By all accounts, 2019 was a landmark year for soulslike fans. We got our first glimpse of Elden Ring, carved a path of vengeance in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, took a bite out of Code Vein, and traversed a root-choked multiverse in Remnant: From the Ashes. Amid these heavy hitters, indie studio A44 Games sought to make its mark with Ashen, a love letter to Dark Souls penned by fantasy author Mark Lawrence. Half a decade later and with Elden Ring’s DLC looming large in the rear-view mirror, A44 delivers us a spiritual successor to that lukewarm first attempt. Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn follows the same creative principles as Ashen, but this time around, A44 is marching to the beat of its own militia drum.

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