Summary
Borrowing heavily from pioneering games likeDemon’s SoulsandDark Souls, the Soulslike genre has some strong RPG DNA at its core, and that can be seen pretty clearly when it comes to games' gear and weapons systems. In most Soulslikes, players will be able to equip a variety of different weapons and armor. The complexity of these armors and weapons varies heavily between different Soulslikes, but in games likeFlintlock: The Siege of Dawn, players have a lot to experiment with.
Though it feels like an action-adventure game first and foremost,Flintlock: The Siege of Dawnstill has some strong RPG DNA running through its veins, and that’s mostly evident in the game’s gear system. A few hours intoFlintlock: The Siege of Dawn, players will have access to three different armor slots, two different weapon slots, multiple firearm slots, and even some equipment slots for their mysteriously magical fox companion Enki. And as if that wasn’t enough,Flintlockeven has an additional RPG feature built into its gear system, one that deserves to become a staple in future Soulslikes.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn’s Armor Synergy System Should Become a Soulslike Staple
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn’s Armor Synergy System Explained
As briefly mentioned up top,Flintlock: The Siege of Dawngives players three separate armor slotsto customize, including a shoulder pauldron, a gauntlet, and a helmet. Each piece of armor that players find throughout the world grants them a special bonus that ranges from abilities like splitting the player’s grenade in two to stat boosts like increasing the player’s firearm damage by 30%.
Each armor piece is part of a three-piece set, andFlintlock: Siege of Dawn’s Armor Synergy mechanicencourages players to equip items from the same set. If players equip two or three armor pieces from the same set at once, they’ll unlock a bonus ability on top of the others provided by each individual piece. These additional Synergy bonuses can range from powerful abilities like transferring curses from a dead enemy onto others and gaining a 25% recharge to Black Powder whenever an enemy is damaged by a firearm or explosion.
Why Flintlock’s Armor Synergy System Deserves to Come to Future Soulslikes
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawnmay not be the first game to feature an Armor Synergy mechanic, but it is one of the few Soulslikes to do it, and it does it rather well.Flintlock’s Armor Synergy system heavily encourages players to explore the map thoroughly and seek out all three pieces of gear just to discover what kind of special bonus they could receive by equipping them all. This Synergy system also encourages players who are trying to specialize in one particular playstyle, such as theDragoon armor set,which greatly benefits players who use firearms.
It’s all too often the case in Soulslikes that players ignore early-game armors due to their lower stats.Elden Ringis a great example of this, with theGodrick Soldier gearbeing pretty redundant for most classes even right at the start of the game. If these early-game armor sets had some kind of Synergy bonus, they could at least offer players some kind of interesting boon that sets them apart.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn
WHERE TO PLAY
From games studio A44, makers of Ashen, comes an explosive Souls-lite, where Gods and guns collide in a battle for the future of humanity.The Door to the Great Below has been opened unleashing the Gods and their armies of the Dead. The lands of Kian are besieged, the city of Dawn is on the brink of destruction. It’s time for the Coalition army to fight back. Embrace vengeance, gunpowder and magic as you embark on an epic journey to defeat the Gods, close the door and retake the world.Kill all gods.Your battle begins now.
