We thank Aces Games for giving us the opportunity to write this review by sending us an Italian copy of Links of Sin.
You can find it here at the price of 35 euros for the physical edition (with board and cards) or 15 euros for the digital edition.
The author, Simone Morini, has created a hybrid between a board game and a roleplaying game. You can optionally include the figure of the Tempter (i.e., the Game Master) to make the dynamics more similar to the latter category.
To get a better idea of ​​what Links of Sin is, you can also find a video tutorial on YouTube with rules and a session entirely at your disposal.
But let’s see together what it’s about.
Links of Sin Background Review
Meden. Once a thriving city, now reduced to a decaying metropolis. Devoured by the conflict between the forces of Heaven and Hell, its corruption has now reached a point where a balance between the two powers is no longer conceivable. This is why four Horsemen have awakened among the commoners, even though they were unknowingly invested in this role from birth. They will be the ones to pass final judgment on the city and the rest of the world. But the rulers of Meden, called Inquisitors and Scourges and once known as angels and demons, are not willing to let them choose what they have fought for centuries. They will attempt to corrupt them by any means necessary to complete the city’s contamination, so that it will also swallow up their adversaries.
Welcome to this world without hope.
Game Material
In the game manual, in addition to the setting mentioned above, we will find all the possible pacts to make with the various guardians and explanations of the 16 areas of the city, called Arks. These vary depending on the type of figure and suit: it is therefore vital to always keep the Links of Sin volume at hand.
We will then have a map and a deck of cards at our disposal. We’ll also need a coin of some kind, just make sure it lands on heads and tails. Its flip will be how we’ll find out whether our actions were successful or not: heads for success, tails for failure.
The cards must instead be separated into two separate decks: one containing the face cards and one with the numbered cards. The former represent the guardians, while the latter represent the souls to be harvested.
Our Map, instead, will represent the Arks. Every space will contain souls, three each at the start of the game.
Links of Sin Review: Goal of the Game
You will play as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Corruption, Hunger, War, and Death). These four figures must always be present, so (if there are fewer players) the protagonists must still be distributed among those present. Your mission is not tied to Heaven or Hell, but to the cleansing of the city. To make this possible, you must reach maximum power by unlocking all the seals (powers) available to you: you’ll start with the basic one and can obtain three more by exiling certain Keepers.
To make the experience more interesting, you’ll have a choice between two different characters for each Horseman. The Horseman of Corruption, for example, could be Alaric Hartmann, a now-dismissed and outcast judge, or Nika Morozov, a surgeon with undeniable talents. Their places of origin and their seals will obviously be different, and luckily, we’ll have a summary card at our disposal.
Game Mechanics: Players Turn and City Turn
The Horsemen will always have the same play order, that is Corruption, Hunger, War and finally Death.
During their turn each player can perform each action listed once and scroll through the cards of an Ark without looking at their value to rearrange them..
Let’s see together what actions are available.
- Changing the Bastion: if an Ark adjacent to where the Horseman is located is empty, we can move to it.
- Summon the Seal: We can use one of our unlocked powers by flipping the coin. If we succeed, we activate the power of the seal. It’s important to note that each seal can only be activated once. This is our fastest way to harvest souls.
- Summon a Keeper: If we haven’t exiled a keeper this turn, we can take the Keepers deck, place one of our suit on an Ark of our choice, and make a Pact with it.
- Exiling a Keeper: By sacrificing a number of souls equal to the required number and successfully rolling a coin, the Keeper is exiled, thus unlocking the corresponding seal. Be careful, however, as cards under it will contaminate adjacent Arks.
- Purify: To remove one or more Contamination cards, the Horseman will throw a total of souls equal to or greater than the total Contamination.
- Making a Pact: After choosing a keeper of your suit with at least one card under it, you can make a Pact. If you reject it, the top card under the keeper contaminates an adjacent Ark.
After everyone has taken their turn, it will be the city’s turn, which reacts in an attempt to stop the judgment with four consecutive phases and mechanics that will try to put a spoke in our players’ wheels.
Game Mechanics: The Tempter
As previously mentioned, the Tempter is an optional figure who adds roleplaying gameplay to Links of Sin. If we stick to the simple rules of the game, every card, every Ark, and every Pact will be completely guided by the rulebook with specific paragraphs.
The Tempter, however, can twist everything and invent their own methods. For example, playing the Keepers, they could (following certain guidelines) allow the harvesting of souls only in specific circumstances. They could also be the subtle voice advising the Horsemen, trying to shift the game’s fortunes to their own liking. In short, they will have plenty of leeway in the game as long as they know the rules very well.
In this regard, it’s best if they are a player who has already played several games.
End of the Game
The game ends if all Keepers are exiled and the seals are opened, if at least 2 Horsemen succumb or if all Arks have been contaminated.
Therefore, both the Horsemen and the city can win and the outcome is not at all a foregone conclusion.
Links of Sin Review Conclusions
For 1/5 players (including the Tempter) and with an average duration of around 90 minutes, Links of Sin can be used to close out an evening or for a session in which you don’t have a lot of time available.
The manual (55 pages, hardcover) is embellished with laminate and soft touch, making it graphically very attractive thanks to its black and white tones.
The map is presented as a 42 x 30 cm poster on plain photographic paper: no friends with beer at the table!
There are no internal illustrations. Art, edited by Giulio Primo, has been relegated to the cards, 56 of them. In particular, those of the Horsemen are the most carefully crafted and detailed, almost reminiscent of tarot cards. The material is similar in every way to that of poker cards.
The roleplaying part is optional, and in my opinion, it’s advisable to first play a few games alone to internalize the rules of the card game before approaching it in a more interpretative way.
A title that will please both roleplaying and tabletop gamers, or a product that’s too experimental? You’ll have to decide for yourself whether you’re happy with this mix or not.
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