I like a good RPG and I’ve grown increasingly fond of the Roguelike genre over the years. Because of this, when I see games that remind me of other things in either genre, I’m usually somewhat interested. Sanctuary Saga merges turn-based RPG elements with Roguelike elements akin to Darkest Dungeon. Does it work as intended? Well, let’s get into it.

Sanctuary Saga puts you in the role of a caravan of adventurers, with each member being the leader of a guild. Your caravan seeks to explore and establish a foothold in the Untamed Wilds, a land that has not yet been colonized by civilized races. As such, your caravan and party will travel through hostile, harsh territories across 4 biomes, searching for a place to settle. Will they make it through? Or will the clashing of opinions and ideologies break them apart?

Admittedly, the biggest thing that made me think of Darkest Dungeon was the combat system. Combat plays out in a turn-based scenario, but each of your four party members has skills that only work if they are placed at a certain row of the formation. Careful placement of your party members also dictates which party member enemies can attack with melee attacks. Ranged attacks tend to be immune to row placement, but it’s still important to keep an eye on where your characters are.

Over the course of a battle, each character’s argument meter will rise after they take damage or get hit by various effects. This meter can cause disruptions in the party dynamics, including characters refusing to fight. As such, you’ll want to manage the argument meter with support abilities (like Fear in Darkest Dungeon). Personally, I’m not a fan of this added resource, and it leads to a secondary problem.

Enemies usually come in large groups, and there is no rhyme or reason as to when the enemy gets to attack first. I have had characters get outright killed by enemies before I even got a turn or a chance to heal them. Mind you, this was while playing on the story-focused difficulty, and approaching the enemy out in the field while their back was turned.

It seems like difficulty levels spike at arbitrary points, and it almost becomes mandatory to save your game before every battle. Some folks might like this, but it was excessive for me. I got to a point where it just didn’t feel worth it to keep moving forward without just reloading a previous save. If I felt like it was my own mistakes that caused it, I wouldn’t feel so annoyed by it. I love turn-based RPGs, but Sanctuary Saga’s combat felt like a chore.

Sanctuary Saga just feels like a game for those masochistic players who want to trudge and slog through. Even the armor and weapon upgrades you get don’t feel super impactful, especially when the entire roster of enemies could focus on a character before you have a turn, wiping them out. Considering you can’t revive a character without defeating a mini-boss or going back to the caravan, it just feels more annoying than anything.

Overall, I’m sure Sanctuary Saga satisfies some of the people that enjoy things like Darkest Dungeon, where the game’s difficulty is entirely hostile toward the player. However, for someone who was hoping for a solid RPG experience, this doesn’t really feel satisfying. The characters don’t feel very developed, the environments aren’t that interesting, and there just isn’t a lot to enjoy here.

If you’re still on the fence about Sanctuary Saga, pick it up during a sale. The $14.99 price tag isn’t terrible at full price, but I’d recommend getting a discount if you can. If you’re a casual player, avoid Sanctuary Saga, this is not the RPG for you.

A PC review copy of Sanctuary Saga was provided by V Publishing for this review.

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Sanctuary Saga

$14.99

3

Score

3.0/10

Pros

• Interesting Concept
• Simple Controls

Cons

• Difficulty Spikes too Frequently
• Combat Feels Like a Slog
• Enemies get First Strikes for no Reason
• Game Design Feels Hostile to the player