Indie Radar: Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption – Pay for your sins

“A lone warrior stands on a strange shore, his mind clouded and his past forgotten, but an unstoppable force drives him on. He is Adam, guilty of a great sin and drawn to this place by powers as secret as they are terrifying.” – [Steam]

Title:                                Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption
Developer:                DARK STAR
Publisher:                 Another Indie
Release Date:          Q3 2018
Platforms:                PC, PS4, XBO, Switch, Mac

If the time and money are available, I cannot recommend going to PAX  enough. You can see some amazing AAA works, attend panels, do some tabletop stuff or just feel at home with hundreds of strangers. But rest assured if you want to find me, just hover around the indie section. As an indie nerd, no thrill is greater than walking through and marvelling at all the amazing experiences on display. PAX Australia last year was no different and Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption is but the first of many a game I played there.

Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption is, simply put, harrowing. This is after all a boss rush game, with a clear Dark Souls influence. You play as Adam, who is guilty of great sin. To atone he must defeat seven warriors, embodiments of the deadly sins. There is a mysterious eighth boss following the sin run. I’ll go ahead and say I’m confident it’s something like “Dark Adam”, but now I’m just speculating.

Let’s talk about the sins though. I’ve only seen a few of these, but they are terrifying.  Beautiful gothic anime-influenced design and bone-chilling attack patterns make for quite the boss rush. Perhaps most memorable is Envy, portrayed as a regal, almost chess-like figure. She holds a severed head, switching it for one rested upon her shoulders. Her “light side” uses a sword and throws around daggers and axes at you. The “dark side” rains a myriad of lightning attacks upon you. And trust me, if you aren’t a Souls player, ooh boy. Let’s just say what they pull out when they’re reduced to half health isn’t for the faint of heart.

But if that doesn’t scare you, rest assured, Sinner is all about laying down some suffering. You get some choice in this game, firstly you can tackle the sins in any order you wish. But in doing so, you bring about your own weakness. See this game isn’t subtitled “Sacrifice for Redemption” for nothing. You are not the hero of this story, you will not gain experience and improve to tackle this challenge. Instead, by picking your combatant, you also choose which strengths you must sacrifice. This is a permanent weakening of your character, in essence you‘re “leveling down”. Through struggle and persistence, you may defeat the sins. But be forewarned, you will face the eighth and final boss as a shell of your former self, a weakened husk of a warrior.

I’ll be honest, I’m not super into Souls-likes personally. But wow does this concept get me all kinds of drawn-in. The aesthetics are hauntingly beautiful. The controls are completely tight, as you would need for a game like this. Plus, the whole “levelling down” mechanics sends shivers up and down my spine. Sure, I’ll probably get mulched on this one, but I have to say, I can’t wait.

Need more of that indie game goodness? Have a taste of Overcooked 2, the sequel to the crazed co-op cook ‘em up!