The Seven Deadly Sins Review

It’s really a mixed bag when you start talking about anime tie-in games, where many of the games fail to bring about the same energy and excitement of their anime brother. The Seven Deadly Sins was an anime that was a real breath of fresh air when it released, with great characters and story, along with some epic fights and plenty of laughs. Now, with Bandai Namco Games turning that into a game, does The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia lend itself well to consoles? The answer to that is a bit of a mixed bag, full of exciting possibilities and missed opportunities, which you will find out about in our The Seven Deadly Sins review.

In The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia, you take on the role of Elizabeth, a runway princess who is out to search for the famed Seven Deadly Sins, a group of knights who were branded traitors and kicked out of the kingdom some 10 years ago. Elizabeth discovers Meliodas, the leader of the Deadly Sins, along with his traveling pig Hawk, and that starts the adventure to find everyone and set things right. To do this, Meliodas and Elizabeth must travel around the map and set up the Boar Hat traveling pub, which allows them to take on missions and hear rumors on the remaining Deadly Sins.

I Heard Something About Quests!

Quests in the game are divided into three types: there are your typical versus fights, with either 1-on-1, 2-on-1, or 2-on-2 fights; errand missions where Elizabeth must walk around gathering ingredients while Hawk guards her; and the last kind has you trying to take out a certain number of enemies before the time runs out. The versus fights are fun, with some challenging enemies to take on, but the errand missions specifically are just boring. I guess they are an attempt to break up the fighting, but they end up just being a minute trek through the map, grabbing 6 or more ingredients while you hit a button to send Hawk at enemies.

After completing the quests, you will learn of new rumors from the townspeople, which will unlock new quests and other battles on the world map. Completing the various fights around the map will net you certain rewards, which can be used to create new Magic Items. Each character can have a total of 4 magic items equipped, which boosts things like attack power, defense, and can even add time on to fights. Trying to unlock all the magic items could keep you busy for a little bit, as you must complete various trials, battles, and errands around the world.

Fighting is Simple

The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia is your typical musou-type game, but on a much smaller scale. Instead of taking on hundreds of enemies on a large battlefield, you are left to take on anywhere from 1 to 10 in a fairly restricted area, which really stands out badly when the game revolves so much around quick dashing and dodging, that you never feel like there is space to actually do this. Each character has two basic attacks, a long range attack, a few super moves, and a cinematic special move. However, there are no combos to be found here, so if you are looking to learn move-sets, you will be in for a shock. The moves available are flashy and fun, but nothing feels fully fleshed out. The combat could be so much more, but feels fairly standard and void of difficulty. Honestly, the most difficult part is the camera angle and a lock-on system that didn’t feel that locked on to me. Thankfully each character presents some change to your strategy in the way they attack, but it still mostly boils down to light attack a few times, then heavy, while throwing in some special moves and a super move.

Outside of the main story, there is also a duel mode, which can be played online or off, though it really doesn’t matter. It boils down to the same slog that you went through during adventure mode battles. Be sure to play through the adventure first though, as most of the duel casts unlocks as you make your way through the adventure mode.

Presentation Fail

As for presentation, things are really rather bland. It looks nice, don’t get me wrong, but something feels stiff with the characters and it somewhat void of the humor that made the anime so popular. The audio presentation doesn’t fare much better, with nothing overly memorable here. In fact, the worst part is this “uuhhhh” sound that enemies make when being defeated in combat, which after the 2nd enemy starts to make your ears bleed, so be careful for that.

After being such a fan of the anime, I really wanted to fall in love with The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia. I was really hoping to see the same treatment given to Naruto or Attack on Titan, where the game really brings to life the anime in a fun, challenging, and engaging way. What was released sadly, was a game with some interesting ideas that failed to fully deliver on any of them. The game isn’t terrible by any means, with some fans of the show sure to enjoy reliving Elizabeth’s quest, but there is too much wasted potential here. If you don’t mind the obvious lack of depth here, you can have some fun playing the game, just don’t expect that fun to last.

The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia review code provided by publisher. Version 1.01 reviewed on a standard PlayStation 4. For more information on scoring, please see our Review Policy.