Sinner 97

Sinner 97
N/A
Metacritic
88
Steam
59.25
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Release date
22 November 2022
Steam reviews score
Total
88 (35 votes)

Sinner 97 is a first person PSX VHS psychological horror set in 1997, within the confines of a shadowy religious cult. Remain hidden and overcome problems in order to escape the Father's clutches.

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Sinner 97 system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows 7 (SP1+), Windows 10 and Windows 11
  • Processor: X86 and X64 bit architecture
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: DX10, DX11, and DX12-capable GPUs
  • Storage: 2 GB available space

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
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Ejsnes
Ejsnes

This is pretty good hide and seek game, first of a kind that I ever played and I found it really fun!
Retro stylized graphics fits this title very well and every encounter with father elicit visceral reaction from me!
It's also very replayable which I appreciate.
I have to admit though that I didnt like every aspect of the game, for example I think that ventilation system is too broad and too elaborate, slowing down gameplay tremendously and breaking immersion, because they are too long and too safe...
Also, loading a saved game tends to reverse some progress every time, which is a bit frustrating, but at least every item you used before reappears in safe room to help with that.
Other than that there's not much to complain really, worth recommending!

Pablo Plissken
Pablo Plissken

Unfortunately, I am thumbing this down purely on the basis that Sinner 97 does not allow you to take a natural break from the game.

Allow me to elaborate, after carefully navigating to locate the safe room, which is the one and only location in the game that allows you to "save" to find that if you exit out the game/application entirely it totally wipes your run/progress and you have to start entirely again... despite the game telling you "game saved".

I posted on the discussion boards to see if this was an issue/bug on my side, but looks like it isn't and unless gauging off other reviews you've got a solid three to four hours to commit to Sinner 97 without closing you're helpless.

A real shame, because the game looks great and nails the atmosphere but doesn't cater to those with a limited time frame.

crispy crimes
crispy crimes

really cool. puts me under permanent tension. i had to call it a day after one hour because the constant pressure got to me. the game isn't short. at least not for me. i'm not one to rush games that ask for some exploration and time to absorb. the nostalgic grafics are great and play to my personal taste. it's creepy and i like that the inventory is limited. looking forward to more of you guys!

MySoulToTake
MySoulToTake

Developed by Bubblegum Home Entertainment, Sinner 97 is for lovers of retro style games and horror. One of the best horror games I've played in a long while, I couldn't recommend it enough. A price that will appeal to every pocket, it has more content than some AAA games.

You can check my short gameplay video on YT:
https://youtu.be/sdJhoXV1slc

Worms Enthusiast
Worms Enthusiast

I might not be the sharpest or most patient tool in the shed but I feel like just shifting through this game is a drag. I'd love for someone to correct me if I'm wrong but the premise and game play is Granny but with Texas chainsaw massacre esque cult house dealing with wandering around an absolutely huge ass house while an a very AI fat dude with a chainsaw stomps around and likely makes you waste your time waiting for him to leave a particular area. Mix that in with some puzzles that translate to fetch quests with knowing what needs to be used on what in a particular setting, as most of the escape survival horror games do and as per usual because games need to have that nostalgic feeling you can only carry three items at once. This is where my problem with the huge house comes in, it is so boring and the rooms while differentiated do not feel unique, likely attributed to the colour palette and aesthetic chosen for the presentation. Mix the huge ass house that takes forever to get around in with the AI listening for your sound cues and the likely confusing first time playthrough that sets out to be. There is a reason the train sequence in RE0 is considered irritating running back and forth the sprawl of the map and it is exactly why I can't personally give this game a commendation. I will add weirdly enough, I do love Nun Massacre though despite it being largely similar gameplay wise and objective wise. Maybe theres something in particular I can't put my finger on that makes this game less bearable for me or maybe its really the color palette and premise that isn't as exciting. Either way, maybe take my review with a grain of salt or don't. Its not like the game is crazy expensive anyways

Thumper Bones
Thumper Bones

Just another run of the mill cat and mouse VHS style (mobile game feeling) horror game... if there was a middle ground vote instead of just a "yes" or "no"... that's what I would choose... but I'll choose "yes" just because it's exactly what it sold itself as. There was a part in the game however when I dropped an item and it fell through the map... causing me to completely restart the game. You'll also get a nostalgic feel... the opening theme sounds very Resident Evil-esq... and the inventory system in the game is VERY reminiscent of Silent Hill (1)

🌻Chudah🌻
🌻Chudah🌻

Let me preface this review by stating that I absolutely did not like Puppet Combo's "Stay Out of the House". It was loud and frustrating, and I spent more time dying than actually enjoying my time with it. Sinner 97, on the other hand, is one of the freshest surprises I've had in a LONG while. It has similar gameplay to Stay Out of the House, but gets rid of all of that game's annoyances while adding mechanics that make the experience much less exasperating.

