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Flinthook (Bleed meets Isaac)

Started by Shay Chaise, April 03, 2018, 11:36:34 AM

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Shay Chaise

For fans of: Bleed, Celeste, Gungeon, Isaac.

Genre: Roguelike action platformer.



Flinthook flew under the radar despite some positive reviews and it deserves a little more love. It's a kind of twin-stick single-screen platform shooter with a unique movement mechanic, in that you fire the eponymous flinthook to grab onto various environmental elements and swing/fling your character around the screen. It feels very tight and responsive and although it takes a little while to get the hang of the movement, you'll be pulling off ludicrously tight manoeuvres in no time, aided by a Bleed-like slo-mo power and a rock solid engine.

At first, I thought it was a challenging platformer in the vein of Celeste but on my second go I realised that it was actually a roguelike in structure with randomised maps, drops, shops, perks, enemies, bosses and power ups. The more time I've put in the more I've got out of the game, and generously, exponentially so. One of the strengths of the game is that you steadily unlock various perks which you can then apply at the start of each run to change your approach. While some are your standard XP or health bonuses, others apply randomised bonuses and items to keep things feeling fresh. Almost every run, I find myself unlocking something new or collecting a bit more currency to unlock perks or slots on the Black Market (think Gungeon).

While all of this may sound like a derivative compilation of ideas from elsewhere, by drawing from disparate sources and refining these elements as part of an existing vision, Flinthook very much succeeds on its own terms. It's often more generous than Isaac, more charming and deeper than Bleed, less serious and pixel-perfect than Celeste, and it simply feels better than Gungeon. Few games capture both that joyous sense of movement and explosive shmup gunplay so well. As a roguelike, it is somewhat repetitive of course but before each run, you get to choose which stage you will take on. They're graded by difficulty but also given a brief description so you know what type of encounters await. This is pretty interesting and freshens things up further, not least because it will affect which perks you select from an ever-growing list.

In terms of presentation, it's got a distinctive art style, an almost muted cartoony pastel effect, with your standard retro pixelation. Nothing revelatory but it sets a bright and breeze mood. The soundtrack is much more impressive, though, with thumping chiptune bangers playing throughout. On headphones or over speakers, the basslines in particular are brilliant.

It won't be for everyone but if any of these main elements are up your street, I think you'll get plenty out of Flinthook. It's one of my games of the year so far and hopefully it'll become a sleeper hit.

Shay Chaise

I'm convinced that anyone who likes those games will like this, by the way. It's a really fun game with excellent controls.