Smoke And Sacrifice

The game's similar to Don't Starve but isn't grounded in the survival mechanics.
Pros
- Beautiful graphics.
- Decent story.
- Nice soundtrack and sound effects.
- Straightforward but fun combat mechanics.
- Equipment shows changes on character when item is equipped.
- Tons of crafting. Might be a con for others as you'll constantly need to manage your item durability too. Some items' durabilities are time related.
Cons
- So much items you need to keep track of. Might give you trouble to manage items until you open a few chests to function as storage.
- Everything the game teaches you there's no way to read it again in-game unless NPCs repeat their advice.
- It is a rather big world but there's not much freedom to enjoy aside from doing side quests. You will constantly be moving and forced to follow the main quest, there's no safe zone at night.
- Backtracking might turn off players. You'll be doing this a lot since exploring new areas need specific craftable items at least in my first 4 hours of play. You'll be going from one area to another to hunt for materials in order to progress.
- No item hotkeys or item belt. To switch weapon on hand you'll "favorite" items in the bag, and while bag is closed you use mousewheel to scroll between your "favorite" weapons.
Suggestions:
- Needs QOL changes like a button to automatically sort items in the inventory.
- Maybe add a minimap because it's annoying to keep pressing M just to look at the world map trying to remove the fog in the map.
- Have a better indicator of items that will nearly break instead of just making them glow red, also for items that will spoil.
- Allow players to track materials to get for items they want to craft.
- Have equipment slots and put equipped items there. It's not really in the bag if your character is already wearing it.
- Let players customize item hotkeys.

