Salt and Sacrifice

 PC
User Score
3.8

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 102 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 102
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 102
  3. Negative: 64 out of 102

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. Lgn
    May 12, 2022
    5
    Played and enjoy Salt and Sanctuary a lot but this one is honestly worse in everything.
    They introduced dumb ideas and mechanics runining the whole experience.
  2. TheFrostyPen
    May 19, 2022
    6
    Extremely unfair, hyper frustrating, poor boss design, constant juggling of character, no good fast travel system, inflated level reuse via mage hunts, very poor UI, and needing to farm for arrows and health potions...

    I sucked it up and beat the game anyway. Times I screamed in anger/rage at the screen: 10+ Times I sat mouth wide open with awe: 1-2 Verdict: Play the original    Extremely unfair, hyper frustrating, poor boss design, constant juggling of character, no good fast travel system, inflated level reuse via mage hunts, very poor UI, and needing to farm for arrows and health potions...

    I sucked it up and beat the game anyway.

    Times I screamed in anger/rage at the screen: 10+
    Times I sat mouth wide open with awe: 1-2

    Verdict: Play the original or restart Hollow Knight instead of suffering through this game that is barely tolerable even to the most masochistic of gamers.    … Expand
  3. Jt0429
    May 21, 2022
    7
    Good-
    Creative art direction. Gameplay is intuitive. Lore is pretty cool
    Bad- A lot of technical problems like crashing and glitches. The enemies feel too repetitive. Thoughts- For veterans of Soulslikes, especially 2D ones, Salt and Sacrifice will fit neatly into your library as yet another largely successful interpretation of the subgenre. Those looking for the next level of    Good-
    Creative art direction. Gameplay is intuitive. Lore is pretty cool

    Bad-
    A lot of technical problems like crashing and glitches. The enemies feel too repetitive.

    Thoughts-
    For veterans of Soulslikes, especially 2D ones, Salt and Sacrifice will fit neatly into your library as yet another largely successful interpretation of the subgenre. Those looking for the next level of challenge, artistic creativity, or gameplay innovation in it will almost certainly be left wanting though, as so much of this game’s DNA has already been explored countless times. Still, while Salt and Sacrifice’s few wrinkles do add to the format, and with how well the boss fights pop off the screen, it’s still a game that has much more to like about it than not.    … Expand
  4. MattM
    May 14, 2022
    7
    Salt and Sanctuary is up there with Hollow Knight as one of the best Metroidvanias I've ever played. This sequel, not so much. It starts fairly strong but once the real gameplay loop takes hold the issues become glaringly aapparent. Some of the design decisions here are absolutely bizarre and out of place, or lack the balance of the systems from the games they clearly pulled from. ThereSalt and Sanctuary is up there with Hollow Knight as one of the best Metroidvanias I've ever played. This sequel, not so much. It starts fairly strong but once the real gameplay loop takes hold the issues become glaringly aapparent. Some of the design decisions here are absolutely bizarre and out of place, or lack the balance of the systems from the games they clearly pulled from. There is absolutely zero reason whatsoever why healing items should require a mat, it seems they took the worst parts of the bloodborne and ds3 healing systems and combined them to make this abomination. The system from the first game wasn't broken, but for some reason they felt the need to "fix" it. Same with leveling up, there is no valid reason why I shouldn't be able to do it at an obelisk like you could in the first game, and the lack of fast travel makes leveling up a tedious time waster. After I kill a boss, there is no question that I am going to level up immediately, but the game forces you to do a 5-10 minute run back for no good reason. The monster hunter elements fall completely flat, I love monster hunter and dark souls but I don't want to play them at the same time. The foundation of this game is solid, because it is the foundation laid by the first game. Everything good in this game are elements that were carried over, and almost everything bad are the new systems they tried to implement. I want to love this game, but I don't. I can commend the dev for taking risks amd trying to deliver something that wasn't more of the same, but I can't pat him on the back and pretend that all of these experiments are successful because they aren't. There is a good game somewhere in here and fans of the first should absolutely buy this so hopefully he can take a crack at a 3rd entry, as well as judge for themselves whether these new ideas work, but to me and it seems many others, this entry is a dud. I cannot go higher than a 7 for the reasons listed, but I can't go lower because I can see the love, heart and soul that was poured into this game.… Expand
  5. ylnylmn
    May 22, 2022
    7
    Salt and Sanctuary has been my favorite 2D souls-like game. But this sequel was a disappointment for me. It was a game like Demons Souls where we went to different maps. The feeling of exploration is weak. There are no invisible walls. There are no secret places. I only like 1 boss. The final boss is very easy. It's good that Mages have variety. But hunting mages gets boring after a while.Salt and Sanctuary has been my favorite 2D souls-like game. But this sequel was a disappointment for me. It was a game like Demons Souls where we went to different maps. The feeling of exploration is weak. There are no invisible walls. There are no secret places. I only like 1 boss. The final boss is very easy. It's good that Mages have variety. But hunting mages gets boring after a while. Chasing mages is very annoying and when other mages get involved, chaos ensues. It can be said that money does not matter in the game. The upgrade items are not sold by the trader, you have to farm them. The worst mechanics in the game are climbing and grapling hook. Most of the time it is difficult to hold on and causes you to die. Graphically, there has been no improvement after 6 years. Some music is good. Art design is good. The variety of weapons is not bad.… Expand
  6. balvan64
    Dec 24, 2022
    7
    Salt and Sanctuary is probably my favorite game of all time, and I've been playing for a few decades.

