Salt and Sanctuary

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 405 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 317 out of 405
  2. Mixed: 39 out of 405
  3. Negative: 49 out of 405

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  1. Hack
    Mar 31, 2016
    7
    I have just finished the game after putting about 20 hours into it, I would give it a solid 7.5 with the potential to hit 8 with a couple of patches, I will touch on the issues in a moment, but I just wanted to point out this is a strong 7.

    By now you all know what this game is, it's 2D Dark Souls and the devs have done a very good job of emulating the feel of a Souls game, if you're a    I have just finished the game after putting about 20 hours into it, I would give it a solid 7.5 with the potential to hit 8 with a couple of patches, I will touch on the issues in a moment, but I just wanted to point out this is a strong 7.

    By now you all know what this game is, it's 2D Dark Souls and the devs have done a very good job of emulating the feel of a Souls game, if you're a fan of the genre you'll feel right at home with Salt and Sanctuary.

    One of its biggest strengths is the game feels great to play, the combat is visceral and meaty, when you kill someone you see bits flying all over the place with plenty of blood coupled with some great SFX. The graphics style is all very nice and grim, although I definitely disagree with the cartoony character heads which feel very out of place.

    Where the game falls down is boss tuning and build imbalance, strength and magic builds are very, very strong to the point where the game becomes trivial after a certain point and that was my experience as a Greatsword wielding strength user. The game starts off with a steady incline in difficulty which is what you want, then it chucks in a couple of spikes with harder boss which once again is what you want, but what you don't want is a massive decline in difficulty for a long period of time and that's exactly what happens if you play certain, common builds. At one point I had wiped once in 8 boss fights which is just ridiculous and boring, it's not that I'm amazing, the fights were just under-tuned and my build was too strong. To put it in perspective I wiped more on one of the mid game bosses than all of the later bosses combined and I enjoyed that boss considerably more because I actually had to learn his mechanics and overcome them instead of just spamming attack and healing whenever I got hit (many bosses give you way too much time and space to heal up mistakes, and by the end of the game you have so many health charges it's almost impossible to run out during a fight). These issues can be fixed with patches though, it's all just number tweaking at the end of the day, there's nothing fundamentally broken with the game. If you want to jump in right now I'd go with a dex build if you want a challenge.

    Another issue I had is the game gets quite confusing near the end, I often found myself asking "OK now where am I?" after finding a shortcut to a previous area, and this is mostly due to a lack of map which is needed in a 2D game like this.

    Overall though the game is very good, especially when you consider it was made by only two developers, a husband and wife team. And when you also consider the fact it's only £14.99 I really can't recommend it highly enough, even with the issues it's still very enjoyable and I got over 20 hours out of my first character which is great value for money.    … Expand
  2. gabriot
    Apr 2, 2016
    6
    I would give this an 8 if it weren't for the inexcusable constant crashing. I just beat a boss I'd been trying so hard to beat, and guess what? Crashed and now I have to beat it again. This has happened FAR too often for a console game nonetheless. Feels much like an arcade game that eats your quarters.

    If the game was actually developed and QA'd properly it'd be a great game, but    I would give this an 8 if it weren't for the inexcusable constant crashing. I just beat a boss I'd been trying so hard to beat, and guess what? Crashed and now I have to beat it again. This has happened FAR too often for a console game nonetheless. Feels much like an arcade game that eats your quarters.

    If the game was actually developed and QA'd properly it'd be a great game, but as it stands it's side scrolling dark souls with about a 5% chance to crash anytime you are about to enter a sanctuary (and that's of course before it saves your game).    … Expand
  3. dubloon7
    Mar 25, 2016
    7
    I'm only halfway through this game, and to be honest it's good, but the numerous small broken issues and dumb design choices Ska Studios placed into this game frustrate me more and more I play this.

    I'm fine with the difficulty, it's a good game in that sense, with bosses being difficult to a first look, but cheezy crappy hitboxes and sudden broken movesets make them more frustrating to    I'm only halfway through this game, and to be honest it's good, but the numerous small broken issues and dumb design choices Ska Studios placed into this game frustrate me more and more I play this.

    I'm fine with the difficulty, it's a good game in that sense, with bosses being difficult to a first look, but cheezy crappy hitboxes and sudden broken movesets make them more frustrating to deal with than a simple Soul-style boss encounter would entail. Bosses are actually not fun in this game.

