A frenzied, action-packed party brawer that supports four simultaneous players, Sacrifice Your Friends could provide a nice distraction from Mario Party game nights. Just keep in mind, even though there is a solo option, you pretty much are required to play with a few friends if you want to have any kind of fun or make any progress.
The visual gimmick behind this Red.Deer Games digital download are the Lovecraftian set pieces and horror-style monsters. While you play as generic, big-headed, creepy-faced characters that are missing limbs like Rayman, they can transform into Kaiju like Cthulhu when certain conditions are met. Overall, it is a cartoony and humorous interpretation of the Lovecraft universe and sticks with it firmly throughout. Even the menu system is outfitted with this horror-based steampunk sort of theme.
While there are some Mario Party tones in this action brawler, there are times when Sacrifice Your Friends plays more like Power Stone. Even though some stages scroll and are presented with variety, there are plenty of objectives that involve beating the snot from your opponent and NPCs. One button dashes, another picks up items, and another button attacks. It is a simple pick-up-and-play interface that works well for a silly party game.
Unfortunately, this game practically demands playing with friends and it is a mega bummer that the difficulty does not scale to the number of active players. If you watch my embedded stream in this article, you can see the challenges I faced when venturing solo – cheap deaths, unfair and brutal AI, glitches like getting stuck on the side of the screen while the thing I need to carry is locked behind an invisible wall, and fighting against unbeatable bosses with undodgeable attacks. The most heartbreaking aspect is that online play is fully supported but no one is playing online. I have been playing this game since release and have not gotten into a single online game.
In summary, if you can gather a full roster of four players, this is a perfectly serviceable action-party game even though there is some slight jank around the edges. But solo players beware. You instead will be better off exploring the vast library of Red.Deer releases made available on Xbox and Switch.
SCORE: 6/10
Nice To See: a new release that isn’t a roguelike
Better Than: those Shrek party games in the PS2/GC era
Wait For It: Power Stone 3
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz
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