Mortal Sin Review Summary

Stylized art and diverse classes support satisfying, fluid yet sometimes clunky combat, with rewarding challenge undercut by a high price.

Diverse character classes and playstyles: A large number of classes with unique skills, weapons, and playstyles provides high variety and replayability. Players appreciate that each class drastically changes the gameplay experience.

Overall positive and fun game: The general sentiment is that the game is enjoyable, fun, and well-crafted. Many reviewers simply express that it is a good game worth playing.

Satisfying fluid combat system: Many reviewers praise the combat as fast, aggressive, and satisfying, with a great feel and combo flow. The combat is a standout feature, often described as one of the best.

Stylized and striking art: The art style and visuals are frequently praised as unique, wonderful, and visually striking. Some note that the art style might be unusual but grows on you.

Challenging but rewarding difficulty: The game is described as tough but fair, with a high skill ceiling that is still approachable. Players enjoy the challenge and find it rewarding to improve.

Price Considered Too High: Multiple reviewers find the game overpriced, especially given the amount of content. The cost is seen as a barrier to value.

Combat Feels Sluggish Clunky: Combat is described as sluggish, clunky, and floaty, with forced combos detracting from the experience. The pacing and feel of combat are widely criticized.

Gameplay Becomes Repetitive: Many players report that combat and overall gameplay become repetitive quickly, often after just a few runs. This repetition reduces long-term enjoyment.

Graphics Art Style Criticized: Graphics are described as hideous, janky, and strange, with an unappealing art style. Some even find the visuals painful to look at.

Underwhelming Roguelike Elements: The game's roguelike features are seen as poorly integrated and not standing out among other roguelikes. This leads to less replayability and an insult to the genre for some.

Roguelike core gameplay: The game is predominantly described as a roguelike, with recurring mentions of run-based progression, procedural randomness, and dungeon crawling. Many reviews explicitly categorize it as a roguelike or hack-and-slash roguelike.

Distinct playable classes: The game features multiple classes, each with unique playstyles and abilities. Class unlocks and specific examples like Berserker, Monk, and Hoarder are frequently mentioned.

First-person melee combat: Combat is melee-focused and presented from a first-person perspective, blending hack-and-slash action with fast-paced, fluid fighting. Many reviews highlight the smooth feel and depth of the melee system.

Combo-driven combat system: A combo system is a central combat mechanic, allowing players to chain attacks and execute different moves. Several reviews note an auto-combo feature and on-screen assistance for performing combos.

Progression and unlock system: A progression system allows players to unlock characters, classes, and upgrades, providing a rewarding sense of advancement. Level-up mechanics and gear systems are also noted.

Runs well on Steam Deck: Multiple players report the game performs smoothly on Steam Deck, including at locked 60fps with LSFG and at 45Hz with lowered settings to save battery. This indicates strong handheld compatibility.

Generally stable and well-optimized: Several players report stable performance without FPS drops, lags, or freezes, and describe the game as running great and well-optimized. This highlights a positive baseline for many systems.

Late-game performance degrades severely: Frame rates drop significantly during late-game sequences when many effects and projectiles are active. This raises concerns that optimization does not hold up as scene complexity increases.

Frequent crashes reported: Some users experienced repeated crashes, with one noting a hard PC crash. This points to stability issues that can be severe for affected players.

Camera movement causes issues: Moving the camera left and right triggers FPS drops and a mouse icon lock. This suggests input or rendering problems tied to camera rotation.

Worth the Money: Many players feel the game is absolutely worth its price, with statements like 'worth every penny' and 'no regrets buying this game.' The positive sentiment around value is strong and widespread.

Strongly Recommended: Reviews frequently give high recommendations, using phrases such as 'cannot recommend this enough' and 'highly recommended.' This indicates broad satisfaction and a strong likelihood of recommending the game to others.