    No inventory sorting, and no inventory identifier at shops;

    Enemies with outrageous homing skills and hitboxes;

    Cheezy deaths by traps, dumb design floor break placements, enemy locations, enemy attacks near edges, brands work half of the time, etc.;

    Creed Level rehash each and every time when switching creeds, totally unlike Dark Souls 2 covenants, equates to repetitive farming for numerous hours.....becomes redundant;

    Lore is uninteresting;

    Item descriptions are difficult to read as text font is ridiculously terrible, from a couch-to-tv distance then only way to actually read anything in this game is for the screen to be within 5 feet max away from eyes;

    Not enough weapons (7 max per type (e.g. staffs, greatswords, greathammers, etc.);

    Too many armor that are pretty much identical to one another;

    Some rings do not function (e.g. stamina ring not limiting to 1/3)

    These are all within the first 15 hours of gameplay. I'll be posting more soon once I come across more issues.

    Overall, I recommend a BUY if you enjoy "souls" games, as this game is good but not great.    … Expand
  4. KayVen17
    Sep 12, 2016
    7
    Deutsche Review – Kritik

    Ich sah Salt and Sanctuary auf YouTube und war direkt angetan. Dark Souls in 2D mit Coop? Sowas brauch ich doch sofort! Also direkt über den PlaystationStore gekauft und gestartet. Wie meine Eindrücke nach knapp 25 Stunden sind (Spiel durchgespielt) verrate ich jetzt. Story: Ich mache es kurz. Die Story ist sogar wenn man sie versteht nicht wirklich    Deutsche Review – Kritik

    Ich sah Salt and Sanctuary auf YouTube und war direkt angetan. Dark Souls in 2D mit Coop? Sowas brauch ich doch sofort! Also direkt über den PlaystationStore gekauft und gestartet. Wie meine Eindrücke nach knapp 25 Stunden sind (Spiel durchgespielt) verrate ich jetzt.

    Story:

    Ich mache es kurz. Die Story ist sogar wenn man sie versteht nicht wirklich gelungen. Um ehrlich zu sein hat sie mich auch irgendwann gar nicht mehr interessiert. Vergleiche zu Dark Souls werde ich übrigens in dieser Review in Klammern schreiben. Wer das Spiel als ohne Vergleich zu Dark Souls spielen will, der kann ab jetzt die Klammern überspringen. (In Dark Souls ist die Story trotz seiner Komplexität interessant. Salt and Sanctuary bekommt das nur bedingt hin. Hier hinterfrage ich die Bosse nicht oder ob ich der gute oder böse bin.) Die Story ist aber schwach aus anderen Gründen, die aber nur die deutschen Spieler betreffen. Dazu komme ich allerdings später.

    Gameplay:

    Das Gameplay ist super und innovativ (Das Gameplay von Dark Souls wurde super in den 2D Look kopiert). Man reist durch verschiedene Welten und trifft viele gut designte Gegner die auch richtig schwer werden (ich hatte manchmal mehr Probleme als in Dark Souls III). Am Ende der einzelnen Gebiete wartet dann auch wie immer ein Boss. Diese sind mit der richtigen Strategie machbar (einfacher als Dark Souls). Ich will nicht viel über das Gameplay, da das in seiner Form perfekt ist. Was mich aber wirklich umhaut ist die Möglichkeit Coop zu zocken. Super Idee!

    Technik:

    Das Design der Welten ist atemberaubend. Das Design spitze. Mehr brauche ich gar nicht zu erläutern. Die Performence läuft konstant und Abstürze hatte ich nicht einmal. So muss das sein. Und das bei Indie-Entwicklern. Die großen Firmen bekommen das nicht so gut hin in den meisten Fällen. Natürlich hatte ich auch Bugs im Spiel. So ist ein Boss der auf Fernkampf einfach mal aus dem Bosskampfgebiet gegangen und tötete mich ohne, dass ich mich wehren konnte. Das war aber verschmerzbar. Ich hatte keine Fehler, die es nicht möglich machten das Spiel zu beenden.

    Sound/ Voice:

    Die Musik ist zwar gut, aber wird selten gewechselt. Bei fast jedem Boss dasselbe Lied zuhören ist schon lästig. Irgendwann hab ich die Musik ausgeschaltet und meine eigene gehört. Schade. Eine Synchro hat das Spiel übrigens nicht. Es läuft alles über Text und genau da muss ich nun etwas loswerden. Der folgende Text ist von der Releaseversion. Inzwischen wurde das beseitigt. Ein Glück

    - Die deutschen Texte sind eine Schande!!!!! Sätze wie „Wir sind in Nacht bestiegen worden“ (Wir wurden nachts überfallen worden) oder „Egal ob Schwerter, Rüstungen, E-Mails, ich fertige alles an.“ (Keine Ahnung was er mit E-Mails meint) oder mein Favorit. „Ich muss die Erziehungsberechtigten vom Drachen töten“, musste ich lesen. Kein Wunder, dass mich die Story nicht interessiert wenn man die Texte mit dem Google Übersetzer übersetzt und ich glaube sie nutzten sogar einen noch dämlicheren Übersetzer. Sowas ist ein absolutes NoGo! Ein Glück wurde das im Nachhinein korrigiert, aber das ist selbst für Indie-Entwickler eine Frechheit! Ich musste meine Konsole auf Englisch stellen um die Texte richtig lesen zu können. Da fällt mir ein weiterer Favorit ein. (Failling die Mission) –

    Fazit:

    Salt and Sanctuary hat ein geniales Gameplay und ein cooles Design. Dieses Spiel hätte viel mehr Punkte verdient, aber da die deutschen Texte zum Releasezeitpunkt unterste Schublade waren muss ich einen großen Punktabzug geben. Kurz gesagt: Super Game – schlechter Release in Deutschland.

