Flintlock: Siege of Dawn's Open World Structure Is The Best of Both Worlds (2024)

Traditionally, Soulslikes have stuck to a fairly linear structure when it comes to world and level design. The vast majority of Soulslikes drop the player into an enclosed environment and task them with fighting their way down a series of linear arenas, eventually reaching a boss fight, and defeating them to gain access to the next set of linear arenas. Of course, there have been some outliers over the years that have embraced more open-ended areas, and Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is the latest example.

When booting up Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn for the first time, players are dropped into a tutorial mission that follows the same linear structure as most Soulslikes. But upon reaching the snowy region of the Three Peaks, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn opens up significantly, allowing players to explore multiple routes that all interweave and loop around one another. Though Flintlock doesn't have a fully-fledged open-world, its structure is still very open-ended, and that actually offers fans the best of both worlds.

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn's Semi-Open World Structure Ticks Two Boxes at Once

Flintlock's Semi-Open World Structure Gives Players Plenty of Side Content

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn has two major open-world areas, the Three Peaks and Wanderer's Rest. As mentioned up top, these two areas are densely packed with interweaving pathways, most of which end in a thrilling mini-boss fight, intense combat challenge, powerful loot, or a mixture of all three. Though not all of Flintlock's winding optional routes are worth the player's time, they're still fun to explore for the most part.

One of the main benefits of having a fully open-world structure is that it usually offers a wealth of side content. Even though its two open-world areas are much smaller than those found in contemporary games like Far Cry 6 or Red Dead Redemption 2, they're packed with a surprising number of side quests, most of which can be activated from the Coffee Houses in reclaimed outposts. These side quests range from simple fetch quests to lengthier rescue missions or monster hunts, and while none are on the same level as The Witcher 3's finest optional missions, they're still a fun distraction, and the Reputation players receive from completing them makes it a worthwhile endeavor.

Flintlock's Semi-Open World Structure Keeps Things Moving

In many open-world games, the player is stuck in one particular biome for the whole game. In the Far Cry franchise, for instance, players can explore a vast map, but it's all been designed to look visually consistent, resulting in the game's setting occasionally wearing thin after a few hours. Some open-world games circumvent this issue by including multiple distinct biomes in their world, such as Elden Ring, though that's still a bit of a rarity in modern gaming.

With two starkly different open-world areas, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn manages to keep players engaged throughout its 10-hour duration. Just as players are getting a little tired of the snowy mountains, rocky caverns, and medieval hamlets of the Three Peaks, they're treated to a drastically different change of scenery, being presented with the desert and middle-eastern-inspired cities of Wanderer's Rest. The architecture, lighting, color palette, and even layout of these two areas are very different, giving Flintlock's world some much-needed variation.

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn

An action RPG with Soulslike elements, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn pits Kian's human troops against gods and their dead armies. Along with hard-hitting Soulslike combat, Flintlock also focuses on gunplay and mobility.

Action RPG

Systems

Platform(s)

PlayStation 5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , PC

Released

July 18, 2024

Developer(s)

A44 Games

Publisher(s)

Kepler Interactive

Engine

Unreal Engine 4

ESRB

Mature 17+ // Blood, Violence