The game starts off outside a run-down Baptist church. You're a journalist who received a note and videotape from one of the congregation's members begging someone, ANYONE for help. It seems the pastor has gone insane and has cut off all access to the outside world. The people are trapped, suffering, and in need of rescue, and you're the only one who can get to the bottom of it all!

Now, don't mistake Sinner 97 for a narrative horror, 'cause it ain't that. There IS a story, and you do find notes that give bits and pieces of answers to what's going on, but the game is basically an arcadey version of Resident Evil 1, except you have a chainsaw-wielding maniac chasing you around in a horrific game of cat-and-mouse. You need to find your way through locked rooms, solve simple puzzles, and gather evidence before fleeing the church so you can reveal the truth to the world.

Much of the game's difficulty comes from your limited inventory which only allows you to hold 3 items at any given time. The puzzles need solving, but you won't likely have what you need on you, so you gotta remember where you last saw that wrench, sneak your way through the house again avoiding the Father in the process, then head back with it firmly in your grasp. It's a lot more nerve-wracking than it sounds, especially when you hear the Father's footsteps clomping around nearby. And let me tell ya, I haven't been on edge like this since Mr. X in RE2R! Thankfully, getting attacked by the Father isn't an insta-kill. He'll do some damage, but as long as you can get to a hiding spot without him seeing (or to the one safe room in the entire house), you should be fine. There are health kits laying around, but they're limited, as are the batteries you'll need to power your flashlight. So, there is some strategy needed when it comes to resource management.

The ONLY thing I have a gripe with is that when you save the game and completely close out of the application, all of the health and batteries that you used reappear upon booting the game up again. Even the items you've seen or picked up before are moved to the Save Room including the ones you already used in previous puzzles. I'm really not sure if this is a bug or if it's actually intended due to a limitation of the game's programming since every new playthrough has random item placement. Maybe the game can't remember where you originally saw and/or left those items, so it just gives them to you so you're not searching around in the wrong places? Unfortunately, this allows players to cheese the difficulty by resetting all of the resources on demand, but if you want a pure gameplay experience, I'd suggest playing through in one sitting which takes between 2 and 3 hours depending on how good your memory is. Considering the game was made for speedrunning, I'd say a single sitting is the intended way to play anyway.

Sinner 97 is absolutely more than it appears. It may not be the deepest horror game you'll ever play, or even the scariest, but it's a heck of a lot of fun. I generally don't enjoy cat-and-mouse style games, but this is one game that does it right, at least for my specific taste in horror. So if you've got a fiver sitting in your wallet and you're looking for something to get your adrenaline pumping, you can do a LOT worse than Sinner 97. Seriously, have you seen some of the games that pass for horror on Steam these days? It's embarrassing!

Curated by: Chudah's Corner

Robbaz
Robbaz

Good horror game, somewhat better compared to granny/getoutofthehouse ect. Still frustrating and annoying at times, just as those games can be. Some stuff was a pain to find, especially the code. I mostly sucked, because of Tunnel Vision and Old Age I'm not as alert as I used to be.

Btw got some spare batteries?

8/10

SUPERDIVORCE
SUPERDIVORCE

No-commentary playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpf3niUY_6g

Fantastic horror game with logical item-based puzzles. The killer is always a looming threat, but the house is big and there are plenty of hiding spots. Play smart, be patient, have fun!

FastLawyer
FastLawyer

Experienced on the Meta Quest 2

You can view my initial impressions review & gameplay here: https://youtu.be/biZkZCW2DLM

I bought this game before it had official Oculus support. I just saw the Steam store page video and knew that I would more than likely enjoy this game. I knew it would work well in VR. Sinner 97 has drawn comparisons to Granny, but while I do see the similarities, having played both, I enjoyed this game a lot more. I think it's a thoughtful improvement on the basic formula: hide from killer while doing tasks to figure out how to escape.

The VR port isn't the best, because most of the interactions are of the point & click variety. This experience obviously wasn't made for VR. However, it is one of the best horror experiences in VR and also one of the best deals in VR.

Even with the PSX level graphics, I was genuinely frightened while playing this game. There's a very tense atmosphere and there's some nice puzzles mechanics of having to figure out where to use stuff. Game is running on the Unity Engine. On my RTX 3080, I did have some frame rate drops, but it was usually running at 90 fps (although it would drop to 45 fps during some moments). You do have full locomotion and smooth and snap turning available. You can use a button to crouch or crouch physically. You can play comfortably seated.

Quite frankly, for just under $5 USD, you're not going to find better deals in VR. This also happens to be one of the best horror experiences in VR. This is a must buy for VR, as long as you're okay, with a VR port without the best VR interactions.

Rate 8/10. Even better deal than Devour VR IMO, but they're both really good horror VR titles at budget prices!

