Flint: Treasure of Oblivion is a story of betrayal and chaos, all in the golden age of piracy.
Flint: Treasure of Oblivion is an interesting concept that will have the player playing as a swashbuckling pirate as a story of chaos and betrayal unfolds and guides the player’s actions toward the treasure. The game was developed by Savage Level.
Savage Level is a French game development studio whose views and goals have them committed to the concepts of community and inclusiveness, being dedicated to AA game development. Flint: Treasure of Oblivion was published by another French studio, Microïds, which was founded in 1985 by Elliot Grassiano.
Flint: Treasure of Oblivion is an interesting concept and game in which the player plays a character named Flint. We are introduced to this character during the introduction, and his past life events play out for us as we get to the tutorial. It is here that his story begins: as a man on a wrecked, barely floating, torn-apart ship talking to someone named Billy.
Showing a clear sign of hindering hunger, you are instructed to make Flint drink water and look for food, stumbling about while learning our out-of-combat movement and environmental searching.
Once you have moved to all the spots, the game will want you to investigate Billy; in so doing, the player wakes up Billy with quite a fright. However, the player is given the instructions to eat Billy, but I think this is filler and has nothing to actually do with the tutorial; however, the player is given the instructions to eat Billy, but they must survive.
Once that is done, you are escorted to a dungeon, where the rest of your training will take place while reviewing the story. Flint: Treasure of Oblivion out of combat feels a bit repetitive and can constantly feel like you have to search for what you are meant to do. Even though there is an instruction list, it feels a little bit mindless out of combat, almost fetch quest heavy, if I can put it like that.
Playing like Path of Exile, with its top-down view and level of detail in environmental settings, vibes, movement, and other things, seems to be the basics of turn-based strategies and works somewhat similarly to all others: click where you want to go. What sets the game apart is the style in which the story is delivered.
Unlike most games that have modern cutscenes, Flint’s Treasure of Oblivion delivery is more like a comic book, with each scene portraying its meaning or story quite sufficiently. Nothing should be lost on the player about what’s going on, but some somethings feel like they’re slightly lacking, such as lore.
Aside from the lack of incentive, the game has a major issue with optimization. Despite the developers’ very low system requirements, it operates poorly on higher-spec systems. With many LOD presets, the game’s performance can be improved at lower settings; however, there are still issues with particle effects such as rain.
The absence of a VSync option is an odd choice in gaming. It can result in lines on the screen that cannot be removed other than hoping that a third-party program can fix what needs to be fixed and repair it. Of course, not everyone will confront this issue, as it is a minor detail, but such situations should be considered to improve players’ experiences and impressions of the game.
As for the environment, most of what’s around is just filling the space; yes, the scenery is pretty and well-designed, and there are hidden treasures, but it still feels like comments could have been made by the characters or some intrigue behind the cards and dice mechanics, something to explain why those are the points of interest when it comes to battle, just something more than your basic everyday point and click.
The environments are awesome, and the unique way of delivering the story is new; however, the game feels like it’s missing something that will drive the player to stay online, although the story is good. The gameplay is a little monotonous. The game plays like a rogue-lite game, giving the player two options: one is to return to preparation, where the player can sort out and go through the cards they have collected, or restart the battle.
Gameplay mechanics really depend on the cards you play and the dice you roll. Flint: Treasure of Oblivion is good, but the game feels a bit all over the place in terms of what it wants to be. On one hand, the concept of a pirate-styled Path of Exile sounds fun; it plays as if it’s trying to be D&D (Dungeons & Dragons), adding different effects and helping with the game’s overall feel, but if you do not pay attention to the game’s instructions, it could get confusing and very overwhelming.
What I mean by overwhelming is that people who sometimes struggle or who are new might find this game frustratingly hard to play. The game offers something for players who like to find things that are meant to be hidden; the game has hidden secrets and encourages the player to search for them. Unfortunately, if that had not been in the advertisement for the game on Steam itself, I wouldn’t have known about them or bothered to go looking.
Now, it’s not like saying not to combine these aspects; in fact, by thinking logically, they could flow in perfect harmony with each other. We’ve seen other games like Baldur’s Gate 3 or ShowGunners pull off top-down, turn-based games with interesting and unique touches that set them apart.
Flint, however, feels like it’s trying to be just like everyone else, just with the dice mechanics and its story to carry it, which is fine; however, some players might find it hard to stay in the game for a very long.
It plays like both turn-based games but requires just a small bit of polish and something to set it apart from other games. Adding to the magic of this game would elevate it to a higher level so that the player doesn’t feel they are just clicking to get things done.
Maybe letting there be more interaction instead of clicking one-handedly would improve the overall experience. This style of gaming is convenient but can be very boring, feeling almost brain-dead; there’s no stress in batter, either. The game does a great job of providing a tutorial explaining how things work and even suggesting that players pay attention to the lessons provided to improve the overall experience and play of Flint: Treasure of Oblivion.
Flint: Treasure of Oblivion’s combat is about strategy and using the environment around you; it allows you to get somewhat creative. Sometimes, it feels like the enemies are a bit more OP than they should be, but it’s part of the fun. With some polish and something unique, this game could take its place as one of the greats.
Overall, Flint: Treasure of Oblivion is a fun experience and should be great with a couple of updates and changes; the story is great, the level designs are pretty, and it’s worth giving a shot, if only for the story. Combat is unique but not new in the way it sets Flint: Treasure of Oblivion apart from other games, so it shouldn’t be too hard to master. It’s not a bad game for the developer’s first developed game.
