What a surprising year I have had! Who would have thought I would be into turn-based strategy or tactical games? 2023 Stace, definitely would not have guessed it but in 2024 I have really embraced genres I wouldn’t normally be excited to get because of games like ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’. ‘Flint: Treasure Of Oblivion’ by Savage Level was my newest injection into the genre and what a swashbuckling adventure it was.

This sea shanty begins with Captain Flint, whom the pirate life is definitely all he knows and is notorious on land and at sea. After one particularly nasty sea skirmish where nothing goes as planned, Flint and his first mate Billy find themselves locked up for their pirating ways. Pulled into a mission to escape, our renegade team must recruit a ragtag crew, acquire a ship by all means possible and chase down a hidden treasure that could unlock their wildest dreams. The narrative itself was pretty decent, told in a way that was very entertaining through comic book cells; enough to keep me wanting to progress to see how this tall tale unravels. Was it a cliche pirate story? Sure, but aren’t most tales involving pirates?

The gameplay is actually pretty simple despite the overwhelming menu tabs of things to look at. Set in 5 chapters, the story progresses into different areas, with very linear exploration. Moving through walking paths, you can interact with yellow exclamation marks to talk to or pick up items.  Due to this linear nature though it really hurts itself with barely any side missions that add to the story. I would have loved some more narrative tidbits littered around with side objectives to do.

The real bread and butter of this game though is the combat. Throughout the exploration sections, your player will pick up cards, these could be weapons, ointments, or buffs/debuffs used when confronting enemies. When combat encounters are actually initiated the game then turns into turn-based tactical plays.

Each character has 2 turns, these can be used for movement or attack. Movement means you will move a certain number of spots across a tiled floor plan. If you aim for an enemy in movement turns you can roll a dice for an outcome such as push, stumble, status quo or jump down on. These inflict damage or status effects on yourself or the target. 

Melee attacks also rely on the roll of the multiple die to determine success and what type of damage may be administered such as slash, bleed or even death. If you fail to roll a high enough number, fortunately, you can administer a reroll card collected throughout the world, but these must be used strategically; great for times when you are in a dire situation and luck isn’t on your side.

Before dropping into these fights you will need to pick a team of unique ‘me hearties’ and their equipment. Preparation is vital in this game as you CAN NOT scum save. When someone dies and you aren’t prepared for it they are gone forever unless you want to restart the fight all over again. Preparation means all weapons, throwables and consumables need to be preplanned. Different weapons need consideration as a musket might take 2 whole turns to reload while a pistol takes 1, this means a pointier option such as a cutlass or sabre is a must. You will also need to pick cards that may have tonics that will add an extra action or more vitally revive a dead ally.

Graphically, the game is a culmination of a range of mixed media. There are comic book cells with dialogue, there are more realistic animated cutscenes with voice acting and there is the cartoony in game models. Some people would be overwhelmed by this but it strangely all works with the campy overall tone of the game.

The environments are detailed nicely too, while minute as it is top-down, is loaded with personality and all the characteristics of a fresh and free pirate ship, humid tropical desert island and dark and eerie dilapidated sea towns. The overall aesthetic look, for me, was incredibly creative and enjoyable for all audiences.

Music-wise, the menu music is insanely cool with a mash of traditional pirate shanty-like music with a very hard rock twist to it. I wish this impressive modern quirk carried more into the game, especially during combat.  The sound effects are decent with explosive backfires of muskets and the clanging of cutlasses striking or missing. I do wish there was more voice acting in the gameplay, perhaps some banter between the crew as you spend so much time with them. It was great to see it only briefly in the incredibly fast cutscenes between chapters and it was decent enough it would have been great in the actual gameplay.

Another issue I had was the camera. While it was great you could rotate around during combat so you could study the battle grid, outside combat it is different.  During the exploration moments, the camera is fixed making it hard to see anything that could be hiding in the foreground. Luckily not much is hidden in these spots because of it, but it would be nice to be able to look more freely around these actually interesting environments.

Flint: Treasure of Oblivion as I said is only 5 chapters so it is short, but was actually quite a decent albeit campy dive into the swashbuckling journey of Captain Flint. While the menus look a bit scary the gameplay is actually quite simple and an enjoyable way to push the story along. I look forward to seeing what French studio, Savage Level, gets up to in the future, as this is quite a decent adventure.

Written by: Stacey