Saga of Sins Review

Developed by Bonus Level Entertainment and published by Just for Games, Saga of Sins is a throwback action platformer with some intriguing artwork. I emphasise the artwork as that is by far the standout plus for this game. The stained glass textures and artwork are eye-catching and set the scene of this somewhat religious and symbolic game.

You play as the cleric Cecil, who has just returned from the Crusades to find his home village of Sinwell has succumbed to a plague. Your mentor Ulric informs you of the troubles of the village and how the plague has taken hold due to all the sins committed by the residents of the village. He tells you that you need to help the villagers by confronting their sins. To do this he must enter their mind and locate the sin in the form of an apple. This is where the platforming comes into play, and it’s not the greatest to be fair.

The introduction does OK in setting the scene but the voice acting seems a little off to me.  Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate any game that goes through the effort to have voice acting but some of the Scottish accents sound more like a poor impression rather than an authentic take. But worse than is that after you collect the apple from the villager’s mind you are brought to a static screen with someone reading out some philosophical points about the sins the villagers are committing in a smug tone, implying Cecil has no right to judge their actions. Also, whilst you are being berated, the image of a gargoyle’s face is zooming in and out in some really poor animation which cheapens the game a little. The story is a little farfetched but its religious tones go hand in hand with the stained glass window-like graphics.

The gameplay itself is interesting but plagued with a lot of annoyances. When you enter the mind of a villager you are transformed into an animal-like creature with the first creature being a wolf who can fire projectiles straight ahead. He can also howl to break any cracked windows or objects of extra coins. On certain levels, you can pick up pieces of broken glass which you will need to unlock the other 3 creatures you can morph into. You can play as a gargoyle, a griffin and the last creature is a dragon-like beast. The gargoyle can blow flames which can light torches and boxes for extra coins. The griffin can fire multiple projectiles as well as climb certain walls to reach secret areas. The final form is somewhat of a damp squib after you spend so long to collect all the glass pieces. This final creature is invulnerable but it can’t jump or fire. It also costs money to maintain that form so you won’t spend much time in that form even if you wanted to.

The levels themselves are pretty simple in terms of platforming. You are given plenty of health to get through the level and there are health pickups throughout the level and also checkpoints. What lets the game down is the jumping animation and the need to be too pixel-perfect for some of the jumps. You also get the dash move which allows you to flash-forwards or the in the direction you are holding. This dash move can be used to hit multiple enemies close together and doing so earns you a lot more coins. What they have also done is incorporate the dash into the platforming which is a neat idea but also can be a little frustrating especially as there are a lot of instant death pitfalls littered around the levels. You can upgrade your creatures by offering money to the statue of Madonna. These offerings can grant you upgrades in the shape of more health, extra dashes or improved projectiles for your creatures.

The game has built-in some recycling of levels as you can only proceed so far in some of the levels because you either need to be a creature you haven’t unlocked yet to get to other parts of the level. Or you need to upgrade your creature or your dash limit to reach further parts of certain levels.  There are 31 villagers minds to enter and not all of them have sinned. The honest villagers usually have minor puzzles to work out to get some extra coins. There are a few twists and turns in the story which leave a bit of a sour taste in your mouth and I didn’t leave feeling too gripped with the game or compelled to complete it.

Conclusion

Saga of Sins is an action platformer with some nostalgic tones of some of the old Disney platformers on the 16-bit consoles. The sinister vibe of the story is amplified but the interesting stained glass window graphics. The gameplay is alright but nothing too memorable apart from some tricky boss fights. The voice acting although commendable needed some work and the accents and tone used kill the game’s vibe at times.

This game was tested and reviewed on Xbox Series X/S. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.