Salt and Sacrifice

Salt and Sacrifice shrewdly builds upon its forerunner's groundwork - offering enough depth to enthral the most ardent admirers of the Soulslike genre, while its robust 2D platformer fundamentals make it much more approachable than many of its peers. [Issue#372, p.108]

I want to like Salt and Sacrifice, and in some stretches, I do. I enjoyed exploring the world, concepts of hunting and crafting, and the moody atmosphere, which kept me continuing for dozens of hours. But its clunky progression systems and many maddening enemy encounters quickly make the fun times easy to forget.

Ska Studios has created an ambitious sequel that takes various elements from both Monster Hunter and the Metroidvania genre and combines them into one sprawling 2D Souls-like. For the most part, this curious amalgamation succeeds, offering snappy combat, a labyrinthian world to explore, and tense boss battles against a vast array of challenging foes. Unfortunately, it also elicits plenty of moments of frustration, whether it's because the absence of a map and fast-travel system adds additional tedium to its grind, or because the combat system is overly punishing in a way that feels unfair and unbalanced. Salt and Sacrifice still offers an enjoyable distillation of familiar elements, but too many issues hold it back from achieving greatness.

Salt and Sacrifice mixes in a lot of standard RPG ideas with its interesting art style to deliver a worthy, if overly familiar experience to fans of challenging 2D action games.

Salt and Sacrifice is enjoyable in short bursts. It retains certain core concepts from the original, including a fairly controversial one: the lack of a map. This is further compounded by repetitive Mage Hunts that become tedious after a while.

A questionable sequel that doesn’t get its new ideas right. It is a step backwards compared to its predecessor, but still enjoyable if you like the genre.

Salt and Sacrifice is an ambitious sequel that attempts to integrate Monster Hunter mechanics into an already crowded Metroidvania/Soulslike formula. It's not a great mix, but the strength of its core combat, customization, and refreshing co-op still make it worth at least a look.

Overall, Salt and Sacrifice still nails the core elements that make a 2D reimagining of Dark Souls a compelling idea thanks to its fundamental understanding of how character and level progression should flow and its expansive combat system. By adding in an extra layer of Metroidvania-style exploration and a unique approach to boss encounters with its Mage Hunt mechanic, Salt and Sacrifice sees Ska Studios carve out a space for itself as more than the studio that is good at making 2D Dark Souls games.

Salt and Sacrifice is a rough gem, which successfully hybridized different videogame genres, creating a captivating setting and fun gameplay, both alone and with other players.

Salt and Sacrifice is still a very worthwhile sequel to the original. While some of the elements don’t work as well as others, the game’s combat and build variety offer players a great sandbox to play around in.

Salt and Sacrifice is a bad combination of Souls like, Metroidvania and Monster Hunter, making it feel chaotic.

Rough, sometimes intriguing, sometimes frustrating: Salt and Sacrifice does its job, but it doesn't always go smoothly. The Mage hunting sequences are clever, but the pieces of the puzzle sometimes simply don't fit together.

Salt and Sacrifice makes a number of changes to its general design and structure that are absolutely not worth the cost, and while the game is still enjoyable, it ultimately feels like a step backwards from the charming 2016 original.

By implementing too many popular elements from famous games in the wrong way, Salt and Sacrifice is a game that feels unbalanced throughout.

Soulslikes are appealing because of the sense of accomplishment they evoke, offering tremendously difficult battles that — with practice — can be overcome. Every death feels fair, and the design philosophy is fine-tuned in such a way that feels intentional and deliberate. Salt and Sacrifice, on the other hand, achieves difficulty with clunky design, which completely misses the point of what makes a good challenge worth the time. Instead, the sacrifice of wasted time here is more than enough to make you salty.

Another impressive attempt at a 2D Soulsborne but a less entertaining game than Salt And Sanctuary, with some frustrating combat that doesn’t always feel entirely fair.

Salt and Sacrifice is a Souls-like that would've made a killing a decade ago. Failing to learn from its contemporaries, it struggles to feel enjoyable in today's saturated market.

Salt & Sacrifice has the potential to be a great game, but it badly needs balancing fixes to allow it to live up to its potential, especially in regard to its battle system. A few tweaks to the stamina meter, the dodge roll & blocking mechanics, and the enemy attack patterns would do wonders for the game, as would a way to skip the chasing sequences and jump straight to the Mage bosses. As it stands, Salt & Sacrifice is a game full of frustrating moments that bog down the rest of the experience.

Salt and Sacrifice is a game that blends several genres, but ultimately fails to make the best of any of them. It won't satisfy fans of the first game and probably not even those looking for something different.

Taking each piece of Salt and Sacrifice on its own, the game really should be an incredible ride. Taking the Souls-like gameplay loop, injecting Metroidvania style progression and item use, and stirring in some Monster Hunter elements should make for a delicious, challenging experience. Instead, the game unfortunately boils down to a repetitive, grind-inducing slog through samey areas and against predictable bosses. Ska Studios deserve praise for their attention to detail, striking visual achievement, and the game’s lofty ambitions, but that simply is not enough to stand up against some of the other titans of the genre.