Salt and Sanctuary (2016)

Fuck, the vita version keeps crashing. I'm almost positive I've got the patched version so it might be the emulator, or my phone force-closing it due to some memory issue. Although I played Gravity Rush no problem with an older phone so I don't think a simple 2D game like this one should give it too much trouble.

Anyway, I guess that's it for now with this game. It looks like a neat handheld game (except for the graphics looking like someone vomited a half-digested Newgrounds game on my screen), so I might give it another shot some other time. Maybe try it with the older phone?

My buddy and I were both moving at the same time and happened to pick places that are about a block apart, so we've been hanging out more often. It's kinda nice to have that hangin with the neighborhood kids feeling in your 30s haha.

Anyway, we've been playing Salt and Sanctuary for an hour or two here and there lately. I'm not crazy about the game -- I think it just solidifies that I don't like the "Souls" style of gameplay all that much. I'm more of a Megaman X4 or Platinum games type of guy when it comes to action. Give me fast and twitchy over slow methodical any day. There's also a lot about the game that just feels very ho-hum, otherwise, but it's hard to tell how much is me just not liking the basic style and how much is jank/uninspired.

Regardless, it's giving me a good excuse to hang out with a friend in person and we're having enough fun with the stupid deaths that I'm happy to keep playing in co-op. I'd probably drop it if it were just me playing, though.

Completed on PC, 19 hours. Uninspired and most of the time just a chore to get through. I beat most bosses on my first try, thanks to the totally broken class 4 shield that blocks everything and also reflects damage.

The platforming is awful, requiring many leaps of faith. This changes a bit after you get the air dash, which allows you to move quickly even when using heavy armor.

Still, the game manages to be interesting enough to keep playing it until completion. For being no much more than a competent clone, I guess "it was OK".

Salt and Sanctuary is on sale on the PlayStation store this week. I've been wanting to play it and I thought it would be great as my next Vita game, so I picked it up.

No regrets. It's definitely the 2D Soulsborne. It lives up to the hype and I'm already addicted. Even so it did require an early reroll to really sell me on it. I don't know what made me to roll Paladin when I started. It's really not my style. After I slogged through to the first boss I decided to reroll. Best thing I did. I rolled Hunter and opened up the Bloodborne aspects of Salt and Sanctuary. It really feels like 2D Bloodborne and I can't get enough. It's not quite the masterpiece that is Bloodborne, but it is certainly fun. It's the perfect game to get a Bloodborne-esque experience on a handheld.

And now for the potentially divisive comment: I really don't enjoy the game's aesthetics. I can't help this feeling but it's a really ugly game. Sure, atmospherically it's reminiscent of Dark Souls, but graphically it's a bit disappointing. I love all nature of 2D graphics from sprite to hand drawn, but I simply can't get behind the look of this game. Fourtunately it is addictive fun, so I forget that visual layer quickly. However, it's still something lingering in the back of my mind.

I absolutely loved this game. Metroidvanias are my favorite kind of games, and I also love the Souls series and Bloodborne, so this game seemed right up my alley. I was a bit worried that it would just be a souls rip-off with light Metroidvania elements, but it's not at all. It's just as satisfying as a Souls game, probably not as hard, but still a decent challenge, which is rare in Metroidvania games these days. But the real surprise is that it is also a great Metroidvania game. It follows all the rules: One big unified map, areas locked behind new abilities and locked doors, backtracking, shortcuts, all of that with the combat and leveling system find in the souls game translated beautifully to a 2D platform game.

The combat has that Souls heft, and weapons really do work differently. Just like Souls, you can create your heavy armored mage, or light armored heavy hammer fighter, etc... New Game + is part of the deal as well. The main game is quite long too, especially generous considering this is a game made by a small indie studio and retails for 17.99. A bargain if you asked me, because it offers really great value for that price. I know I will be revisiting this game often and it's now part of a select group of games that are for me part of the pinnacle of the Metroidvania genre: Symphony of the Night, Super Metroid, Guacamelee!, Metroid Fusion, Order of Ecclesia, and Dawn/Aria of Sorrow.

I am throwing in the towel on Salt and Sanctuary. Not because it is too hard but because the combat is boring. I ended up picking a style that focused on two-handed weapons and limited my combo ability. I generally plowed through bad guys but I invested heavily in this route and there was no going back. As a result, the combat was dull. What I am supposed to do, restart my game? That seems lame.

I don't understand how someone is supposed to learn the playstyle they like in a game if they are locked into the skills they choose early on. Maybe I am just spoiled by Diablo and other games that let you instantly re-spec.