It's not exactly a shocker to learn that the success of Dark Souls has led to several games inspired by it over the past few years, especially on the indie scene, meaning that any new contender in the Souls-like subgenre has to find its own unique way of standing out. Enter the latest combatants with Another Indie and developers Dark Star, who recently revealed their new action-RPG Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption to the public with an announcement trailer seen below. The twist? Instead of strengthening yourself up as you progress, now you have to deliberately become weaker as part of the titular sacrifice.

Playing as a fallen soldier named Adam who needs to atone for his sins in order to achieve a better afterlife, you will need to face off against a series of challenging bosses modeled after the seven deadly sins, choosing a stat to level down before each confrontation. How you interact with each boss also determines the game's ending, and provides more insight into Adam's tortured past. Drawing inspiration from Shadow of the Colossus as well and featuring a bit of an anime style, Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption does look promising, but does it have what it takes to stand alongside its Souls-y peers? We'll see if it does when it comes out for PC, XB1, and PS4 in Q1 2018, and when Sinner is playable for the first time at Gamescom this month, followed by a showcase at PAX West.