(dramatic music)
- [Daemon] Everyone whose played enough
of the Dark Souls series and it's contemporaries
has probably asked themselves at least once:
"Wouldn't this be better if you could just
"skip the levels and fight the bosses?"
SINNER: Sacrifice for Redemption tries
to answer that question, distilling
the Souls-like experience into just
eight devilishly challenging duels.
Though it is not quite an airtight prove of concept,
the ideas at its core make SINNER an interesting blueprint
for a boss-rush twist on the classic Dark Souls model.
(dramatic string music)
While it's concept is sharp and well thought out,
much of SINNER feels rough and under developed.
The story is simple and vague:
as the nameless wanderer, you must defeat the avatars
of the seven deadly sins, each drawing
from the wanderer's past.
The stakes seem high, but you never actually find out
what is on the line, which ultimately made it hard
to get too invested.
If you need a reason to fight beyond
embracing the challenge, you will be left wanting.
The characters and levels feel similarly untextured.
The nameless wanderer is a smooth, graphite-skinned boy
with no distinctive features other
than glowing retina-less eyes.
He looks like a character model, not a character.
Likewise, many of the levels are simple arenas
surrounded by blurry, shapeless vistas.
The one exception to this rough look is the bosses,
who feel much more defined than the worlds around them.
From Envy, a headless woman in an armored ballroom gown,
to Greed, a scythe-wielding plague doctor
spewing poison from every pore,
each sinful challenger has an interesting set
of skills and aesthetics.
Though SINNER is larger derivative of Dark Souls
and it's ilk, it subverts the genre in a few key ways
beyond just cutting out the levels,
that pack fascinating ideas and meaningful progression
into a game that purposely limits the number of chances
it has to make an impression.
In keeping with the punishing aesthetic of the genre,
SINNER weakens the powers and abilities you have
as you progress rather than giving you new ones.
Before entering each boss fight, the wanderer
must level down, which imposes a new penalty
from reducing his health and stamina
to weakening his attacks, to making his shield
breakable by heavy attacks.
The system creates a Mega Man-style strategy
to choosing the order of your fights.
You'll have to accept all the penalties by the time
you reach the final one, but there is a balancing act
between avoiding the penalties you find most severe
and prioritizing the enemies you want to fight unhindered.
SINNER's second great strength is in how it forces you
to engage with each fight as a multi-stage puzzle
as well as a technical challenge.
Every boss has at least one attack or string of attacks
that can kill you outright if it lands,
making them seem unstoppable.
To circumvent the seemingly impossible odds,
many of their attacks have special interactions
with either one of your abilities or the environment
which offer you an opening or at the very least
a way to avoid dying instantly.
(game over music)
Envy, for example, opens the fight by throwing a variety
of projectile weapons, including some axes
that stick into the ground.
Later she switches to lightening attacks,
which are tough to dodge, but can be blocked
by her leftover axes.
There is no indicator to suggest you should use the axes
as shields, so it's up to you to mix things up and observe,
which adds creativity and fun to fighting the same bosses
again and again.
If you pay close attention you'll pick up enough
of these meaningful interactions over time
to create a winning strategy.
Between figuring out each boss
and perfecting your execution,
each win feels like a master stroke.
(dramatic music) (sword slashing)
(monster roaring)
Though it's achievements feel very incremental,
SINNER: Sacrifice Redemption moves Souls-like genre
forward in some interesting ways.
The slimmed down structure presents some challenging
and entertaining boss fights, but doesn't quite feel
like a complete package.
It lacks narrative and aesthetic detail,
but there are a few clever new ideas
hidden inside it's generic shell.
For more on SINNER: Sacrifice for Redemption check out
the first ten minutes of gameplay,
and for more Dark Souls-inspired games, watch our reviews
of Death's Gambit and Dead Cells.
For everything else, keep it right here at IGN.