Salt and Sanctuary

 PC
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. PC Games
    May 25, 2016
    86
    Almost every mechanic from Dark Souls is – in some form or another - implemented into Salt & Sanctuary. But in this specific case that is far from being something negative. I might even be a little addicted to the game’s concept: uncovering secrets, defeating humongous bosses and diving deep into the lore of the game. All of that manages to entertain me for dozens of hours. The only complaints I have with the game are the subpar German voice acting, the somewhat confusing skill-tree and – at least for my taste – boss-fights, which lack a certain challenge. However Salt & Sanctuary will undoubtedly bring a lot of joy to every fan of the Dark Souls-franchise, while people, who aren’t really into those, won’t be won over by this game either.
  2. IGN
    May 23, 2016
    86
    You could call Salt and Sanctuary a 2D mashup of Dark Souls and Castlevania, and you'd be right. But such a simple pronouncement would be a disservice to the tremendous amount of thought that's gone into Salt and Sanctuary, whether it's in the graphic style that evokes horror through the style of comic strips or in the intricate web of dungeons and castles serves as it map.
  3. Ragequit.gr
    May 27, 2016
    85
    Salt and Sanctuary is a wonderful and honest tribute to Souls series. With great mechanics, a well designed dark world and dozens of hours of fun is a great game for every Dark Souls player.
  5. 3DJuegos
    May 26, 2016
    85
    Salt and Sanctuary doesn’t want to innovate and doesn’t deny its inspirations. But once you accept this fact, you’ll find a more than solid game, full of challenges and death. It’s basically like a Dark Souls in 2D.
  6. Metro GameCentral
    May 18, 2016
    80
    If you want a 2D Dark Souls it’s hard to imagine From Software doing much better than this, even if it has too few original ideas of its own.

User Reviews

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User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 166 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 114 out of 166
  2. Mixed: 28 out of 166
  3. Negative: 24 out of 166
  1. nervengas
    Apr 20, 2017
    3
    S&S is pretty much advertised as '2D Dark Souls', but it falls short of it's 3D inspiration on many accounts. The graphics are mediocre mid toS&S is pretty much advertised as '2D Dark Souls', but it falls short of it's 3D inspiration on many accounts. The graphics are mediocre mid to upper flash game tier. Forget about feeling something like immersion in this game. The general theme of the background music, if present at all, alternates between repetitive and repetitive & annoying.
    Weapon and armor balance is probably S&S's weakest part. Items are tiered from 1 to 5. High tier weapons are awkwardly placed and mostly useless filler - by the time you get to craft tier 3/4 stuff you can already access tier 5, making the former pointless. Lower tier weapons are simply not worth upgrading, unlike in dark souls. Lore consists of RPG boilerplate mediocrity sprinkled with the expected DS references - same for level design. It's not bad, but nothing really stands out as innovative or memorable either.
    Combat.... sigh. It quickly becomes cheap and unrewarding - there is only so much you can do in this regard in a 2D engine. Total opposite to the original. There are enemies that pounce you or have some other lockdown (in some cases instant kill) mechanic if you get close, enemies that have long range melee which you need to evade between attacks ( rinse and repeat) and various projectile attacks. The parrying system is a bit easier than in DS. High HP pools on the mob side combined with limited HP and few opportunities to attack on your side feel like something in between an attempt between a ramped up version of Dark Souls difficulty. Bosses basically require learning of patterns as well as their faster alternates which trigger once the 50% HP mark is reached, making for very drawn out fights. If that's your thing, or if you enjoy spending hours just getting through one boss pretty much every single time, this might be the one thing that will give you some enjoyment in this game. But if you think ornstein and smough or manus type fights felt least rewarding about DS, chances are you wont enjoy the boss fights in S&S because 'fast and aggressive' is the common theme here.
    Blending out the copious boss fights there's actually pretty little content in the game. Excusable because there are only two devs from what I've heard but it's another thing that makes the game feel a bit too much like something that evolved from a cheap flash game hobby project. Which makes you wonder why you had to pay to play it.    … Full Review »
  2. Coldest13
    May 25, 2016
    3
    Una auténtica lástima.

    Desearía que me gustara este juego, pero no va a ser posible. Salt and Sanctuary solo se ha dedicado a matarme    Una auténtica lástima.

    Desearía que me gustara este juego, pero no va a ser posible. Salt and Sanctuary solo se ha dedicado a matarme injustamente y a robarme mis merecidas almas; pero el mayor pecado de SaS es, sin duda, el olvidar que SaS es otro juego, no un remake de Dark Souls en 2D.

    Había jugado en el pasado un remake de DS para Spectrum, un pequeño juego hecho en coña parodiando el original. Ese remake para Spectrum, aún siendo una parodia hecha por un fan, aportó elementos en su jugabilidad que no se habían visto en el DS original, no muchos, pero algo nuevo metió.

    Esto no lo ha hecho SaS, se ha olvidado de su propia identidad, y se ha limitado a calcarlo todo de DS, solo dejando sin copiar los elementos imposibles en un entorno 2D. Además, ha fallado al entender porqué DS funciona, lo que tampoco le ayudó a copiarlo bien.

    Es una auténtica lástima, insisto, llevo siguiendo este juego durante años y lo he jugado ahora solo para llevarme un batacazo y una decepción, con todo lo que prometía.

    Tal vez, no sé, los developers ahora hagan un DLC arreglando el juego básico y añadiendo más contenido, copiando lo que ocurrió con DS 2, pero algo me dice que no va a ser así, y que este juego llamado SaS que parece un prototipo, seguirá siendo un prototipo toda la eternidad.

    Insisto, una verdadera lástima.    … Full Review »
  3. I3R0K3N7FEET
    May 23, 2016
    10
    As many people have described this game as Dark Souls x Metroidvania, which is pretty much spot on for the most of it, that isn't the entireAs many people have described this game as Dark Souls x Metroidvania, which is pretty much spot on for the most of it, that isn't the entire story. Anyone who may have played a SKA Studios game previously will recognise the brutal and beautiful artwork and play style.

    So far I am 20 hours in, enjoying the exploration and challenges while still experimenting with the ability tree. You will hear people complain about level design and how unfair it is... but isn't that the point? I think people cry too hard when a game becomes too hard or unfair. I loved the difficulty of the Dishwasher games and those, hand-in-hand could arguably rival the skill timing and patience of any 3D action platformer such as the likes of DMC and NG. Mixing up that level of difficulty with the souls formula is next to genius and as someone that LOVES 2D action platformers, Salt and Sanctuary allows you to explore a more gritty and visceral world in much more depth compared to those before it. The fact that SKA Studios have laboured intensely over this game show's their commitment to creating deep, enjoyable and unique games. After this experience, I can't WAIT to see what they will bring to the 3rd instalment of the Dishwasher Series. If you like 2D platformers (Ori and the Blind Forest, Dust: an elysian tale, or of course Metroidvania) and want to experience something brutal, unforgiving that has sharp and responsive controls gritty and depressing cyberpunk/grungy artwork, churning original soundtracks (despite being criticised for being stretched thin here, you have to realise the music is made in house too!!) that has been mixed with the 'souls formula' with RPG elements.

    This game will blow you and your expectations away, glitches and all.

    If you are a fan of COD, hand holding, or generally sub PG13 rated content and have little skill with gaming generally, don't bother, you will end up being one of those people that rates this game negatively while having little tears of regret streaming from your eyes.    … Full Review »
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