Salt and Sanctuary (2016)

Well, I suspected that I would say "fuck this game" eventually. The moment came when I had to fight a flying Dragon who was on the ground maybe 20% of the time so I had barely any time to hit. I knew that even if I perfected the fight, it would be a tedious slog so I called it quits.

Honestly there's little to like about this game. The most hideous suspect is the graphics. The blury lines and brown and gray colours makes everything look like the same indistinct blob of shit and dirt. Platforming is not great; lots of leaps of faith, and deaths to falls due to the incredibly hard knockback. Combat is ok. There seemsto be a lot of available weapons, judging by the skill tree, but in my time with the game I didn't pick up anything that felt particularly good.

A second wasp in my ear is the corpse run mechanic. Corpse run are always annoying and most of the time counterproductive to gameflow, in my opinion. The positive reinforcement of losing progress when you most need it sucks and being obliged to return to where you die kills exploration. This games add the extra layer of shit of having to defeat the enemy that killed you. In normal gameplay it's just an extra prick in the already-spiky elemtns of torture that this game leverages against the player, but the system is particularly perverse when fighting a boss. Because it all but guarantees loosing all your XP unless you kill the boss in your second try. (Technically you get your xp back if you get it's health bar low enought, but still). And since boss fights are usually at the end of a section of exploration, it means that whenever you smell a boss arena coming up, your best bet is to trek all the way back to the checkpoint to level up and back.

I enjoyed a bit of the combat and boss fights but as a whole, I disliked most of my shortish time with this game.

This game is a challenging 2D action RPG that blends the punishing combat and stamina-based mechanics of Soulslikes with the exploration and interconnected world design of a Metroidvania. Despite being developed by just two people, it offers impressive depth, with a large skill tree, multiple character classes, hundreds of weapons and armor pieces, and a wide variety of enemies and bosses. The hand-drawn art style and moody, grim atmosphere give the game a distinct personality, while the Sanctuary system provides safe havens and upgrade points that mirror the bonfire concept from Soulslike titles.

The combat is precise and weighty, requiring players to manage stamina, dodge effectively, and learn enemy attack patterns, making mistakes costly but fair. Exploration is rewarding, with hidden areas, shortcuts, and platforming sections that encourage revisiting older zones once new abilities are unlocked. However, the lack of an in-game map can make navigation difficult, and some later bosses feel easier once strong gear is obtained. Particularly I played using a DEX build with the focus in Katanas, DPS and such, so nothing new to me since I play all Soulslike titles this way and this one was a very good one when it comes to this playstyle.

Overall, Salt and Sanctuary succeeds in translating the essence of a 3D Soulslike into a tight, atmospheric 2D experience. It may wear its influences openly, but its execution and attention to detail make it stand out as one of the most memorable indie games, particularly if you enjoy challenging combat and methodical exploration. This was one of the first Soulslike Metroidvanias that I've ever played and I immediately feel in love with the genre, so if you like those than this one is a very good option. Though I highly encourage againts playing the sequel, I'll talk more about this in my review regarding that one.

• Playtime: 24 minutes (died at first boss)

• Played: 2025

• Expectation: Very negative, marked as "not interested" (here but not in Epic launcher)

Review

So i played this by accident because i forgot to mark this properly. Dark Souls + Metroidvania sounds like my personal hell. And on top of that this game gives you 0 information. Oof.

And still. I didn't hate it. I loathe respawning enemies, losing progress, 2D platforming backtracking and console cancer (you can't even hold Backspace to delete your name...). But despite all that, it seemed ok. With a guide i may have enjoyed it.

But what killed it for me was the black & white graphics. They're so "greasy". It feels like looking through dirty glasses. The normal graphics aren't much better. Eh.

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?

The story is fairly standard and like in Dark Souls games it is hidden behind NPC’s and other such items, this does seem to be a staple of most Metroidvanias though so it didn’t really bother me it just wasn’t anything exceptional. The graphics are alright, many standard looking sprites and backgrounds but it did have some interesting things. In some areas though the background matched the color of the enemies making them difficult to see, I noticed this especially in the first area of the game.

