After developing Fox n Forests, a 2D platform game released in 2018, the German studio Bonus Level Entertainment returns with Saga of Sins. After having played with the changes of seasons, Saga of Sins changes scenery and offers us to change appearance.
In Saga of Sins, the player embodies Cecil, a crusader returned from the holy war. On your return to Sinwell, your village of origin, you discover that it is eaten away by evil and the plague. Our hero is out of shape and subject to terrible visions. The game from Bonus Leval Entertainment studio addresses the theme of madness, and manages to transcribe a certain suffering through its dialogues. The biblical references are numerous, and approached seriously, without being too intrusive either.
After this short introduction, it’s time for action and the need to penetrate the minds of fishermen to overcome their demons. The first level takes the form of a tutorial and thus invites us to free Brom, a drunkard who is in charge of emptying the reserves of mass wines. Once inside Brom’s mind, Cecil then takes the form of a wolf capable of shooting fireballs, with the ability to make hidden paths appear with his howl. A fairly short level that still allows you to go around the gameplay.
Freeing villagers allows you to collect pieces of stained glass which then allow you to unlock new transformations. In all, these are four forms that Cecil can adopt, with the wolf, the gargoyle, the griffin and a hidden fourth transformation which will arrive later in your adventure. By unlocking new creatures, you get the ability to quickly change them within the same level, in order to use all the abilities available to you. A well-honed game mechanics that reminds a bit of the principle of the seasons of Fox n Forests, the studio’s previous game. It’s flawlessly fluid, and even if the gameplay remains classic for a game of its kind, the developers have managed to obtain a fairly high level of mastery. Certainly Cecil remains a little rigid in his movements in his human form but this does not penalize the player at any time.
Each character encountered has his own story, while the exchanges allow us to understand Cecil’s attachment to his village and his desire to help everyone. In Saga of Sins, we don’t just meet sinners. We meet innocent people there, who also offer their own challenge which take the form of well thought out puzzles, with for example a level entirely upside down, with the controls reversed
The gameplay has enough depth, including the use of a dash to access certain places, to eliminate several enemies or to reach a platform located high up. This dash can be used in eight directions and allows you to get out of tricky situations quite often. Each level is split into three parts, including a boss fight for each of the Seven Sins. Thus, each environment is very distinct with, for example, decorations loaded with food and other festive treats to illustrate gluttony.
A skill tree is also available and thus allows, for a few denarii, to acquire fragments of life, an additional dash, etc. Each creature has its own improvements, however it is necessary to collect a lot of coins to access certain of her. During the adventure you will also have access to your feats of arms, with the summary of the characters saved, as well as your progress and a bestiary.
The lifespan and the only weak point of Saga of Sins, with ten hours to overcome the title, in normal (three difficulty modes are available). Some boss fights are tricky but once the pattern is understood nothing insurmountable, there too it was built with a lot of intelligence.
The interface is clear, with simple and effective navigation in the form of a grimoire. Overall, the art direction is fantastic. Each level is a succession of stained-glass windows that follow one another, the management of colors and lights is a real success, this gives the game a unique cachet for its genre. A quick word on the soundtrack, with compound themes for each sin. This plunges us into the heart of the adventure on each of the notes that accompanies your songs, to fit perfectly into this atmosphere that is both disturbing and nightmarish.
Saga of Sins is an excellent game, carried by the universe proposed by the developers of Bonus Level Entertainment. The gameplay is tuned like clockwork while the unique art direction strives to immerse the player a little more in the mood after each villager rescue. Very accessible, the game is simply traversed, for a lifespan that is a bit too short from our point of view.
+
- One-of-a-kind art direction
- Soundtrack with little onions
- Well-honed gameplay
–
- Lifespan too short
- Some tricky boss fights
- The price of the latest improvements