired action games, are everywhere, with FromSoftware’s influence creeping ever further. Thankfully, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn developer A44 Games has some clever ideas of its own.
As the name suggests, Flintlock’s set in a world powered by gunpowder and pitches its protagonist Nor into a battle against magical, meddling Gods. Split from her party, Nor meets an enchanting fox god named Enki and, in typical fashion, they’re forced to team up. Gunpowder and magic make for a novel combination, but it’s the Reputation system that’s the real killer concept here.
One of the core tenets of the Souls games is death and the player’s loss of valuable currency that death brings. It’s this that Flintlock plays with in its Reputation system, which I got to test out in a preview build. In simple terms: killing enemies stylishly builds a combo multiplier and bankable experience, while getting hit loses it.
