Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn isn’t likely to make it to the top of most folks’ list of hardest soulslike titles, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t offer a challenge—especially if you’re not taking full advantage of everything the game has to offer.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn: The Kotaku Review
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Whether you’re a soulslike newcomer or a seasoned vet, we think these six tips are important to know before setting off into Flintlock’s dangerous and secret-filled world.
Explore thoroughly or risk falling behind
While you’re exploring the world, if it looks as though you can reach an area in Flintlock, there’s a good chance you can. This game has an exceptionally vertical world filled with secrets you can find by jumping or taking rifts to new or hidden locations. Such areas off the beaten path will frequently be home to vital upgrade materials or new gear that can be immensely beneficial to your build, so explore thoroughly to find them all or risk being much less powerful than new areas expect you to be.
Always rush to Inaya Shrines and Enki Feathers
Speaking of exploration, there are a handful of Inaya Shrines and Enki Feathers scattered throughout the world. The former increases your total health, while the latter increases how quickly Enki fills up the Prime meter on your foes in combat. Shrine and feather icons will show up on your map when you’ve gotten close to them, so when you notice one appear, immediately make your way over to them to gain these helpful boons.
Prioritize weapon upgrades early on
As you find materials via exploration, you’ll soon be able to upgrade various melee weapons, guns, and armor you discover on your travels. It’s a good idea to save up your materials and use them on your favorite weapon (may we recommend the fire-based Harbinger’s Axe?), as this will increase your damage output most directly.
If you’re thorough with your exploration like we’ve told you to be (don’t let us down!), you should have enough materials to nearly fully upgrade one weapon before you complete the first map of the game. That can be a substantial help for what’s to come.
Be fruitful and multiply…your Reputation
One of Flintlock’s most unique features is its combat multiplier. This mechanic allows you to gamble on how much Reputation (experience) you’ll receive. By performing certain actions or defeating your foes in different ways, you’ll increase your combat multiplier (and therefore your total earned Reputation) since your last cash-in.
You can cash in your Reputation at any time by holding left on your D-Pad, granting you both your base experience earned and the multiplied amount. However, if you take damage at any point before cashing this in, you’ll only receive the base amount of experience and reset your combat multiplier.
With this in mind, push your luck against enemies with predictable or easy move sets against whom you feel fully comfortable fighting without taking damage. However, if you’re about to fight a boss or difficult enemy you aren’t certain you can evade or counter perfectly, you should probably go ahead and cash in your Reputation rather than risk losing so much well-earned experience.
Scout, prepare, execute
You’ll receive the Marksman’s Musket only a few hours into the game. This long-range weapon can be used to snipe enemies in the head from afar, so be sure to scout new areas for foes that may be lurking above you and pick them off with a well-placed headshot—which will usually kill them in a single shot.
This musket isn’t just useful for picking off foes waiting above you, though. If you’re approaching an area densely populated with enemies on the ground, stay back and look around to see if there are any explosive barrels nearby that you can shoot to get the upper hand before engaging them in melee combat.
Make constant use of Enki in battle
Enki isn’t just along for the ride in Flintlock—he’s a vital part of your toolkit. By using his curse attacks constantly in battle—especially against tougher armored foes—you’ll build up their Prime meter, eventually allowing you to unleash a powerful critical attack. Additionally, Cursed Stones, items you’ll find while exploring, can be equipped to Enki, granting him additional status effects to apply when using his attacks in combat. Applying these status effects on your foes can make it much easier to take them down, effectively ensuring your adventure through Flintlock is significantly less stressful.
Flintlock makes for a way more approachable experience than other soulslikes out there. That said, you should be taking advantage of every possible opportunity when it comes to finding new gear and fighting more effectively in each battle.