One of the game’s most dangerous monsters is the Pugbear, which is... well, a cross between a pug and a bear. It’s the bestSmoke And Sacrifice
STORY-DRIVEN SURVIVAL THAT’S ALL SMOKE AND MIRRORS ROBIN VALENTINE
PUBLISHER CURVE DIGITAL / DEVELOPER SOLAR SAIL GAMES / RELEASE DATE OUT NOW / COST £15.99/$19.99
tools and items you need to progress- everything from weapons to fend
off the wildlife to furs to keep you
warm in the cold. Where usually
concepts like these would be used to
convey a feeling of conquering your
surroundings, going from powerless
to master of all you survey, here they
simply feel like busywork between
story beats.
The biggest problem is a lack of
tension. There are no ever-depleting
meters such as hunger or thirst to add
a ticking clock to your scavenging,
and most relevant resources are
simply littered abundantly on the
ground, as long as you know where to
look. Far too much time is spent just
wandering around picking things up
and combining them with other things,
an experience that really contributes
nothing to Sachi’s tale save to give it a
more substantial run-time.
The only threat comes in the form
of wandering monsters, encounters
that quickly become tedious thanks to
an awkward, sluggish combat system.
The frustrations of these battles
become even more pronounced at
While games about
fatherhood are a
dime a dozen, it’s
disappointingly rare
to find one where
you play as a mother.
Smoke And Sacrifice’s story is, thus,
intriguingly unusual, a survival game
telling the tale of a woman searching
for her lost child.
Our hero, Sachi, lives in an idyllic
village, its lands temperate and fertile
despite the icy wastelands that
surround it. It’s sustained by the oddly
mechanical ‘flowers’ of the Sun Tree,
which protects the villagers with its
warmth and light. But there’s a price:
mysterious priests claim every first-
born child, taking them away to their
temple from which they never return.
Unable to live with the regret of
giving up her son, Sachi sets out
to find him, but finds herself lost in
a strange land. As she travels, she
uncovers the dark secrets of the
priests, and the truth of the Sun Tree.
It’s a powerfully intriguing start, and
indeed Smoke And Sacrifice makes a
grand first impression all round with
its beautiful art style, charming paper
cut-out animation style, and unusual
setting. But that early momentum
diminishes fast.
Smoke screens
The twists and turns of the plot are
ultimately strikingly predictable, and
it struggles to find much emotion in
what should be a deeply heartfelt tale.
But more disappointing is how poorly it
gels with the core survival mechanics.
As you explore, you gather
resources and craft them into the
night, when more powerful creatures
emerge – at times, we found it more
productive to simply stand in camp
waiting for daytime than venturing out.
A severe lack of polish dimishes
the fun even further. Severe bugs
dog our every step, including a save
glitch that sees us losing hours of
progress multiple times, and an odd
moment when our character revives
themselves from death, but is only
able to move by jumping. At one stage,
a boss we’re tasked with defeating
simply dies on its own before we even
find it – an achievement pop-up is our
only clue – and we’re left searching
the swamps for its corpse so we can
retrieve a vital quest item.
In bringing together survival
mechanics with a more structured
story, Smoke And Sacrifice fails
to make much of either. Despite a
creative spirit, it’s defined less by
uncovering the secrets of a fantastical
world, and more by picking up yet
another stick off the ground. Qshort
cutWHAT IS IT?
A story-driven survival
game set in a weird
and dangerous
steampunk world.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
Interesting and pretty
to look at, but bloated
with dry survival
mechanics.
WHO’S IT FOR?
Survivors lost in a
bleak underworld
looking for something
to do at night.“Severe bugs
dog our every
step, including a
save glitch”
OXM VERDICT
A promising start
gives way to an
underbaked story
and clunky survival
mechanics.4
LEFT At night,
the ‘Smoke’
descends, a
deadly fog that
must be warded
off with a
lantern.More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 087REVIEW