It amazes me how quickly the rougelite genre has exploded over the past few years. First, you had the Binding of Isaac early on in the 2010s, and now you have so many that it has its own tag on Steam; that’s when you know something is the hot new thing. But since 2021, when bigger studios started to chime on their own takes on the rougelite genre (Returnel & Deathloop), some people are left wondering has the genre already peaked. Well, it has peaked in the current zeitgeist, but I still believe that we still haven’t seen the standout title in this new wave of rougelite. So, we are still in the experiment phase; while some work, more than most tend to fail and be quickly forgotten about. But then you have those that have a great concept and ideas that end up just being alright in the end. That’s where this week’s hat pull rougelite game lands, but to give its proper title Sanctuary Saga.
Sanctuary Saga is Darkest Dungeons but takes the art style from classic early 90s Square JRPG had, instead of the gothic-like look that Darkest Dungeons has going for it. So, this game is smacking you in the face with loads of nostalgia charm as the game looks similar to Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI, as it did for me. But the first sign that something was up, the story wasn’t grabbing my attention, I know the story in a game like this isn’t a main priority, but when you are taking art and style cues from games whose stories are legendary in Video Game History, I just expected a little glimpse of that influence. But this is a game about taking chances and turning the turn-based JRPG formula on its head, and chances are a great way to learn what works and what doesn’t, and that brings us into the gameplay.
If you have ever played any of the Square JRPGs from the SNES era, then you will feel right at home with the combat. It’s your typical affair, select an enemy, choose attack, hit, choose your next move, and hope the enemy doesn’t kill you before you can take a health potion. I was getting in the groove with this combat system, but then I hit an enemy that was a higher level than me and crushed my group in about three turns. I got a Game Over and back to the start, and it’s a total reset; I go through the tutorial again and end up where I died and found an enemy lower than in its place. This is the point where I’m starting to think the randomization of the design is not working in the game’s favor. But I also have to appreciate this game for not holding anything back in tribute to the early days of gaming; if you fail, it’s back to the start for you; no continues; if that was the intent, then props to it, however, there appears to be no balance between a good and bad run.
However, that feeling when you defeat a zone boss and move on to the next area feels more rewarding in this than in other rougelite I’ve played recently; probably the best emotional feeling in one since Returnel. But then I pushed on through to the end of this zone and found myself up against the same boss as before, except this one had a different move set and wiped the floor with my party. So, I decided to spend the next run grinding up before I even moved on to the next zone, only to end up accidentally making eye contact with a minion who was a higher level than me and killed my whole party. I don’t know what you want me to do game; if I play it how you want me to, as a rougelite, I end up being under-leveled when the random die doesn’t end in my favor, and if I do grind like the good old days the exact same thing happens.
But the game does have some tech issues, and a nasty save file error that affected me once and, after re-installing, didn’t come up again. But the point that broke me was a boss that ended up in a loop of reviving his minions around him and ended ending my run. This was where my time with Sanctuary Saga ended with a somewhat sour taste in my mouth. This game does have a lot of good ideas attached to it, mixing the old and the new. But as I said, this is why games take risks in new genres to see what works and what doesn’t, and the game does achieve the look of a SNES game, but the gameplay just isn’t there, and when it does, it can be tedious or frustrating depending on how the randomizer works on your run. In the end, this is worth a curious look at if you want something different, but be prepared not to have your hand held throughout, that’s the mistake I made, and now I know better for the future.
Score 5 out of 10.
Reviewed on PC.