Great for Roguelike Fans: The game is highly recommended for fans of roguelikes and roguelites, described as a must-play for enthusiasts of the genre. It resonates well with players who enjoy challenging, run-based games.

Worth Trying: Numerous reviewers suggest giving the game a chance, with recommendations like 'definitely worth a shot' and 'highly recommend giving it a go.' This suggests that even uncertain players are encouraged to try it.

Start on Easiest Difficulty: Players recommend starting on the easiest difficulty to learn the game's systems and information density, as even that is challenging. This advice is common for newcomers to ease into the experience.

Community fair range: $20.00 - $25.00.

Game completion: 20.0h.

Session length: 0.5h.

Endgame: 100.0h.

Mortal Sin often starts with a learning curve around combos, builds, and systems, but many players report it becomes satisfying once those mechanics click. Some players bounce off before that point, while a few report immediate addictiveness.

Friction: Learning curve for combos and mechanics; Tutorial does not clearly explain run goals; Early progression can feel confusing; Memorizing class combos or relying on auto-combo; Repetitive rooms and enemies can feel like a slog; Tracking equipment durability distracts from combat.

Unlock drivers: Getting past the learning curve by understanding combat, strategy, and builds; Combos becoming muscle memory; Learning to change playstyle each run; Unlocking classes and upgrades through meta-progression; Improving at tracking equipment durability; Playing without auto combo.

Combo-Driven Melee Action Enthusiast: Aggressive melee combo chains, attack canceling, parries, and ability weaving. Motivation: Mastering the combo system and achieving a satisfying flow state in fast melee combat. Stance: buy.

Roguelite Build and Progression Tinkerer: Run-based experimentation with classes, weapons, and build synergies while banking permanent upgrades. Motivation: Unlocking new characters, builds, and meta-progression across repeated runs. Stance: buy.

Hardcore Difficulty Seeker: High-difficulty runs, parry and dodge mastery, repeated attempts, and optional boss or achievement challenges. Motivation: Overcoming brutal difficulty and proving skill mastery against punishing bosses and achievements. Stance: buy.

Across the provided Windows hardware cohorts, the game is reported to run poorly due to optimization issues, crashes, and jitter, with all included snippets being non-recommendations. Both lower-VRAM and mid-VRAM Windows cohorts show negative performance outcomes.

Windows <8GB VRAM: negative. Reports terrible optimization and frequent crashes on Windows with low VRAM, leading to a non-recommendation.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: negative. Reports performance issues, background jitter, and a lack of smoothness on Windows with mid-range VRAM, leading to non-recommendations.

Steam Deck: Steam Deck feedback is overwhelmingly seamless. Users report smooth default performance, stable 60 fps, good controller support, and strong portability. There is no evidence of external launchers, Proton Experimental tinkering, anti-cheat errors, frequent crashes, or unreadable UI. The only minor note is an inaccurate battery estimate, while optional settings can extend play time.

Linux and Proton: The available reviews are positive about running the game on Steam Deck and PC, with no reports of Linux-specific launch failures, Proton tweaks, anti-cheat blockers, or graphical instability. Evidence indicates the game runs well out of the box on Steam Deck.

Consistent updates and developer dedication: The developer regularly updates the game with new content and game-changing improvements, showing dedication to refining the experience. Updates are released periodically and sometimes include huge reworks every few months.

Solo developer passion project: Multiple reviewers highlight that the game is developed by a single person or solo developer, describing it as a passion project. This emphasizes the impressive achievement of one individual creating the game.

Berserk-inspired atmosphere and references: The game contains many references to Berserk and has a Berserk-like atmosphere, with aesthetics inspired by the manga. This is a notable draw for fans of Berserk.

Japanese language support added: The game supports Japanese language, with localization added at some point. Some reviewers mention purchasing the game after the Japanese localization was added.

Active Discord and accessible developer: The game has an official Discord community and an accessible developer, fostering community engagement. This is a positive for player interaction.