On the surface, Saga of Sins looks like yet another Metroidvania, a genre I have a very mixed reaction to. Not because I don’t enjoy them, because when they are good they usually tend to be really good, but there are so many releases that try to capitalize on the formula they all start to blur together and the end result is a cut and pasted mishmash of excellent and horrendous ideas. Having completed this, I can say the game does push to be something more, even if it’s not a true Metroidvania.

The game has a heavy focus on narrative, one that follows Cecil, a cleric who returns to his home of Sinwell during the crusades only to find his quaint town overrun by sin and the black plague. Cecil has the unique ability to jump into the minds of the townsfolk and help them banish their sins, or in the case of innocents, gain additional strength to aid him on his journey and in doing so, take on the guise of multiple creatures that each come with their own unique abilities and can be switched to on the fly. I was asked not speak to the narrative after a certain point in the game, a point I am not entirely clear on, so I will remain somewhat vague when speaking about the story. It was written in a way that I was able to sit through the voiced-over bits and read through the ones that were not voiced without getting bored, but I do feel like fully voicing the entire cast would’ve elevated this title, as switching randomly between them was a little jarring at first making me question whether I had encountered a bug or not.

I split my time with the game between the real world, where Cecil can run back and forth exploring the town and speaking to the townsfolk, which opens the option to venture into their brain and transform into one of four monstrous entities. If the person is a sinner, you’ll land in a level that represents one of the seven deadly sins, each having its own aesthetic, unique mechanics, and monsters. Your goal in these levels is to gather as much gold as possible to use later for upgrades and seek out shards of broken glass that unlock the additional monsters beyond the starting werewolf-looking fellow and these corrupted hearts that signal the end of the level. Initially the levels felt extremely basic, and the first chapter or so when I was limited to the starting character left me wanting something more than the basic jump-and-shoot loop that it leaned too heavily on. Your only other attack available is a dash that is helpful when needing to clear longer jumps when the vanilla double jump isn’t enough to cover, and is also useful for taking out huge clusters of enemy demons quickly while netting a bonus amount of gold. While I did enjoy zipping around the levels in this manner, I wasn’t a huge fan of how you had to rack up kills to charge it, or occasionally find a pick-up that quickly filled the ability; I would’ve preferred this have a short cool down. I am sure the creatures also envy Cecil slightly since he can run and none of the creatures have this as an option in their toolbox.

It wasn’t until I unlocked the third monster type, a griffin that shoots multiple projectiles at once, that I really hit my stride. Sadly, the game puts you in a corner on some levels requiring you to use specific monster types to maneuver around certain assets, like boxes that must be set ablaze, or walls that only the griffin can climb. Additionally, some of the platforming segments incorporate some frustrating areas that all but guarantee you’re going to die the first two or three times you attempt it unless you have the reflexes and speed of The Flash. There is some more variety found within the innocent minds, which house short puzzle-style mini-games or platforming tasks that will net you huge bumps of gold if you elect to complete them. These are also more along the lines of the Metroidvania gameplay I expected, as the normal levels are more akin to playing Mega Man. When these are initially unlocked, you will usually have to revisit them once another form is unlocked later in the game. The standout levels are definitely the boss battles, all of which are designed around the sin that they represent. While they are the standard observe the attack patterns, wait for your moment to strike, rinse and repeat; the design and attacks themselves are top-notch and really sold the sin themes. Call me a glutton if you wish, but they left me wishing there were more than seven sins, just so I had more of them to face off with.

There is an upgrade tree I touched on earlier, albeit a greedy one, which offers some substantial changes to your character such as an additional projectile in a chain, extending the distance of attacks, extending your health pool, or changing the dash to add additional charges (this should’ve just been a thing from the start). These are game changers and really tip the scales back in your favor when you’re feeling underpowered, but unfortunately, they come at a really high cost, almost as if it’s being run by the merchant from Resident Evil 4 after he developed a really unhealthy crack addiction and already traded every gun, jewel, and attach case he had. There were times when I would have to complete five or more levels using the dash ability as much as I could for the extra gold boost, and still would not be able to afford anything.

At the end of the day, this is an NES-style game that captures the simplicity and difficulty of that generation of games but comes packaged with a modern look that mimics the 16th-century drawings found in history books with a touch of stained glass. I enjoyed the look and feel of it, but I am left a little confused as to why this is exclusive to the Xbox Series X and not the older models, even more so when I see this is available on the Switch and PS4. It’s a minor, albeit kind of a nitpicky complaint, but as someone who has every model of the Xbox One that has been made spread around my house, I wasn’t a huge fan of being limited to the newest option. Another minor complaint is how each time you exit someone’s mind, you are warped back to the church in your bed, which makes sense to the narrative in some ways, but feels like it’s artificially extending the game’s playtime with the constant backtracking which grows even more annoying the further from the church you are able to venture.

Saga of Sins manages to set itself aside from other Metroidvania-style games thanks to its unique aesthetic that goes all in with the religious themes and throwback gameplay. While it doesn’t get everything right, its sins are minor and could be easily overlooked if you choose to aid Cecil in his journey.

7 out of 10

Pros

• Plays Like an NES Game with Upgraded Visuals
• Four Different Forms to Find and Master
• Excellent Boss Battles
• Each Sin is Represented in Unique Levels

Cons

• Some Wonky Platforming
• Overpriced Upgrades
• Backtracking Gets Old
• Incomplete Voice Overs
• Limited to Current Gen Xbox

Saga of Sins was developed by Bonus Level Entertainment and published by Just For Games. The game is available on NS, PC, PS4, PS5, and XSX. The game was provided to us for review on XSX. If you’d like to see more of Saga of Sins, check out the developer’s site.

 

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