If you enjoyed my review, please consider joining my Steam Curator Group. You can join here: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Oculus_WMR

Limp
Limp

This game is addicting. The price is beyond fair for what you get. The dev is passionate and active. The game itself plays fair. This is not your typical "hide and seek" type of game. Items that need to be found change locations with each game (Easy, Medium, and Hard), so playing over and over is not an issue. Also, the dev is a genius for adding a leaderboard. It's fun trying to get the best time or just beating a personal best.

Legalize Meth
Legalize Meth

So I beat it in 2 hours. Let's do a quick pros/cons.

Pros: Gameplay is tight, engine is tight, no bugs that I could tell. Definitely what "Stay out of the House" should have been. UI is ripped straight from the OG silent hills and I'm all for it.

Cons: It's short. No combat. No story. (There are 5 or 6 pieces of evidence to collect, I collected all but one and the ending was just a splash page with "you did it! all evidence needs to be collected for highscore to be submitted to leaderboard" type deal.

All in all, it's stay out of the house except not buggy and annoying as all hell. Each time this killer came for me.. Whatever noise that played just kick started that heart. Map feels big, and it is, but it isn't that dense, if you get me. 2 Hours to complete, I could probably refund it if I wanted to, but it was only $4, so give me more games like this; just make them longer and more interesting please.

krystlgames
krystlgames

What an incredible Indie Horror game with all the elements you want - low lighting, scary sounds, chases, scavenging & more. I feel like there's an homage to RE7 in it which is fantastic. It took me under a little under 2 hrs to finish & it's well worth the price point.

JkF
JkF

A really interesting and intuitive stylised horror game. A refreshing challenge in a world of click this, do that guided tour games. Wholeheartedly recommended!

Alex McGames
Alex McGames

You can watch my full play through right here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vtTirleD9A&ab_channel=AlexMcLarry%27sL…

Sinner 97 allows you to relieve those classic PS1 horror game days, With a graphic and sound design that reminds you of silent Hill and Resident evil, you will be squirming in your seat in no time! The father is a relentless enemy who continuously stalks you through the house, making you rely heavily on your hearing and map knowledge of hiding spaces.

Gameplay, atmosphere, and map design is an easy 10/10

However! Where the game succeeds in those areas, it lacks in story.

Yes! A lot of story building is done through the map itself, but there are still many many un answered questions. I need the lore! I want so much more! Maybe more lore/story will be revealed as the game leaves its early access phase, and I truly hope it does, I just want to know the entire story behind this game, and the events that are unfolding. Where did "The father come from" Who are all the people in the building? What is the strange meat? How did I get here? What happened to everyone? So many questions! And so little answers. BUT! as I said, it is just early access, so hopefully all those questions will be answered upon completion of the game!

Bubblegum, you have something special here and I will be following closely to see this game unfold to its full potential!

teddy
teddy

you start off in a room that's too dark, there's no flashlight or lighter or anything there for you. it plays like granny/aka manto/deadly night, but worse somehow. you can't hear the killer until it's right up on top of you, but if you hear it, you're dead. you can't break chase by hiding, he's just up on you and you die. I felt like I was trying for half an hour, it was only 10 minutes, did not have fun. at least the house isn't super small I guess. there's potential here if the devs figure how to make this game fun, but this is just not fun at all how it is right now on release.

YaBoyJonesy
YaBoyJonesy

From what I've played this game has a ton of potential. I ran into a fair amount of bugs that I will list towards the end of the review, but for the most part the game is well put together and fairly spooky.

It reminds me of something Puppet Combo would make, with the VHS filter and warbling effects the style of this game is really well done. My favorite thing the game does is display text when looking at something you can hide in/under as I can map out hiding spaces without having to guess.

My biggest complaint is the lack of a save feature. Whether it be a tape recorder we must interact with or simply a menu option this game would benefit heavily from one.

The AI of the father is a little janky, I can run into a closet/hiding space right in front of them and they won't know how to react. I think an Outlast sort of mechanic where the monster can pull you from hiding spots would add another layer of fear, BUT for this to be a viable option the chainsaw and footsteps of the antagonist need to be louder. There were times I didn't even know I was being chased until I heard the footsteps right next to me. I like how upon being hit you get a burst of speed to help escape, it doesn't take away from the tension and gives you a chance at survival.

The map is really well put together and hopefully with a few updates this game will be worth well over $5.

Onto a few bugs I ran into: You can move in lockers which changes the height you stand at, this can also attract the monster (I believe they're aggro is based off sound?). The stand on the top floor near the stairs says you can hide under it, yet I was unable to move underneath the object. If you have a controller hooked up to your PC, WASD movement becomes borderline impossible with the only way I could move is to mash W repeatedly until I realized that my controller was the issue.

Any other issues of mine are just nitpicks, for example I wish the killer could be seen doing things around the house like cutting meat or even if they gave a sermon to the corpses it'd flesh out (hehe) the character a little more and add a neat bit of world-building.

I look forward to seeing where this game goes and even though it's fairly janky, it definitely is worth $5 for a quick spook.