Saga of Sins Nintendo Switch Review 8/10 "A Story in Stained Glass" 💀 @BonusLevelEnter #IndieGame #GameDev

I covered Bonus Level Entertainment’s first release, Fox ‘n Forests back in 2018, it was a SNES-tastic throwback to the style of mascot-driven platformer that was pretty rife on the 16-bit machines by the mid-’90s, although FNF would have clearly been a celebrated title should it have been released on Nintendo’s flagship console at the time, and indeed – it still stood out in 2018 as a great release that harked back to that golden era for 2D platform action.

It wasn’t until after I’d played Saga of Sins for a few hours that it dawned on me that I’d played a game by the developer before and it was interesting to compare the style of the two releases, especially visually!

Saga of Sins casts you in the role of Cecil, a knight returning from the crusades to his (aptly named) home town of Sinwell, where his spiritual leader teaches him to enter the minds of the townsfolk in order to purge them of their sins as a darkness is taking over their village and this is the only way it can be stopped.

What follows are over thirty levels of brain-diving action and puzzles. Good.

The game stands out for the visual style; each character, location, enemy and indeed item is presented in the form of stained glass, and whilst this works well in portable mode, it really does need to be docked for the detail to shine through.

The sense of movement, and background art – reflective of the specific sin of the mind that you are currently inside, such as gluttony, wrath, sloth etc. - are matched with a suitably morose and atmospheric soundtrack, which is used sparingly and effectively. The breaking / cracking glass motif blends perfectly with the stained glass visuals and heavily religious setting.

I also applaud the fact the edges of the screen itself are designed as if viewing through a pane of glass, it’s a glorious design choice that really works and gives the impression that we are peeking in on this alternate reality.

In terms of gameplay, Saga of Sins 2D levels begin simply enough -but soon get saucy, Your initial werewolf form fires projectiles from the mouth and has the ability to howl at a pitch that shatters glass revealing hidden areas that contain tokens with which to upgrade the various abilities of your forms.

The bosses and even some environmental hazards that pepper the levels are taken from the specific sin that they represent, meaning that, whilst each area has a unifying theme in the stained glass art, they feel quite distinct in terms of the types of enemy you’ll face and the obstacles in your path.

An example of this is the sins that actually subtract from your total in the greed sections of the game, and not all bosses are just golems that require taking down, some require tactics and dexterity in their forms, spicing up the action and approaches.

Aside from these ‘straight action’ levels, there are also innocent-minded villagers that act as hubs for the more cerebral sections of the game that perhaps require specific skills to complete, it all adds up to make Saga of Sins a game that rewards and promoted replayability and full completion.

SUMMARY

A fully voice-acted 2D action platform game with a surprisingly engaging narrative, Saga of Sins will probably catch some players off with its breezy, almost casual initial levels, before requiring some serious trouser-buckling for the later stages of the game, which really pose a challenge.

The art style, brooding music and satisfying game mechanics make this a solid recommendation from us at GF, absolutely smashing stuff.