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Sinners in the night...

SIN is a short mystery adventure game that will take about 1 hour and 45 minutes of your time. Oh yeah, probably before readying this review you believed this was a horror game. Well, this is not entirely true but neither entirely wrong!.

In any case this game is the story of a young man named Elm that wakes up with an amnesia. Nothing new here, this guy then meets a man named Oak that promises to help him getting his memories back if he will complete a task in which he has to collect some magical fragments. These strange items seems to fix some incomplete locations they are going to visit travelling on a train. So Elm joins Oak's associates Azalea and Phlox in their strange quest...


No relation with Professor Oak, I suppose!

Ok, if this seem strange, remember that the game starts in media res: from what we learn Elm already completed and fixed some destinations, and there are just three left, that will be the sections in which the game is divided. These levels are different eerie locations, like a seemingly abandoned house and a creepy carnival, where the protagonist have to solve some simple puzzles and tasks to find the fragments, fix the incomplete locations and unlock next stop. Azalea and Phlox sre some supporting characters that have also the role of savepoints during the whole adenture.
That's it!

Well, there is something else, for example the hands! These supernatural beings will try to capture Elm, and just a touch means game over! Luckily there is often an escape nearby so be ready to exit any room if suddenly one of this giant hands makes its apparition and tries to grab our protagonist. Who are them and who is trying to stop him? Well, the only way to know is earning the secret ending, because yes, there is a normal ending (that will clarify Elm's past and amnesia) and a special secret final ending that explains that detail (not really important to undertand the whole picture, still nice)!

From what I see the game makes use of original assets (not that I have seen them anywhere but surely some pics are custom made), I found especially the facesets really pretty while the charsets are ok, not bad even if there are not so many characters in this short game. Mapping is also adequate, nothing particularly complex or original, I'd say "serviceable" and rather essential, but not in a bad way. The dark atmosphere is well represented, just don't expect a real horror game since the lack of real "horror details" except for jumpscares and some little chase scenarios.


Hands are quick and deadly in this game, luckily the escape is often nearby!

The Verdict
While SIN is not a bad game, I found it to be a bit... lacking! I mean the story is simple and maybe even a bit predictable, with a final revelation that is the only really interesting part, because when I played it I somewhat anticipated what was going to happen. And I said "Uhm. Ok, let's go on!". The puzzle are also extremely easy (only one was a sort of challenge) that I can call them just "activities", not even the shooting gallery part is a game because it's automatically succesful! Ok, not a bad game, just a bit disappointing and lackingof some details that would have made this experience stand out (and more rewarding since playing this game made me want to finish it as soon as possible, but there is not much exploration to do so I guess that was expected!).
I mean, also Azalea and Phlox are not that important to the story, and also their presence as savepoints is reduced since usually the maps aren't that big and they are often nearby (and why would I need two nearby save points?).

Said this, I didn't regret playing this game, it's a short and unfortunately not so memorable experience despite the promising beginning. It's still s well made and solid but average game with a good art, for this reason it gets a 3/5!