I’ve been dipping in and out of Mortal Sin for more than a year-and-a-half. During that time, developer Nikola Todorovic has been working tirelessly on updating the game. And not just in terms of adding in new enemy types and character classes, but by ripping up entire gameplay systems and reworking core aspects of the loop.
Now, however, the work is done and the game has just left Early Access on Steam. Naturally, it’s the perfect opportunity to dive back in and check out how the new content impacts the overall experience.
So what is Mortal Sin, then?
Simply put, Mortal Sin is a grim and visceral first-person action roguelite with some of the nastiest, most punishing gameplay in the sub-genre. It’s also really good.
As you work through the game, you unlock a wide variety of different character builds, each one a new twist on the gritty first-person experience. If you think of any archetypal fantasy character profile, the chances are there is something similar waiting to be unlocked through play.
With your chosen character, you must then go on a murderous rampage through one of the game’s biomes, with ruins to explore, grim caves, and even a pirate-themed zone (which takes some unlocking and isn’t available straight away). It’s fast, it’s furious, and it’s a punishing actioner that wants nothing more than to chew you up and say “game over”.
Where style meets content
Normally you would come in near the end of a review with talk about the game’s visuals, but in the case of Mortal Sin, they’re unavoidable. The brash and unflinching use of colour, contrast, and saturation makes this an eye-melting experience from start to finish.
Does it look good? I’d say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Is it unique? Absolutely. Do I like it, personally? I’ve warmed to it. That’s probably because it has improved over time, and it looks better since the most recent overhaul.
One thing that the visuals do perfectly is set the tone. If Mortal Sin looks grimy, that’s because it is grimy.
This is a dark and disturbing fantasy world, intended only to deliver punishing, immediate violence. At times it feels like you’re in a pitched battle, with flailing attacks all around, blood pooling on the floor, and claustrophobic clutter everywhere. The audio-visual experience helps elevate the impact of each blow, creating one of the most cohesive and distinctive indie rogues that I’ve ever struggled through.
Standing your ground in a saturated market
Combat is the beating heart of Mortal Sin, and everything serves a purpose to that end. There are guns, swords, magic spells, and so much more, and everything feels and plays differently. The tactile gameplay feel that has been delivered here feels responsive and unique.
Progress forward is slow and dangerous. In contrast, the movement is slick and fluid. In fact, Mortal Sin wants you to go fast, to be over confident, because that’s when it will stab you in the side and watch you bleed out. Enemies can spawn in all around you, there are traps all over the place, and it’s not uncommon to get stuck in a corner and mobbed.
Because of all the horrible death, it doesn’t take long before your playstyle switches to something more deliberate and careful. Not long after that, you’ll be trying to work out how to best use the different weapons across the game’s various environments, which include crumbling castles, dark cave systems, or wild woodlands.
Once you get into the groove, Mortal Sin reveals itself to be a firm but fair adversary. There are loads of items to choose from for each character on any given run, and the procedural generation seems solid enough; all told there is a huge amount of replayability built in via a wealth of classes, a deep combat system, and an ever-shifting world that still manages to feel cohesive.
The above is all the more impressive when you remember that it is primarily the work of one person.
A quick word on leaving EA
A big part of the update is the new and final boss, who sits between you and the game’s multiple endings. That said, there’s actually a whole bunch of impactful new content in there as part of the 1.0 update, particularly the more refined controls, which feel great.
On top of that there’s a more fleshed out story, and the RPG aspects are deeper both in-game and across the campaign. You can read more about the contents of the update on Steam if you’d like to know more, but we’d be walking into spoiler territory to go into detail here.
Mortal Sin is a gritty and engrossing first-person roguelite, and now that there’s a proper multi-phase boss to wrap things up – the ominous Enimatik – it’s the perfect time to dive in if you haven’t already. This is a game that has evolved around refined combat, but with increasingly interesting decision-making, where your character builds feel more differentiated the further you play.
If you’re after a punchy new first-person rogue, Mortal Sin is one of the best out there. There’s a huge challenge here if you want it, but new difficulty options also make it more accessible than ever, and I think both seasoned veterans and relative newcomers will find lots to enjoy in these twisted dungeons.
Mortal Sin is out now on PC (Win), and I played the game via access kindly provided by the game’s developer.
