A44 Games, best known for their souls-like action-RPG Ashen, have announced their new project, which is being published by Kepler Interactive. Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is another ARPG, though with a considerably different look and flavor to the pre-history-themed setting of the previous project.
Ashen was a cooperative souls-like experience, which saw you navigating a visually gorgeous world with your NPC companion periodically possessed by another player. Your tools were invariably spears and axes. As the title of the new project might suggest, Flintlock is going to be one where gunpowder is at your disposal, as well as more unconventional help, like a little bird-fox that breathes blue lightning.
The trailer for Flintlock shows the protagonist, Nor Vanek, and her aforementioned bird-fox companion Enki, crossing a blasted landscape covered in corpses. The things that stay dead don’t appear to be the biggest concern though, as one of the moldering cadavers stands and whips the sword out of the inside of its own head to take a swing with.
Undead appear to be an overwhelming threat in the world of Flintlock, with its Steam page explaining: “The Door to the Afterlife has been opened, allowing the old God’s army of the undead to escape from within.” It certainly sounds like you’re going to wind up having to kill a god or two before it’s over, as is the right of passage for most action-RPG protagonists.
A44 promises an open world, and a ‘demanding yet rewarding combat system,’ and if their previous efforts are anything to go by, it may be a title worth keeping an eye on. Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn will release this year on PC platforms such as Steam, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Playstation 4, and Playstation 5.