Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption Review

I am ashamed to admit, since I have been playing Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption, I have yet to beat a single boss. For this game, I will gladly accept any “Game Reviewer bad at his job” joke as well because Sinner has wrecked me and I don’t know the reason why.

While normally this would be a deal breaker for me, after all I’ve stopped playing Bloodborne in a rage-quit fashion for a similar reason, but the thing about Sinner is that it wants to kick your ass. It wants you to work for that victory, it’ll dangle it in front of you like you would a string to a cat and then pull your win right from your face. It is not there to hold your hand or offer to let you grind your way to being better, it forces you to be better than what you are.

Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption tells the story of a “nameless wanderer” who must fight for redemption against the 7 Deadly Sins, each personified by someone in the Wanderer’s life who, to put it bluntly, he has screwed over in some sort of fashion. To redeem himself, he will not only have to beat the creature but sacrifice a part of himself.

This is what sets Sinner apart from the Dark Souls inspired games. The game is focused as a boss rush and gives you the option to pick what sin you would like to take on, but by doing so, the player will lose some of their items and abilities, which includes the ability to self-heal, cut your supply of bombs and items, or a cut to your stamina.

From my experience in the game, the sacrifice never really puts you in an unfair advantage, however the bosses are no slackers either. Each one of the sins are intimidating in design and pack a hell of a punch, so you’re required to be quick on your feet and find a pattern or weakness to exploit.

Speaking of the design, Sinner character art for the 7 deadly sins are amazing. There are a few that stand out the most, like Envy who has two forms using lighting and melee weapons, or Gluttony who has a giant mouth for a stomach and likes to pounce. Every one of the sins has this dangerous allure to them that make them interesting to watch as you try to pick apart their moves.

Sinner also has its fair share of glitches, the worst of all coming from the menu and controls. During my first load of the game, I found my control scheme reverted back to default which uses the face buttons for attacks rather than using the tried-tested-and-true Dark Souls style shoulder buttons. Even after saving the changes, I found that the controls would not change until a couple of times dying or saving the options.

Still, when the controls work the game is very responsive and the combat feels great, with plenty of tricks to learn as you take on the bosses and giving you just enough rope by sacrificing your abilities it gives every battle a unique flare. Include some blood pumping orchestral music to get you in the fighting spirit, and it is easy to find yourself coming back to battles over and over.

Sinner is not for the feign of heart as it will test your nerves, making you feel vastly under powered for what monstrosity they’ll send you up against. However the game is rewarding when you finally do deliver that killing blow and continue your journey for redemption. While I do wish there was more to the game’s overall design, the focus on boss battles keeps things simple and an interesting narrative that I only wish I could earn.