Sometimes, you go into a game not really knowing much about it. I knew exactly three things going into Seven Deadly Sins: Origin: one, it is based on the popular Seven Deadly Sins manga/anime; two, it is an action-RPG; and three, that I could play it on PC or PS5. I looked at it long enough to decide that it could be up my alley, and then dived into its closed beta test blind. And I’m happy I did. Seven Deadly Sins: Origin is an impressive game, even with its gacha mechanics, and I enjoyed hanging out in its world and spending time with its characters. Oh, and the combat? That’s not bad, either.
Seven Deadly Sins: Origin follows Prince Tristan of Liones and Tioreh. After stumbling upon a strange cave inside a tree (that’s not a typo), our heroes discover a mysterious pendant called the Book of Stars that seems to have mystical powers neither of them fully understand. When they emerge from the cave after a knock-down, drag-out brawl against a surprisingly large and hostile golem, our heroes discover that the world is a little different than when they left it. The topography’s changed, creatures that are supposed to be extinct are running around in living color, and Hawk – everyone’s favorite flying ham – was being chased by a dragon. He’s not really sure how he ended up here – he could have sworn he was in Purgatory – but he’s down to clown with Tristan and Tioreh while they figure out what’s going on.
Oh, and this weird black corruption is springing up all over, long-dead heroes are showing up to cause problems, and there’s this mysterious scholar named Clotho who seems to know both everything about the Book of Stars, which can magically restore broken things, and where Tristan and Tioreh are going to be before they get there. Time travel shenanigans? Multiple timelines? Something funky’s going on, y’all, and our intrepid crew are going to get to the bottom of it.
The story here is fun (and very well-acted, though there was no English dub in the beta, so everything I heard was in Japanese), but what sells The Vibe™ of Seven Deadly Sins: Origin is how it looks. It’s absolutely stunning, but what impressed me most was how well-animated everything was. There’s a particularly great scene where Tristan is trying to hand over the Book of Stars, only to find it’s stuck to his hand, that had me rolling, but there’s a lot of really great moments here. Seven Deadly Sins: Origin has a story to tell, and you can tell its developers have taken that responsibility seriously.
But there’s a solid action game here, too. Origin is an action-RPG at heart, and there’s meat on this combat’s bone. In addition to a standard defensive dash (the only way you’ll be blocking in Origin is with your face), each character comes with a standard combo, a couple of special attacks, and an ultimate that can range from calling in some fireballs to transforming into a demon. These distinctions are what gives each character flavor, and I really enjoyed playing around with them, whether I was buffing my standard fire attacks with Tioreh or using Howzer’s wind-based strikes, and everything in-between. And yes, characters like Diane are here, too. Just… smaller than you might figure.
Since each character’s abilities are associated with an element, it’s good to have a balanced team. You can have up to four characters traveling with you at once, and switch to them on the fly. Play your cards right, and they’ll even come in with an attack. The twist is that your whole team shares a health bar; there’s no switching characters when you’re running low on health to save the day.
Combat is about managing your cooldowns, landing hits when you can, and most importantly, not getting hit. Origin is kind enough to show you where large attacks are going to be ahead of time, and smaller hits generally have enough windup so that you can get out of the way if you’re paying attention and not just mashing buttons. This isn’t Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden, but there’s some juice here, and combat feels good.
But it’s not all about hitting things with all manner of sharp and blunt objects. You can also collect materials in the world and use them to craft potions to keep you alive in a pinch, cook a delicious meal, or upgrade your characters with permanent stat buffs.
There’s also a lot to explore. Soon after meeting Hawk, I could ride him around, and like seemingly every video game released since The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you can climb on objects in the environment if you’ve got the stamina for it, and glide down from high places. All of this is good because the world of Britannia is absolutely massive. You can teleport around if you activate the fancy fast-travel stones scattered around the environment, but that means you gotta find ‘em first. So, you know, be prepared to do a little walking. Or pig-riding.
But spending time in the world means you’ll get to do Origin’s sidequests. They’re simple stuff, and, as you’d expect, not nearly as well-produced as the story beats, but I enjoyed trying to help out a crying kid and got a kick out of a castle worker who was so lazy that I had to deliver food for her. Stuff like that makes the world feel more lived in.
If there’s one thing about Seven Deadly Sins: Origin that gives me pause, it’s the gacha-ness of it all. I’m inherently wary of gacha and other reward systems built on gambling, and Origin is one of those games. It seems fairly easy to get enough currency to roll the dice, but the beta throws currency at you, and it’s hard to get a sense of the economics of something when that happens. Whether or not that will be true in the full game remains to be seen. The UI also feels designed for a mouse and keyboard in a way that makes it awkward to navigate on a controller, especially when you’re managing a lot of gear. It’s not gamebreaking, but it’s something I wonder about when it comes to a full release.
I spent about five hours with Seven Deadly Sins: Origin, unlocking several characters, opening up the ability to party up with other players, and taking the main quest far enough that Tristan and Tioreh got to the point that they’d demonstrated enough skill to be trusted to head to the Fairy King Forest. That seemed like a natural place to stop, but before I did, I wanted to take on one of the beta’s optional bosses. In my case, it was a red demon who belched fire and had a thing for belly flops, and another weird looking thing with arms that were doubling as legs. I couldn’t beat either, mostly because I just wasn’t doing enough damage. My choices were clear: level up, get more gear, and play more gacha to Get My Numbers Up, but I opted out. I’d seen the fights, which were fun enough that I wanted to play them again if I jumped in at release, and I was tired of fiddling with the inventory screen. End on a high note.
Sometimes, going into a game blind can be the best thing you can do for yourself. I enjoyed spending time in Seven Deadly Sins: Origin’s world, hanging out with its characters, and riding around a flying hog. And yeah, the fighting stuff part was pretty solid, too. I’m always wary of gacha elements in games, but the core of Seven Deadly Sins: Origin got my attention. The only question is whether it can hold it when it comes out next year. I wouldn’t mind a rematch with a couple of those bosses, but I’m not in a rush. They’ll be there when I return to Britannia.