Gone are the days of being left in a digital playground with an array of ready-made toys. Thanks to Minecraft, now we have to bloody build them. The latest to insist you get crafty is Smoke & Sacrifice, a charming Steampunk RPG with a dark underbelly.

Your character, Sachi, lives a primitive life dominated by a religious cult. Their home remains fertile and lush amidst a frozen wasteland thanks to the blessing of their sun tree, at the expense of the occasional child sacrifice to maintain the blessing. Told you it got dark.

Sachi’s child is sacrificed at the beginning of the game, propelling her into a journey to discover the secrets which lurk below the village. As McGuffin’s go, rescuing a lost child from a murky underworld is quite a bold choice and it helps elevate Smoke and Sacrifice above the ordinary.

You’ll begin your adventure with nothing but your wits and some tips from helpful NPCs. Very quickly you’ll be compelled to begin capturing useful insects, locating food sources and finding the dozens of items which become essential to your survival as the world expands. Thankfully, Smoke and Sacrifice doles these needs out gradually so you don’t feel overwhelmed. By the end of the story, you’ll be the Bear Grylls of the underworld, fully equipped and able to wax lyrical on the various uses of polyp brains and lantern bugs (ok, I think even the uninitiated could make an educated guess at the utility of lantern bugs, but you get my point).

Each area brings new challenges, which in turn demand new solutions and crafting recipes. Be it the deadly dark or the creeping cold, you’ll need to find a solution. Smoke and Sacrifice has a nice twist in that it makes a lot of the crafting items perishable, meaning you need to use them or lose them. It gives the journey a bit more momentum, and discourages hoarding – I’m generally stingier with resources in RPGs than I am in real life, so anything which demands you develop new behaviours can only be a good thing.

That said, you’re only even one wrong turn away from disaster – run out of lantern materials when night comes and you’re toast – each night the world is enveloped in a smoky, inky blackness which can only be survived by creating your own light. Lanterns can be crafted on the fly (assuming you have the materials of course), but many items require a cooking pot or workbench. Maintaining your proximity to these while exploring the world is a constant challenge.

Combat is probably the least fun aspect of Smoke and Sacrifice. It’s not a combat driven title, but some encounters are necessary, both for self-defence and to harvest the wildlife for crafting materials. These can be hit and miss, literally, as it’s often difficult to gauge your position relative to your opponent. It’s only an occasional issue and combat isn’t especially difficult, but it can be a bit frustrating.

The world itself is richly detailed, if slightly repetitive by the end. There’s an abundance of flora and fauna, all of which are exploitable for your own ends. Refreshingly, they don’t seem to exist in a Sachi bubble, only coming to life when your character approaches. Play long enough and you’ll witness them hunting each other (which can be a bonus for you) and if you’re especially sneaky you can even lead them into combat against one another and scavenge the leftovers for goodies.

There’s nothing ground breaking about Smoke and Sacrifice. That said, it takes some tried and tested tropes and ties them together in an effective and entertaining package. The story is better than you might expect, and it builds to a satisfying (if predictable) conclusion. The story and the journey are the standout elements of Smoke and Sacrifice, so much so that crafting sometimes felt like it was getting in the way of progression (you need to craft a lot) but if crafting and exploring a narrative driven RPG is your thing, you won’t be disappointed.


Gameplay: ★★★★☆
Controls: ★★★★☆
Graphics & Audio: ★★☆☆☆
Value For Money: ★★★☆☆
Longevity: ★★☆☆☆

Gone are the days of being left in a digital playground with an array of ready-made toys. Thanks to Minecraft, now we have to bloody build them. The latest to insist you get crafty is Smoke & Sacrifice, a charming Steampunk RPG with a dark underbelly. Your character, Sachi, lives a primitive life dominated by ..

Overall:★★★☆☆ / Good / 3.0