The story in Smoke and Sacrifice ranges from quite strong to largely non-existent. Much of this stems from the nature of the game itself which has lots of long stretches between meaningful plot progression. Most of the game simply involves characters telling you to go and grab certain items, and so the story kind of vanishes.
Smoke and Sacrifice does succeed is in creating a unique world through its beautiful painterly art style. It’s a bit of a shame that the gorgeous art style gets wasted on the dreary underworld and several of the environmental types are lifeless and uninteresting. There is no denying that Smoke and Sacrifice is a visually sumptuous game at times with a unique world and lore.
Pity for the beautiful design of the strange creatures and bizarre appliances: After a fascinating start Smoke and Sacrifice focuses too much on the collection and crafting cycle of resources, recipes and tools. On the journey through the smoky steampunk underground, there are here and there atmospheric moments or interesting tasks in which one weakens or stuns the overpowering opponents first with the appropriate grenades. Unfortunately, many characters are demoted here only to trickle, to point the way to the next contact person. The story of Sachi's lost son then plays only a minor role. In addition, the combat and catching mechanics is a bit bumpy.
THE GOOD
- Rich world to explore
- Crafting works well
- Beautiful Hand-drawn visuals
THE BAD
- Exploration is a bit tricky
- Combat is weak
- Inventory management
7/10
DISASTER | BAD | MEDIOCRE | OKAY | GOOD | GREAT | AMAZING | MASTERPIECE
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My Playtime: 19.5h (100% achievement, finished the game)
Grindy Achievement(s): No.
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (17 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No.
Intro
Smoke and Sacrifice is a top-down survival game where you need to explore a huge map and finish quests. It's focused on a loop where you need to gather resources to craft gears that will help to kill enemies, which will drop new resources that can help you to craft better gears.
Pros:
- Craftable items are limited based on progression, making them easy to digest
- A lot of save and teleport points scattered around the map
Cons:
- Combat is stiff
- It's easy to misclick items that are closely stacked on top of each other
Specs
Intel Core i5-9300H 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
Should you buy this game?
Yes.
If you like quest-based survival games and don't mind a bit of a grind, buy this game at a sale.
In-Depth Review
Visuals
Smoke and Sacrifice uses 2D visuals that look slightly like 3D models with their shading. Sometimes, character's movements look stiff in the cutscenes, but the movement becomes smooth once you are in control. Each biome looks distinct and despite the lack of objects in the area, which is needed to avoid cluttering, they still look good to the eye.
Story
The story is forgettable. There are just too many gaps between the story segments due to the gameplay. Luckily, you don't need to understand what happened to enjoy the game. Quest tracker will always be available to tell you where to go if you didn't pick up what you should do from the conversations, and dialogues tend to be made brief. I just didn't like whenever the game moves its camera back and forth whenever it tries to show a cutscene with another person that is slightly far from where the main character is - the game can just initiate the cutscene when my character is closer to prevent the camera movement.
The Game
Gameplay
Smoke and Sacrifice has one main goal: to survive. As I said before, the gameplay revolves around a loop where you need to gather resources and use them to craft gears that will enable you to kill enemies, which in turn will drop other resources that can help you to make better gears. Enemies will vary based on the biomes where you are located, giving a tougher one whenever a new one is unlocked.
Your gear can perish. All gears, including armor and weapons, have durability and will disappear once it's out of it. Weapons will lose durability once it's used for attacking, while armor will lose it once you take damage. There are ways to recover it: using items, upgrading, or crafting the gear again. Despite having to deal with it early game, I don't have to worry about durability late game. You'll have a lot of durability restoring items as quest rewards which you can save for that occasion.
Exploration
You need to be geared to explore the biomes. The game has 5 biomes in total, with four of them being split and stacked on top of each other. Although the first biome can be explored without any item, you need to craft a certain boot to help you navigate the other biomes. Unlike other gears, boots have no durability, meaning that they won't perish if you use them too much. Swapping boots in different biomes also can be done with just a simple click, making it easy to navigate the whole map.
You are free to explore the area in any order that you want, although progression to a certain biome is limited until you progress with the story. You don't need to explore the whole map, but you will be rewarded with some storage spaces, items, or recipes for crafting by doing so. Speaking of crafting, you'll get the mandatory recipes from the main quests, but having the optional ones will help you to survive the wild better.
The game has 2 in-game cycles: smoke and non-smoke time. The areas will turn dark in smoke time and you need to craft a light source to survive. Some enemies will be more aggressive, while others will only spawn during that time. You need to plan carefully since there is a better activity that you can do in each period.
Combat
The combat is stiff. You need to click on the enemy to attack, but it can give trouble if the enemy is either moving too fast or located close to other interactable objects. The game will only accept attacks when you hover at the enemy and wait until their name shows up. This also gives an issue whenever you need to collect items that are stacked on top of each other - it's hard to find the item that you need without clicking on the other items. Moreover, your character will also automatically move towards the enemy if you are attacking far from it, making it hard to position yourself in the right spot while attacking.
Enemies will be tougher in new biomes, requiring you to figure out the best way to deal with them. You might die several times while doing some activities, but the game has a lot of save points. Just make sure you save often, and you won't have to worry about it. However, some enemies might camp near important spots, making it easy to get hit. I died once in the last biome because I wanted to craft some items, for example.
Quests
Smoke and Sacrifice rely on quests to progress. The quests will help you learn the ropes, making it easy to digest the numerous craftable items in the game. The fact that most items in newer biomes are similar to the others might also help, although I never feel overwhelmed early game because of it.
Sometimes, other NPCs will also give side quests. There isn't any indication when they will start giving quests, but most NPCs in the area tend to give the same dialogue, minimizing the need to talk to a lot of people. Moreover, you will also travel between the areas a lot, and you'll easily find the NPCs on the way.
Length and Difficulty
I finished the game in 19.5h. The game isn't hard as long as you know what to do, although some progressions might be tricky since you need to experiment with some items. That being said, if you get stuck, there are a lot of guides that can help you.
Issues
The game crashed on me several times. All quests in the first village are also vague because there isn't a map or pointers to help. I had to blindly explore the whole map to find the main character's home, which can be hard to find even with the hint.
Conclusion
To be honest, I wasn't interested in the game at first. There is a bit of a grind needed at the beginning to kick-start you in the game. Your gear can degrade, so you need to have backups, and experimenting early-game means a lot of deaths and retries. Strangely, it doesn't take long until I found the right strategy, which makes me enjoy the game more. Exploring becomes fun and the quests keep me going.
People who like variety might get bored with the repetition, though since new gears tend to be the same, albeit in better quality. The process to get the new gear is also the same with slight tweaks. However, I didn't find it too bothersome. I enjoyed exploring the whole map, and it's easy to find the resources that you need just from that. There are times when I had to farm some healing items, but it doesn't bother me once I find some spots to farm them.
If you like survival games and like to be guided, you'll like Smoke and Sacrifice. It's not perfect, but it's good enough. However, the game doesn't seem to be polished enough since I got some crashes, especially whenever I'm Alt-tabbing. If you are interested in any of the aspects, feel free to buy this game, but make sure to do it on a sale.