The soundtrack is okay. It plays pretty much the same song throughout the entire game except boss fights. Boss fights feature the same music for each one except for the final boss. Salt and Sanctuary is plagued by clunky controls, some poorly designed areas and bosses and some bugs that make the experience overall not very worth it.

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.

While patiently awaiting the release of Dark Souls 3 I noticed this little 2D indie game appear. Keen to quench my 'souls thirst I quickly grabbed a copy to see what the fuss was about. This game is unashamedly a 2D souls-like game, very heavily influenced by From Software's famous series and they're not afraid to show it. It's unbelievable how a tiny indie dev team managed to capture the feeling and mechanics of the souls series in this simple little game while also adding some flavour of their own.

The game starts (as games often do) as you find yourself in a mysterious land without memory or purpose. You're told to save the princess or something but those aims are quickly forgotten as you enter the brutal fray and begin to master the controls and combat. The game delivers the story to you (in souls fashion) through little bits and pieces, obscure item descriptions and dialogue allowing the player to piece together his/her own interpretation of what's really going on. The setting is dark and foreboding but very different and unique compared to the souls games. There's a definite seafaring/swashbuckling feel to the game (hence the salt) but really the environments are very diverse from crumbling castles, dark caves, old temples and even science-fiction type areas that look like a HR Giger painting.

The combat has the extreme depth and customisation that you would expect from a souls game. There's basically a limitless amount of approaches to the game. I went for a basic agile DEX build, like a ninja with a katana but there's also magic, ranged, hundreds of weapons and armour sets, spells etc. The usual mechanics exist like parrying, shield-blocking, rolling. Extra mechanics are interesting, especially the ability to jump and strike while in the air, or jumping over your enemy and striking from behind. It becomes more interesting and complex as you gain more abilities, not dissimilar to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. You eventually acquire wall-jumping and double-jumping, plus other abilities, allowing your character to reach new areas and try new approaches to enemies. Like 'souls you're faced with standard enemies and a big boss at the end of each area. In total I think there were around 20 bosses, give or take. The game took me approximately 20 hours to beat on my first run. The levelling and character building works as you would expect, there's the HP/stamina bars, and even the levels are designed like a souls game: huge sprawling environments filled with secret areas, shortcuts, maze-like complexity and checkpoints. In fact at times I found myself sketching little maps.

Some of the more interesting mechanics are the "bonfires." When you reach these checkpoint-style areas you can then summon NPCs who offer various services like a mage, a shop-keeper, blacksmith or a guide (who allows you to quick-travel). Another great feature is the on-screen multiplayer, allowing you to play through the game with a friend, on the same screen. The best description I can give of this game is it feels like a mixture between Dark Souls and Castlevania:SotN, two excellent games.

Now for some minor complaints. While the game and the environments are gorgeous the character models look out of place in the world. The big heads and giant eyes make the NPCs and your tough warrior look a bit more like Bratz dolls, which is a shame, especially because they're front-and-centre on the screen all the time. I wish the developers had chosen a style that was closer to the refined environment art. Another issue has to do with balance: while the game is fair and mostly well-balanced, I found that some of the bosses were ridiculously easy. Late game it was all up-and-down, the last boss was very difficult but the 2nd-last boss was much easier than many of the standard mob-enemies walking around the level. I was almost about to complain about the lack of a map, like you would expect in a Metroid-style game but in the end I think I like this aspect. There's no hand-holding here and that's a good thing. The player is expected to explore and learn the environments and I think that's a good thing. I got lost sometimes but mostly I think it was the right choice. The game also has a lot of replay value: I haven't even touched on most of the mechanics or the magic system so I'm keen to play it through again.

In the end: this is an incredible game, and it's not just for fans of the 'souls series, I think anyone who likes Metroid-vania style games would really enjoy this, as long as they're happy to accept a challenging experience. It borrows a lot from the souls series but the game puts in enough original ideas that it is able to stand on its own two feet: a truly unique and enjoyable experience.