Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption
A boss-rush Soulslike where each victory demands a sacrifice.
Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption is an action role-playing game from Dark Star, an independent studio, and published by Another Indie. It launched on October 18, 2018, across Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One. The game follows a boss-rush structure where players confront avatars of the seven deadly sins, each tied to the past of a nameless wanderer. After defeating a boss, the player must give up a resource—such as health points, weapon damage, or items—before moving to the next fight. The combat draws inspiration from the Dark Souls series, offering melee and ranged weapons alongside health potions, with each enemy featuring unique attack patterns. In addition to the seven main bosses, an eighth final boss awaits. Critical reception was mixed, with reviewers highlighting the mechanics as a strong point but finding the environments, music, and story lacking. On Metacritic, the Windows version scored 63 out of 100, while the PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One versions received 57, 58, and 66, respectively. IGN’s Mike Epstein gave it a 6.3 out of 10, noting it advances the Soulslike genre in interesting ways but feels incomplete in narrative and aesthetic detail. GameSpot’s Ginny Woo rated it 6 out of 10, calling it ambitious but criticizing its aesthetics, character motivations, and performance issues on Switch. Hardcore Gamer’s Jordan Helm gave it 3 out of 5, praising the core gameplay as tense and pleasing, yet faulting its reliance on tired tropes and lack of context.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Dark Star
- Publisher
- Another Indie
- Platforms
- Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One
- Released
- October 18, 2018
- Genre
- Action role-playing
- Modes
- Single-player
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The game's main character is a nameless wanderer who must fight the avatars of the seven deadly sins, each one representing something from their past. The game takes a boss rush format while being based on boss fights from the Dark Souls series. The player is given both melee and ranged weapons, as well as health potions, when starting the game. All the enemies have unique attack patterns. Once a boss is defeated, the player must sacrifice something, such as HP, weapon damage or resources. The game has seven bosses in total as well as an eighth final boss.
Reader's Guide
Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption is significant as an indie attempt to innovate within the Soulslike genre by introducing a forced-sacrifice mechanic that reduces the player's capabilities after each boss fight. Critics acknowledged that the game moves the genre forward in interesting ways, but noted it lacks narrative and aesthetic detail, and does not feel like a complete package. Its core gameplay was described as pleasing and genuinely tense, yet it falters from a lack of context and general purpose, relying on templates and tired tropes. The game received aggregate scores ranging from 57/100 (Switch) to 66/100 (Xbox One) on Metacritic, with IGN rating it 6.3/10, GameSpot 6/10, and Hardcore Gamer 3/5. Its legacy lies in demonstrating both the potential and the pitfalls of minimalist, sacrifice-driven design in action RPGs, though it did not achieve widespread acclaim or commercial breakthrough.
Did You Know?
- The game forces the player to sacrifice an ability after each boss fight, such as HP, weapon damage, or resources.
- It features seven bosses representing the seven deadly sins plus an eighth final boss.
- The Windows version received a Metacritic score of 63/100, while the Xbox One version scored 66/100.
- Critics noted performance issues on the Nintendo Switch version.
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