Flint: Treasure of Oblivion Review – A Pirate’s Life For Some

Flint: Treasure of Oblivion Review

Developed as the debut title from French studio Savage Level, Flint: Treasure of Oblivion is an engaging, tactical pirate experience. It’s a drop of much-sought-after pirate content in a sea of other stellar gaming properties. Beyond its tale set during the Golden Age of Piracy, the immediate draw to Flint is its striking visuals. Running in Unreal Engine 5, Savage Level makes use of this tech in every beautiful frame.

Crisp animations and highly detailed settings do wonders for immersion. The crashing waves at sea, the mud-soaked streets of France, and the gorgeously built ship deck for an epic battle do wonders for pulling players into the moment. The story of Flint is told entirely through dialogue boxes. Quest-relevant moments are done in a comic book style. Conversations between Flint and Billy Bones – among others – will also happen with small pop-ups. The font is a bit too small, and the words appear all too briefly to pay attention to what is being said and the gameplay at the same time.

A Richly Immersive, Beautiful World

Flint does a great job setting up that there is a strong narrative to the game, but the execution of the dialogue makes it difficult to follow the story outside of cut scenes. These conversations are the little details that help maintain immersion, so missing out on them is distracting for those trying to get into the experience. With all of that said the stand-out feature I experienced while playing Flint is easily its innovative dice mechanic.

As an avid TTRPG fan, I have seen dozens of unique systems. Flint’s combat system is ingenious, adding new layers to your strategy with each encounter. Your profession die and your weapon die must hit a target number. As long as one is a success, you still hit. Different weapons have different dice combinations, so you can plan your odds of dealing significant damage accordingly. Coupled with individual character skills and damage bonuses based on distance, there is a ton of content to consider for the discerning strategist.

If a musket rolls 2d8, your profession die rolls a d8, and your target number is a 4, your odds of hitting the enemy are fantastic. If you don’t love a roll and have a lucky charm – which are bountiful – you can reroll all your dice. Certain weapons even have additional effects such as bleed, knockout, or even instant death. These features are all attached to a d12 that rolls with great satisfaction after a successful attack.

Flint’s Dice Mechanics Are Innovative and Inspired

Combat in Flint also includes some great interactions that I haven’t experienced in turn-based combat before. Movement on the battlefield can include climbing to different elevations, dropping down, and shoving. It doesn’t always fire, but the shoving mechanic can make or break an encounter. If an enemy is at the end of your movement range you can try to push them as part of the same move action. A die rolls. The target may resist, be pushed back a space, or you may fumble and fall prone. However, you can also tackle them to the ground. This leaves them vulnerable. You can stomp on them or attack with a weapon while they are grounded.

I’ve had more than a few fights in Flint that turned the tide because I was able to knock a bothersome opponent to the floor. You may have noticed this game uses a lot of dice rolls. It’s something I’m sure Baldur’s Gate 3 fans are familiar with now. Unfortunately, this also means you are at the mercy of RNG. I’ve had to repeat certain battles a few times because of RNG.

Each character in your party has a restrictive loadout. Consumables, weapons, and armor all take up the same available slots. Rather than equipping them for what seems their optimal role, there have been situations where loadouts feel shoehorned to counteract RNG. One battle saw a few enemy soldiers with armor which absorbed a few attacks who also had muskets and incredibly good dice rolls. Even equipping my entire crew with armor and sacrificing those valuable slots still came down to the luck of the dice more than skill in certain situations.

The (Lack of) Tutorial May Turn Players Away

While Flint is absolutely covered in beauty, intrigue, and style, it falters with its tutorial. Rather than offering an interactive tutorial to teach the player the mechanics and features, Flint has a message on all loading screens to read the guide. A single button press at any time will give you pages and pages of brief descriptions. Even with my experience in both video games and TTRPGs, it still took me a while to get the hang of how things work. What is my target number to hit an enemy? How is it calculated? What do all these things do?

I nevertheless enjoyed my time with the game. Still,  I found myself frequently having to go back to this menu to figure out what an icon meant or how a feature worked. This broke the immersion Flint so painstakingly built for me to try and understand notes. I would far rather have a tutorial – or even a series of small teaching segments – rather than having to stop the game to understand an icon.

A Pirate’s Life For Me

Flint: Treasure of Oblivion is a beautiful, innovative, immersive pirate experience. The linear story, gorgeous settings, and multiple tactical layers of combat come together to make a much-needed tale on the high seas. It’s innovative dice system is truly inspired. Unfortunately, the nature of RNG can make encounters feel unfair at times. Flint does a marvelous job pulling players into this setting, but the replacement of a tutorial with a quick yet brief manual shoots itself in the foot. Offering a bit more guidance and easier-to-follow dialogue text would elevate this to be an accessible and enjoyable adventure for gamers of all ages.

Its niche setting and multitude of combat options make Flint: Treasure of Oblivion best suited for methodical turn-based fans and pirate enthusiasts. This is a game you’ll either be frustrated by or fall in love at the helm of this classic pirate tale.

**A PS5 code was provided by the publisher**