Flint: Treasure of Oblivion has an opening segment that certainly grabs your attention, as the game opens on a raft adrift in the ocean and we are introduced to Captain Flint and his hulking second in command, Billy Bones. They’ve clearly been at sea for a while with no food or water, and Flint finally loses his mind and decides he has no recourse other than to devour his best friend.
It’s a fun and novel way to introduce the basic mechanics of the game as you chase your erstwhile companion all over the tiny raft. Luckily for all involved, in the midst of this debacle a ship sees the duo and takes them aboard…
A turn-based strategy game with some free-roaming sections between battles, Flint: Treasure of Oblivion really ticked a lot of my boxes with the fantastic graphic novel-styled narrative steps, dark ‘n stormy atmosphere and in-game artwork such as the character and item portraits.
The setup is suitably swashbuckling, and there’s an edge to the game that makes it seem like anything is possible on your adventure- all the while maintaining that adventurous vibe. The music is also on point, smoothly accompanying the on-screen action and rising and falling as required by the narrative beats.
Whilst all of this is spicy stuff, it’s not all clear skies – the game overcomplicates itself with various mechanics such as card-based items and equipment – spread over multiple inventory pages- dice-based combat rolls that leave too much to chance, and skirmishes that feel that there’s simply a right and wrong way to approach something.
Far too often I found that I either got through combat relatively unscathed, or was outright killed and my crew wiped out, requiring a retry, it all added up to a gameplay experience that just felt like too much was out of my hands.
Even the movement in the free-roaming sections felt a little delayed and floaty, with items and areas of interest not being highlighted in any way until you are close, mean that you feel obliged to wander all around the edges of each area in the hope that you bump into something of interest, it takes away from the otherwise relatively pacey free-roaming sections which often have some pretty funny banter scattered throughout.
SUMMARY
Whilst the narrative presentation and audio are solid, backed up by a suitably swashbuckling atmosphere, the awkward meld of cumbersome interface and too much being left to chance means that Flint: Treasure of Oblivion unfortunately never quite finds its sea legs.
6.5/10
💧MELTING💧
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