Sinner's Game (originally known as 心魔游戏) is a manhua by 'Shin先生'. Seven individuals who each are guilty of one of the Seven Deadly Sins are forced to play the eponymous Sinner's Game by a person only known as the Psychiatrist.
It can be read here
in its original language (Chinese), and its translation is exclusively available through the Webcomics app.
This manhua provides examples of:
- Anthropomorphic Personification: The 'demon' everyone has represents the specific sin they inherit. They cannot seem to die permanently.
- A theory says that they are not at all tangible creatures but rather these traits alone, and that the forms they take are a handy way to show it in-comic. (similar to what was done when Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life? got an anime, as an imaginary mascot was put in to handle the lore).
- Adaptation Distillation: The translation removes the titles of the chapters after the meeting.
- Art Evolution: Earlier chapters tended to reflect the grittiness of the story more, although the later ones still retain the muted colors.
- Closed Circle: The group.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Everyone is wearing a certain color scheme, ranging from rust to fuchsia and they also talk in said colors, making it unneccessary to clarify who said what.
- Dark and Troubled Past: No one has a particularly nice past.
- Deadly Game: The Sinner's Game itself is made to eliminate the players one by one. However, unusually for this trope, after three rounds of games are played, the remaining four can choose whether to leave or to stay. However, if one of them disagrees, their vote will be definative. note
- The Detective later finds out that because the wish at the very bottom of the wish list is 'save one person who is eliminated to leave the game', the eliminated characters aren't dead but are kept as a Human Popsicle until the winner is known.
- Hellish Pupils: Mostly averted, but at certain situations when the stakes get high, the pupils of the character in question are shown as serpentine/catlike. (slit vertical)
- Incompatible Orientation: Lacy's interested in the Detective, who's a gay man.
- Only One Name: Nobody has a frigging last name in this story.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Pisces, who actually had gotten rid of the demon long ago... or so she thinks.
- Odd Friendship: Luke, a top-heavy guy who has inherited the sin of Wrath, is bonding with Pisces, a small girl who has inherited the sin of Sloth or so it seems. He even asks her that, if they should be able to survive after the third game, if she could live in with him as his younger sister because she doesn't have anything to return to and Luke lost his only relative. She accepts. Notice that he asks her, instead of the other way around!
- One Degree of Separation: The man who killed Luke's sister and the man who inherited the Greed sin are one and the same.
- Seven Deadly Sins: Every player has inherited one, in the form of a small voodoo puppet-like demon that accompanies them. It's the very reason they are playing this game.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: This happens more and more towards the end. Especially in the fifth game, where the Detective, Lee and Lacy set up a plan to keep Lee from losing by creatively handling the coins they have to bet during that game.
