Flint: Treasure of Oblivion, developer Savage Level’s debut game, is a pirate fantasy game that combines turn-based tactical combat similar to games like Baldur’s Gate with a unique comic book style of storytelling. When looking into this matter I’m interested to see how the pirate lifestyle can be used in CRPG immersion, even with new ideas. The attraction lies in the combat system and the fresh storytelling through the comic book style. But it struggled to get to me during about 11 hours of play.
Roll the dice
Flint: Treasure of Oblivion meets Captain James. A fugitive Flint and his right-hand man, Billy, on a mission to find a legendary treasure. This mission will take them around the world. Gather crew members and form a proper adventure party. It’s a small RPG with lots of exploration, looting, and the ability to level up your crew members. However, I felt a little overwhelmed by the exploration. Since the game is very linear, there isn’t much to it. to discover outside of where the story takes you. However, it’s still at least mildly satisfying to find the occasional chest in the corner.
Where the game shines is in its combat. If you’ve played Baldur’s Gate 3, you’ll be familiar with the game’s turn-based tactical combat style. In Flint, characters can learn and earn skill cards and items. Through upgrading expertise Find them in the world or buy them from the Galley. These cards are used during battle. And learning to use these cards can literally mean the difference between winning a combat encounter and wiping out your entire party.
For example, one of the cards I see most often on maps gives the ability to add an extra action to a character’s turn. This allows me to do things like get close to other enemies and attack them. or receive one special attack When the enemy has only a little health left Grants me a final attack. Other cards have armor, weapons, buffs, or debuffs that can be thrown. The outcome of each action is determined by a visual roll of the dice. So determining how to use my characters’ abilities together effectively was fun and felt extremely rewarding as things progressed. go my way
One thing I have with the game is the lack of proper coaching. There are rules. But it’s hidden in the pause menu. And the game never clearly points you there. As a result, I spent a third of my playtime confused by the game’s menus and mechanics. which may be at a lower level than normal And definitely didn’t prepare my team well enough for the fight. The rule book provides enough information to understand the mechanics of the game. But I wanted to give this information more upfront. Especially since it is important to be prepared for each battle. Because there’s no save system that lets you go. Return to the previous point in your playback.
A thrilling adventure
So how will the narrative proceed? The game begins with Flint and Billy stranded in the middle of the ocean, dying. Until the last moment of despair They were captured by opposing crews. who then took them captive Here the two meet an old man who tells them the story of a lost treasure. Flint is the classic scheming pirate. He came up with a plan to separate them and create those sweet fortunes. To begin our adventure
It’s a rather mundane story that keeps getting more and more out of the box. As the story progresses Unfortunately, it didn’t really appeal to me. I admire the addition of comic book page-like dialogue. This allows the characters to come to life more than would be possible with the game’s isometric perspective. However, the story moves so quickly that I could barely understand it. Get the chance to care about these characters or even know who they really are.
Additionally, the game introduces a large number of characters at a rapid rate. And then pretty much ignore those characters. As a result, most of the characters feel forgotten. And it’s like they were only introduced to move the story forward. I still don’t understand the meaning of many of the characters. Recommended one And I can only remember a few names. This made it difficult for me to get invested in the story. And in the end the non-combat parts of the game feel like a slog. This was made worse by the cumbersome controls and UI. There were times when I had to click something multiple times or stand at the right angle to activate it. And character movement feels a little clunky when using a mouse and keyboard.
Flint: Treasure of Oblivion is not a graphics intensive game. Therefore, it should work well on most systems. Playing on a PC with an RTX 4070 Super and AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, the game ran very well. The frame rate hovers around 150-200 FPS with the highest graphics settings. I crashed a couple of times late in the game. And there was a glitch where I got stuck behind a rock and couldn’t move. Make it necessary to restart I still had one minor visual glitch throughout the game. With my cursor covering part of the description of every card I picked up, however, the game ran smoothly for the most part. (Pun intended)
Looking for treasure
Savage Level’s video game release, Flint: Treasure of Oblivion, has a fresh and unique idea. Which in practice didn’t impress me at all. But when given more time and improvements in quality of life You can create interesting packages. I would like to see the game’s characters have more content and more screen time. Instead of being used primarily as pawns in battle.
It’s hard to recommend Flint, though, although I enjoyed the combat well enough. But there was no real reward for it. I don’t care why I won the battle or what it meant to the characters and the overall story. If you’re looking for a deep narrative adventure, this is it. This might not be the game for you right now. But what if you’re looking for more strategic turn-based combat? Or just really like pirate scenes? Consider giving Flint a try.
This review is based on a Steam code provided by the publisher. Flint: Treasure of Oblivion releases December 17, 2024 for PC and PS5 for $39.99.
