Introduction
The Sin for Nintendo Switch was released on June 9, 2023. The publisher for the Nintendo Switch version of the game is Valkyrie Initiative. The developer according to the game’s Steam page is Baba Nura. On behalf of the review panel and staff here at The Handheld Gaming Community I would like to thank the publishers Valkyrie Initiative for the review code for “The Sin”. You can buy “The Sin” on the Nintendo eShop for $7.99
Overview
“The Sin” is a single player, visual novel game. In this game you will be told a haunting story set around a Russian family who is going to visit their Great Grandmother who is on her deathbed. There is a father named Alik, whose character is very unpleasant with his children and wife. The children are Romka, and Anechka. Romka is the oldest of the two, and seems to have gotten the bulk of the abuse from his father. The wife’s name is Sveta, and it is her Grandmother you are going to see.
Gameplay
This game is a visual novel so you won’t be doing very much in the way of making choices or doing anything except pressing the “A” button to keep on progressing the story. While this is to be expected in come degree with a visual novel, many visual novels have some interactive features. “The Sin” has no such features. I don’t think it makes the game bad, and I will explain why in another section. As with other visual novel games you can save at any point in the game, so you can certainly take the game in chunks.
Graphics/Performance
I like the art style in “The Sin”. The style is very bleak, showing only in black and white. As you might expect with a visual novel, there isn’t any motion in the game, rather just a slide show that tells a story.
Story
This section is a complicated one. The story in the game is very good, and very creepy. I really like that it uses Russian folklore and culture in the story. However, the publisher or developer didn’t put much effort into translating the text in the game. This is a problem because there is a lot of text. You will still be able to get the general idea, but the literal text will be hard to understand in some cases. My suspicion is that they translated the text and didn’t rewrite some of it to make sense in English. This section is complicated, because I really like the story they are trying to tell, but the poor translation is going to add a hurdle players will have to cross to play the game.
Sound
The sound in “The Sin” is what saved the game for me, and helped tell the story even when the translation was a bit off. The soundtrack is very well done and kept me engaged in the story. It sets such a creepy atmosphere that it made me feel uneasy for hours after I put the game down.
Value
You can buy “The Sin” for $7.99 on the Nintendo eShop. If you can overlook the awful translation, you should definitely give this game a try. It will take you on a journey through the lives of the characters and may also teach you about Russian folklore/culture. The game is far from perfect, but where the translation isn’t very good, the soundtrack more than makes up for it.
Conclusion
“The Sin” for Nintendo Switch was a pleasant surprise for me. It is always a fun experience when a game surprises me. I was very captivated because it was bringing me back to my time studying the language and culture of Russia. This game should be played, and played with headphones. I wish the publishers would have done a better job localizing the game. Thankfully the soundtrack for “The Sin” more than makes up for any shortcomings in the translation. I would like to thank the publisher Valkyrie Initiative for the review code.