    Salt and Sacrifice on the other hand is a mediocre game, it's not more than OK. it is has downgraded the original Salt and Sanctuary in almost every aspect, it's a shame, it just is, a shameful thing. It's only saving grace is local co-op. I'll give it 7/10 as it's OK, but for    Salt and Sanctuary is probably my favorite game of all time, and I've been playing for a few decades.

    Salt and Sacrifice on the other hand is a mediocre game, it's not more than OK. it is has downgraded the original Salt and Sanctuary in almost every aspect, it's a shame, it just is, a shameful thing.
    It's only saving grace is local co-op.

    I'll give it 7/10 as it's OK, but for those coming from Salt and Sanctuary, get ready for a big let down.    … Expand
  7. Mandulum
    Sep 25, 2022
    6
    I enjoyed it at the start but the more I played the more frustrated I got with cheap enemies and annoying, vertical level design.

    Date Completed: 2022-09-25
    Playtime: 18.5h
    Enjoyment: 6/10
    Recommendation: I'm on the fence. If you liked the first one, then keep going.
  8. Redman_07
    Dec 10, 2022
    5
    i truly don´t know what happened. The first one was awesome but this?!
    Your level up is completly given, gameplay became worse. It is not rewarding at all. I don´t know. Simply doesn´t feel good. Even the base is unnecessary big so you have to walk around for minutes to prepare. I´m sorry, but this is only for heavy souls like dyhard fans that have played about 20 others before
  9. inhowmusic
    May 26, 2022
    5
    80 hours. 1.0.0.7 is better, but unbalanced mage boss fight and weapon system are frustrating. Ignore all the pros in Salt and Sanctuary. inherit and carry forward all the cons of Salt and Sanctuary. Great job!
  10. loderunner
    Dec 14, 2022
    6
    Okay. Let's face it. Salt and Sacrifice is absolute failure as a sequel. There is no seamless map that was in Salt and Sanctuary, game world now split by separated locations which you can access only from hub. Consumables now need to be crafted by ingredients that you must farm. Imagine the situation where you trying to defeat a boss over and over again, which frustrating on it's own butOkay. Let's face it. Salt and Sacrifice is absolute failure as a sequel. There is no seamless map that was in Salt and Sanctuary, game world now split by separated locations which you can access only from hub. Consumables now need to be crafted by ingredients that you must farm. Imagine the situation where you trying to defeat a boss over and over again, which frustrating on it's own but now you losing your health flask, mana flasks or arrows, to restock them you go farm, which adds even more frustration to this proccess. Bossfights are borring, it's been few days as i finished the game and i can't remember most of mages. Now there is no such game mechanic as platforming in the game, because the whole game is platforming now, and it's terrible, enemies just waiting you on platforms to hit you when you jump on it, it's hard to dodge, especialy if platform is very small. I played as a sage and magic in the game is not the best part. Sage can carry "Channeling rod", which is basicly a bow with arcana scaling damage, even farmable ammunition looks like an arrow in inventory. Also Sage can carry dual wield weapon named Stave, which is blade and staff but all spells on it are predefined by stave you are carry, that means you forced to change your stave with your favorite spells to more powrful one just because it has higher tier and can deal more damage. And ofcourse once you run out of magic flasks and arrows, you go melee, and that's the worst part of playing Sage, because stave blade is sooo short that you can't hit anyone before they hit you. Errrh. Okay. Now i can go with some pros. Graphics and design are amazing, 10/10 for my opinion. There is also a feeling of exploration sometimes. Multiplayer over network working good and stable. Hunting mechanic was kinda interesting for me.

    That's not the Sequel that we were waiting for.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

40
#40 Most Discussed PC Game of 2022

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
72

Mixed or average reviews - based on 40 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 40
  3. Negative: 0 out of 40
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 29, 2024
    80
    The graphics stick to the boundaries set by its predecessor and only improve and smooth out. Although everything takes place in a dark fantasy world drowning in fog, the depiction of the world in watercolors makes the game almost beautiful. [Issue#319]
  2. IGN Japan
    Jul 4, 2022
    60
    By implementing too many popular elements from famous games in the wrong way, Salt and Sacrifice is a game that feels unbalanced throughout.
    Read full review
  3. Player 2
    Jul 4, 2022
    50
    I found that the best way to approach them was to cheese my way to victory. This left me with the feeling that I was exploiting the AI rather than using skill to overcome adversity. Think long and hard if this is the game for you, but for this reviewer, it isn’t something I will likely never pick up again.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »