Flint: The Treasure of Oblivion Review

Pirates. As soon as you read that word, a barrage of images appear in your head, similar to what we have all seen in pop culture before. Audacious outlaws that defy every possible social convention living on the fringes of society, ready to pilfer when their hearts desire. In that sense, Flint: The Treasure of Oblivion satisfies by telling a fantastical tale of the life and times of a one-of-a-kind legend.

The curtain opens with Captain James Flint barely hanging on to life after being mutinied from his ship floating adrift on the open sea. After trying to eat his mate Billy's leg due to ravaging hunger, they are both saved by a French vessel. Pretending to be merchants, they are easily identified as the thieving pirates that they are.

Promptly locked up and now fighting for their lives within the prison's clique, the fellow thieves struggle through otherworldly situations fitting to a pirate's life until they find themselves finally on their way to a promised treasure with a ship and crew. Flint: The Treasure of Oblivion takes a while to get going, but once everything takes its place, it's a captivating tale all the way to the end.

The first thing you will notice is its arresting visual style, composed of comic-book-inspired aesthetics. Engaging from an isometric perspective, each scene plays out in a colorful way carefully recreated in comic strips with unmistakable dark humor that any fan of the genre will appreciate. While not a terribly long game, every story beat goes to show how much effort is put into each one of these rambunctious depictions of excessive lives.

Decisions you make in Flint: The Treasure of Oblivion can condemn you to earn allies or items if you are intuitive enough and read the room. For the most part, though, almost all encounters will inevitably devolve into brawls.

Soon after you make your escape, you enter your first combat encounter, which is the meat of the game and a decisively complicated affair from the get-go. The combat unfolds over a hexagonal grid, akin to a tabletop role-playing game with dice and all included.

Each hex can tell exactly what type of action you can do and can be done to you, as well as the extent of your movement and attack range. From the two stances available, depending on your position, you can choose to move, knock down, or attack your enemies.

There are numbers to be aware of when entering combat in Flint: The Treasure of Oblivion, from the pirate morale at the top of the screen that determines effectiveness to the pirates' dexterity. Leveling up is linked to the booty that you collect along your journey, making even that decision to choose which of your characters is stronger than a calculated risk.

An assortment of dice are used for every type of move available. Impact, profession, weapon, reprisal, effect, and challenge die are the dice that will be used for combat and the last one for exploration when trying to open a locked door or chest. The rest are used in different capacities to engage in battle based on your position and engagement towards enemies.

For example, the stumble, status quo, and tackle effects come into play when using the Impact die, and that will cause either a positive, neutral, or negative impact on the enemy. If things go well, the effect die for Death can grace you with an instant kill of the target.

As each chapter progresses, new variables are introduced as well. Commanding new characters in ever-expanding new arenas is a given. A marked benefit of this booming crew is that if someone dies in battle, it can be replaced by other eager foot soldiers ready to be cannon fodder. Mixing and matching their many abilities is a must to succeed.

Exploration in Flint: The Treasure of Oblivion is handsomely rewarded with cards that can support your characters in battle, be it a lucky charm to re-roll a dice throw, coffee to augment dexterity, and adrenaline to revive an ally. Strolling across each area is strongly recommended, as you might never know if a barrel at a dead end might be your salvation.

Preparation is key to overcoming the myriad battles you will encounter throughout this game. You can equip each character with accessories in card slots before battle to gain an edge. These can include armor to sustain more damage, healing potions to recover life points, or muskets to shoot enemies at a safe distance. All of these options have to be equipped before each fight, and life or death can easily be determined.

As every move is dictated by a dice roll, from opening a locked chest to the type of attack you'll make, it's difficult not to be discouraged when you fail multiple times in a row. Even more so if you have a re-roll card to aid you in retrying and still fail in the process. Luck is a fickle mistress.

Thankfully, not every little thing is dictated by luck. Flint: The Treasure of Oblivion is clever enough to leave you with clues so you do not have to brute force your way into each fight. Instead, it opts to give you a path of least resistance. In each encounter, there will be well-positioned barrels, allies, or platforms to gain the high ground and reduce the enemy forces so they are not overwhelmed. In this way, the game urges you to be more strategic at all times.

That said, the overall difficulty of the game, which does not have settings to lower or raise it, is acceptable for hardcore fans. There are challenges that you will need to prepare beforehand, and as the game goes by, so do the risks involved in coming out successfully in each battle, but it never feels overwhelming. The generous cards are given on a whim by Flint: The Treasure of Oblivion is constantly lending a hand at the right time, making the journey less rocky. Until it is.

One of Flint's first tips to the player is, "Please read the instructions carefully to make the most of the game and improve your experience." While I fully agree with this statement, the level of complexity and elements that are out of your control make this adventure a punishing ordeal for the most part. The fact that there are no accessibility options means this game feels exclusively catered to the most fervent fans of the genre and unwelcoming to everyone else.

There is no stealth mode whatsoever to earn the advantage from the first move in battle, either. What could be a more intriguing approach to combat to strategize and make your characters sneak through the shadows to inflict a deadly attack and reduce their ranks before the encounter starts is reduced to head-on fights? It is no use to ponder on what could have been, and in Flint: The Treasure of Oblivion's defense, the options to prepare for each fight do reflect on the long-term repercussions of each battle.

As a result of every battle being demanding of previous planning, it does feel like a relief whenever you come out victorious. Because the game is quickly prepared to reload and give you two options, to restart the fight or respawn just before it to prepare, it feels rather clear that the game knows it will usually take more than one try to earn your stripes.

Flint: The Treasure of Oblivion's rudimentary approach to gameplay also applies to its settings, which are not a lot. Although the game is perfectly playable, and there are no bugs to speak of, the lack of adjustable font sizes, subtitle options, or any clear pointers in the minimap for guidance could go a long way if implemented in the future. At least, you can increase the speed of enemy turns in battle to get to the fun part more quickly.

There are many different types of gamers that I would like to recommend, but if you are unwilling to do several trial-and-error combat encounters that can quickly devolve into madness, then it is a hard sell. The story mode in games is not for the weak of mind but for those who might just want to relax and have fun with a good narrative.

And Flint: The Treasure of Oblivion has a great narrative full of humor, camaraderie, and lighthearted pirate banter. But having to struggle with the unforgiving combat is a pretty strong reason not to engage in the first place.

TTRPG fans will find themselves right at home with this challenging adventure. A complex gameplay set of rules to strictly follow laid next to an invigorating art style and wild pirate narrative, Flint: The Treasure of Oblivion is not easily accessible. But what it lacks in approachability, it gains in substantial rewards to those who dare embark on the search for this rich bounty.