The shortest description of this game is Steampunk Don't Starve Metroidvania.
Except that you cannot starve. Because Smoke and Sacrifice is taking the good parts of Don't Starve, discarding the annoying ones, telling a story and having a Metroidvania-ish system of "unlocking access to zones" that ultimately allows for a free world-exploration gameplay while also adhering to overall story progress.
The game has many well-stricken balances, such as the inventory. The inventory is generous, but not unlimited; thus eventually forcing you to invest some thought into where you will be keeping what, without drowning you in inventory micromanagement. The crafting system is original and quite elaborate. While some crafting components are harder to obtain than others, none will become exhausted. (the various "biomes" regenerate over time). There's a fast-travel system which is essentially free, apart from a small one-time unlocking cost. And checkpoints let you take control of the "single-slot save", meaning that horrible mistakes needn't take a permanent toll.
On the graphics side, my first impression had landed in the uncanny valley. While it's based on 2D sprite rigs like Don't Starve, those rigs are more like watercolors, and relatively rigid in facial expression. So initially, their effect was more reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's animated clips for Monty Python, than of something that would draw you in closer to the characters. But that first impression didn't hold for long; I quickly got used to that style, and came to appreciate the quite atmospheric graphic art.
It's an engaging little game, with a decent length and amount of content. (never mind my steam-reported time, we played it on the other family account). I rarely stumble upon a game that doesn't annoy me with something or other, in its design and execution, even if it has other fantastic aspects. In Smoke and Sacrifice, I'm happy to say everything is very good; while I can't point to any particular aspect that I would call stellar, I also can't point to anything that was an annoyance -- just a good unmarred experience from start to end. An easy thumbs-up, for anyone interested in this kind of game.

Super fun, completed it in about 3 days. Challenges remain proportional throughout different stages and farming never seemed like a grind. Would recommend!

After experiencing the full game and unlocking all achievements, I rate Smoke and Sacrifice a 6/10.
The story is flawed at points, but the interesting setting it created was good enough for me to not mind these flaws so much. Not a super amazing game, but still a good game that I'd recommend.
I see a lot of people comparing this to Don't Starve, so let me make this clear... While there are similarities to Don't Starve, there are also many differences:
1. This game is more forgiving than Don't Starve, and offers you many save points.
2. The survival mechanics in this game are much simpler than in Don't Starve.
3. This game is far more focused on the story line than survival.
4. The map is not randomly generated like in Don't Starve.
5. The game progression is linear, and you are not directionless like in Don't Starve.
This game is more of a adventure/rpg game than a survival game, so keep that in mind when considering buying.
I will say that 20$ is rather high. I myself got this game from a humble bundle 1$ tier, and can't see myself having bought it without a discount. If you are interested in buying it, I'd recommend adding it to your wishlist and waiting for a sale.

A review copy was provided by the publisher but does not influence my review of the game.
Smoke and Sacrifice is a good game that reminded me a little bit of Don't Starve. At the beginning it was a little emotional for me because of the story, but I like that you get a chance to find out that one sacrifice you did saved a lot of people. It's a long journey you have ahead of you and a lot of exploring to do. You have to craft a lot, so if you like crafting in your games there is plenty here. You collect things in this game too but some things you can't wait too long before using because you will lose them. If you like exploring then this game lets you do that without it affecting the story, which I like because sometimes I just want to look around and find stuff. You will need a lot of dragonflies to be able to craft lanterns and be able to explore everywhere. Smoke and Sacrifice does have some things that are like Don't Starve but it is more about the story and less about hard survival stuff, so there's more people that maybe can enjoy it since it's a little easier to play.
I don't like that you can't turn the camera when you are walking so sometimes It's hard to see what's in front of you. A big problem I have with this game is that the last update broke the controller support, you can't even use the Steam controller controls they uploaded on Steam anymore, so this has kept me from playing it as much as I used to lately. I like to use a controller with this game because there are a lot of keys you use and they far from each other. That's another problem too, I tried using the keyboard and mouse when I first played this game but I find the keys that you use a lot to be far apart and makes it a little harder to play it and is uncomfortable. There's also a glitch where you can't grab anything behind blocks of ice, this was a bug with the trees before that but it was fixed, and it can be annoying because you won't be able to pick up the item if you really need it. Other than that, I think it is a great game and I enjoy playing it.
Make sure to save. You have to save yourself because there is no autosave. It does have Steam cloud at least so that's good in case you need it. I like the art style of this game since it's more like Anime, and I think that the story makes this game a lot more fun than just going around everywhere just to survive. You can also wear different stuff and lets you make your character look the way you want. This is a nice bonus because I like to customize my characters in games and make them feel more like my own. I like that it's kind of an open world because you get to explore different places and more than you think at first, I don't want to mention any spoilers. I really don't like that some of the items don't last long and doesn't make a lot of sense for this game. Something else I really like is that there's no hand holding in this game. You have to figure out how to get things done on your own. If you like the idea of Don't Starve but want more of a story, or like survival games but not all the harder challenges, then I can recommend Smoke and Sacrifice to you. I am sure the bugs will be fixed by the developers as people bring them up.