Flint: Treasure of Oblivion

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.

Flint: Treasure of Oblivion is certainly an interesting attempt to create an engaging RPG experience, both in gameplay and the rare setting for this genre. Board game enthusiasts can find this game worth playing, yet more casual RPG players might be turned off by its complicated battle and deck building, spiced by the amount of randomness.

It’s tough to recommend Flint, though. While I did enjoy combat well enough, there was no real payoff for it. I didn’t care for why I’d win in battle or what that meant for the characters and the overall story. If you’re looking for a deep narrative adventure, this is probably not the game for you right now, but if you’re really itching for more strategic turn-based combat, or just really love the pirate setting, maybe consider giving Flint a try.

A draft of this review started while I was playing was somewhat more positive. But as I got further, it felt more and more like I was sugar-coating things and telling myself, “this has potential, maybe it will get better.” Unfortunately it didn’t, and I left Flint feeling simply disappointed. There are moments of clarity – the narrative is fine, and the soundtrack is solid. The game mechanics had the potential to be good, were they presented to the player more effectively, and used mo...

Flint: Treasure of Oblivion feels like an incomplete game with poor storytelling and little to do. At about 10 hours to complete it’s certainly not worth the $25 asking price. If you’re looking for real-time exploration and turn-based combat, look elsewhere. Games like Divinity Original Sin 2 or Baldur’s Gate do everything Flint wants to do but exceedingly better. If Fantasy isn’t your jam, check out XCOM.