If you've read the classic piece of literature that is Treasure Island, you'll be very familiar with the legendary Captain Flint. This is essentially the most historic and notorious example of a fictional pirate, and he's also the inspiration for further memorable pirates, including Toby Stephens' portrayal of him in the series Black Sails. Now however, Captain Flint is also the star of a video game, as developer Savage Level has decided to take his story and provide an alternative look at it, all in the form of the strategy-adventure, Flint: Treasure of Oblivion.
As you might be able to infer from the game's title, this explores Captain Flint's hunt to find a mysterious treasure, a treasure that countless pirates begin feuding and slaughtering one another in the hunt for in Robert Louis Stevenson's book. So yes, Flint: Treasure of Oblivion is basically a prequel to Treasure Island, and with that in mind you can expect a story that looks into how he became a pirate lord, how he first learned of this famed treasure, how he put together his crew and gained control of a ship, and also what happened leading up to him taking this fortune for himself and hiding it from the world.
If you like stories about pirates, or even appreciate Treasure Island, the narrative that Savage Level has put together here will pique your interest. It offers all the typical tropes you'd expect of a Caribbean pirate story, be it sword fights with flintlock shots ringing out all around, shipwrecks and long voyages across the open sea, countless bottles of rum to consume, and gold, gems, and pieces of eight to gather and either horde or share among your crew to increase morale. It's frankly stereotypical for a pirate narrative, but the one area that the developer looks to break from tradition is in how it conveys that story.
For the most crucial parts of the tale, comic-inspired panels will pop-up and give you a fresh glimpse at what's happening all while spoken dialogue adds extra colour. It definitely breathes fresh life into the core story and gives it some extra artistic flair that not only enables it to stand out among others in the genre but also takes it up a notch. However, this element also makes the rest of the storytelling feel frankly lacking, to the point where it can be challenging to get immersed and involved in what's happening in the story if there's no comic book elements. This isn't helped by the fact that there's no spoken dialogue in the game outside of these comic panels and also the occasional phrase dropped in while wandering around the world. Savage Level had the chance to do something really grand with this narrative direction but didn't quite manage to fully realise its potential in the game.
Talking about the world, this is one of the areas that Flint: Treasure of Oblivion disappoints me the most. On one hand, the various levels are packed with detail and colour and seem like places you want to explore and learn more about. Regardless of whether it's a multi-tiered ship, a bustling town, a picturesque coastline, there are lots of vistas that you want to experience in grander depth, but the main issue is that depth is never really provided. The world is simply a medium to move through, nothing more, nothing less, and as you continue to progress through the game you'll discover that the only benefit to walking off the beaten path is to find exclamation points that define where there's an item you can pick up. Otherwise, the levels and the world design simply struggle to inspire the player.
This isn't helped at all by the rough and sluggish movement. Flint: Treasure of Oblivion isn't a game that's particularly easy nor fun to actually play. The movement is incredibly heavy and doing anything other than walking around on a flat surface feels like a chore. Be it scaling a wall, leaping over a gap, or climbing a ladder, after a few times you'll wish that you didn't have to watch Flint and his crew struggle to slowly pull themselves up ledges and so forth. The main concern is that the controls are simply poor overall, especially in combat and especially when using a controller. This game is a nightmare to control when in battles. You'll struggle to switch between characters, precisely aim attacks and movement, activate abilities, and use items. After a couple of hours, it's hard to assume that this game is designed for controllers if at all, which is a major concern considering the fact that it's available on Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch.
The issues with the combat don't even simply extend to controls either as there's a distinct lack of clear and approachable tutorials, as instead the game favours throwing what's basically a board game manual at you to tell you how the action unfolds. It's a bizarre solution since it's mostly just traditional turn-based strategy with a few randomised twists thanks to its dice-based combat. Why there couldn't be a streamlined and more clear tutorial at the start of the game to explain some of the more complicated elements leaves me baffled, and I can imagine a lot of players will see this simply as a reason to move on and end their time with the game. Matching this up with a rough UI that does it no favours at all, and you get a game that can be quite a challenge to love and often frustrating to play.
But, the most frustrating part about this game is that there are elements that impress and which you want to see more from. There is clearly a talented narrative team behind this project, a versatile and creative artistic crew that can deliver an interesting world and levels and also exciting comic book panels. There are parts of the combat that show great potential, like the random nature and how that forces the player to think out of the box. However, all of these positives are weighed down by issues and negatives that simply overshadow them. The rigidity and stiff nature of the controls and the fact that you feel as though you're fighting the game to get it to do basic things is enough to make you want to rip your hair out, and while I actually admire the tighter and condensed length of the adventure, the lack of side objectives or ways to actually enjoy the world is just disappointing.
If Savage Level can improve how this game feels to play, reducing some of the irritable frustrations, then I do believe that Flint: Treasure of Oblivion can entertain for its short duration. But as it stands, especially for players on console or intending to use a controller on PC, there's simply too much to be desired from this game as of the moment.