Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption

Sinner draws inspiration from several existing titles, but stands apart with its unique approach to development by incentivizing the player to become better, instead of merely improving a character’s skill set.

Even with its very short length, Dark Souls vets will find some entertainment here with its unique bosses and increasingly difficult gameplay. If you’ve been shy to try the genre because of its difficulty, this may be a good first step into it, as you’re not weighed down by hours of gameplay and exploration, and simply get to experience the best portions back to back, even if that does make for a slightly shallow experience with little payoff.

Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption is an experiment that was inevitable. Somebody was going to eventually make a boss-rush anti-soulslike, and Darkstar Games did a great job realising the potential by perverting traditional RPG character building and betraying achievement conventions. It may wear the skin of a "soulslike," but in actuality there really is nothing quite like it. With an unbelievably high difficulty, and with a small pool of unique bosses, Sinner has cult gem written all over it, and only those who desire something totally different should even dare take this challenge.

The concept of your character levelling down rather than up is a clever and original idea and it changes how a player needs to think about their progression (or should I say degression). Ideas like this that sit just a little outside of the box solidify the importance of independent developers in the industry — so do yourself a favour and pick it up if you’re open to a challenge.

It's clearly derivative but Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption is not just a copycat. There are good boss fights, with the right atmosphere, but there's also an evident lack of connective tissue between the fights.

While the comparison with Dark Souls is inevitable, this Sinner is a different proposition. Anyone hoping to come across a game like Miyazaki's will be disappointed.

While it seems like it's missing a lick of paint to make sure that its aesthetics are as strong as its mechanics, it's still a smart step forward and a good example of how we can pay homage to the beloved works of others with originality.

Besides a unique concept and beautiful presentation, Sinner falls short on content and playability. You never care about your hero and the bosses can be extremely frustrating. With no difficulty option, you’re forced into an uphill battle against the bosses. You aren’t offered any hints on how the world works, and you’ll be often stuck wondering what to do next. I enjoyed what I played, but it got stale very quickly. I felt no reason to continue my journey after beating most of the sins.

A weak try to get a "Souls" style that doesn't work in many senses. A game in which we face eight enormous enemies, hard and cruel... and basically, that's all. Technically poor and with a unstable playability.