Flint: Treasure of Oblivion Review

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Setting Sail with Captain Flint and Billy Bones

Ahoy mateys, do you fancy embarking on a tactical RPG set in the golden age of piracy? How about if you throw in some exploration, fantasy elements and plenty of booty to find too? Well Savage Level have got you covered with their latest, Flint: Treasure of Oblivion.

Step into the boots of Captain James Flint who, along with his trusty first mate Billy Bones, is on the hunt for some mysterious treasure. However, things get a little more complicated on his quest to achieve notoriety as his adventure takes something of a supernatural turn.

Flint Treasure of Oblivion Review 1 — Join Captain Flint

A “By the Numbers” Narrative with Stunning Comic Book Visuals

Blurb aside, I’m afraid to say that Flint: Treasure of Oblivion has a “by the numbers” narrative which does the job but is lacking in noteworthy moments. The story is told in-engine for the vast majority of the time, with only a few short cut scenes spliced in between chapters. Otherwise, comic book panels are the method used to spin the yarn and in fairness are really well drawn. They flesh out the characters in the absence of voice acting and make the dialogue exchanges more entertaining for the player.

A Visually Appealing World with Linear Exploration

On the surface, Flint: Treasure of Oblivion looks really pretty with an attractive sheen on the environments, from the jungles to the deep underground caves. However, the game struggled to maintain this on occasion and at one point the rendering gave up completely so the environment appeared to be washed clean of any detail.

In terms of gameplay, Flint: Treasure of Oblivion is actually pretty formulaic. The action is made up of exploration sections, and turn based combat which is triggered when you encounter a group of enemies. Although you’ll visit a few different locations, each chapter has nearly the same blueprint, that being basic exploring sandwiching a turn based battle. The third person view is reminiscent of Baldur’s Gate 3 (it’s not the only thing that is) as Captain Flint and his crew familarise themselves with their surroundings.

My main issue is that the environments are pretty enough to look at, and you’ll visit a pleasing mix of urban and idyllic areas, but they are very linear. They almost feel like tunnels for the most part despite the appearance of being open, as when you veer off the beaten track you’ll quickly hit an invisible wall or come up against some locals blocking your way.

There are items dotted about to pick up, and some rooms will require a high scoring dice roll to enter, but as you approach your controller will vibrate and a yellow exclamation mark will appear, removing any sort of challenge. This also happens when you’re required to do a little platforming, with the path ahead marked white.

Flint Treasure of Oblivion Review 2 — A panel playing story

Missed Opportunities for Exciting Gameplay Variety

To be fair, there are a couple of occasions where things open up a little, such as when you go on a recruitment drive to find crew for your ship in the local town. These instances are very rare, and it’s just a case of the same again as you solve each problem with a scrap, or the simple press of a button.

At times you’ll be teased with a potentially exciting encounter, such as a high seas cannon battle, but then the in-game cinematic will kick in, or things will fade and everything happens off screen. It’s with these examples where there’s a perfect opportunity to add some much needed variety to the gameplay that is sadly not taken.

Engaging Turn-Based Combat with Dice-Rolling Mechanics

Gladly, the turn based combat sections are much more enjoyable. Once Flint and his crew encounter an enemy mob, the floor will become tiled as the action transitions into the combat phase. Outcomes are based around dice rolls, with each character also having a limited number of moves. Traversing the environment or attacking enemies are essentially your only choices, but there are also special cards (some unique to certain characters) which can be used cost free and others that are found out in the wild, or purchased from the shop with recovered booty. These vary from boosting stats, to offering extra moves and even chucking grenades at enemies.

Various weapons, armour and cards can be equipped to your character’s loadout, and more complex encounters will require you to deploy three separate squads and choose where to position them on the battlefield. Whether it’s firearms, light or heavy melee weapons, these can be swapped about before you head into each encounter.

Flint Treasure of Oblivion Review 3 — Crew up!

Strategic Depth and Random Elements Keep Combat Fresh

There are plenty of random elements at play thanks to the dice, such as weapon breakages, extra moves or even instant death. Before each attack, you’ll be given a number which indicates how difficult it will be to pull it off successfully. Oh, and in each battle certain characters must survive otherwise you will immediately lose. Caution is advised, because before you know it a key crew member can be ambushed then killed, meaning you’ll have to start the battle all over again.

The turn based combat is solid but don’t try to read the reams of rules provided, instead jump into a few battles then go back to fill in the gaps. It seems complex at first, but the combat is actually pretty accessible once you get your head around it.

A Clunky UI and Lack of Replay Value

Plundered treasure is used to level up crew and upgrade abilities as you play, and this is shared amongst all members. However this is where the clunky UI is exposed, and it is not very user friendly at all. Sadly it’s the same when prepping your loadouts for battle, keeping track of what you have selected is a bit of a nightmare.

Once you finish the main campaign that’s it, you call it 100% complete. Achievements will come at you thick and fast for beating chapters and winning battles, so once you’ve completed Flint: Treasure of Oblivion you’ll also have max Gamerscore and no real reason to go back. There is nothing else to be done, which given the initially impressive trailers and screenshots is surprising as they actually mask a very linear, straightforward game.

Flint Treasure of Oblivion Review 4 — An average adventure that is entertaining enough

A Fun but Flawed Pirate Adventure

At £34.99 and offering roughly 8 hours gameplay, this is a game that asks a lot for relatively little in return. And yet, largely thanks to the satisfying turn based battling, I enjoyed myself with Flint: Treasure of Oblivion overall.

Flint: Treasure of Oblivion may be an average adventure at best, however it’s just about entertaining enough to shake off accusations of style over substance.