    Mein persönlicher Score:
    69/100

    Mein User Score
    7/10    … Expand
  5. Saikron
    May 25, 2016
    7
    This is essentially a mechanic-for-mechanic copy of Dark Souls. Unfortunately, the differences were to its detriment. The map is huge and confusing even compared to a Souls game, and there is no in-game map to keep track of where you are. The items aren't nearly as diverse as in any Souls game. The bosses aren't as fun as the average Souls boss. It probably would have been better to focusThis is essentially a mechanic-for-mechanic copy of Dark Souls. Unfortunately, the differences were to its detriment. The map is huge and confusing even compared to a Souls game, and there is no in-game map to keep track of where you are. The items aren't nearly as diverse as in any Souls game. The bosses aren't as fun as the average Souls boss. It probably would have been better to focus on quality over quantity in the boss department.… Expand
  6. Nightlistic
    May 25, 2016
    5
    This game has tons of potential. Its like a Dark Souls 2D Side scroller. However it has a lot of work that needs to be done to it. Especially in regards to game mechanics Shadowflip Brand, and Dart Brand. The game, and story are pretty solid and immersive up til the Pitchwoods map, and then the Immersion just dies. The Developers at Ska Studios tried to make a challenging puzzle map usingThis game has tons of potential. Its like a Dark Souls 2D Side scroller. However it has a lot of work that needs to be done to it. Especially in regards to game mechanics Shadowflip Brand, and Dart Brand. The game, and story are pretty solid and immersive up til the Pitchwoods map, and then the Immersion just dies. The Developers at Ska Studios tried to make a challenging puzzle map using disappearing platforms that rely heavily on the use of the Shadowflip Brand and Dart Brand to navigate your way across savely. However those two mechanics don't always work as intended so the player will suffer a lot of deaths because of this, and most likely end up giving up on that part of the map. With being penalized gold for every death on top of the salt you accrue its like a double slap in the face to the player by the developers, and can cause hours of progression to be lost in a few short minutes because of this. On top of that the character animation for climbing depending on where you land actually takes longer than the platforms last causing unnecessary deaths for the player who has absolutely no control over it. The game has potential to be one of the best indi games on the market if they just patch out some of the unnecessary mechanics, and work on fixing the issues with the brands if they plan on keeping the disappearing platforms in the Pitchwood. They also might want to come up with an easier way for the player base to communicate with them as the homepage is easily mistaken as somebodies personal blog site which is really confusing when you're trying to find answers or give feed back, and using a form as the only means for players to contact them is kinda of lazy.… Expand
  7. SplitMind
    Aug 12, 2022
    7
    For some reason Metacritic has stopped accepting my full reviews but will accept these few words.
  8. Generalxxbob
    Jul 24, 2020
    7
    Great game! Especially for 8 €. The main problem was the lack of the map (u will lost several times and try to figure out how to get to the next point) and the grim graphics. The combat feels very good and enjoyable.
    A must have for the challenging players
  9. Hackslashshoot
    Aug 17, 2022
    6
    You know what I love about souls clones? Nothing ….I love nothing about souls clones because they all suck !!!including this horribly overrated pile of poop. I did play it I did platinum it and I did get a little enjoyment out of it. I also rated it a generous 6. That said…. If you are going to make a platforming souls make sure the jump button responds every time not 75 % of the time.You know what I love about souls clones? Nothing ….I love nothing about souls clones because they all suck !!!including this horribly overrated pile of poop. I did play it I did platinum it and I did get a little enjoyment out of it. I also rated it a generous 6. That said…. If you are going to make a platforming souls make sure the jump button responds every time not 75 % of the time. That end game disappearing platforms section is genius but when the game doesn’t respond to me pressing the jump button…. well it is just annoying.… Expand
  10. ShakesBeer
    Jan 2, 2021
    6
    Kudos to the developers for a decent 2D Dark Souls imitation. The art style is interesting, and combat feels solid and weighty. I enjoyed and appreciated weapon variety too.

    However, the Souls/Castlevania mashup has some fatal flaws. Imagine all of the difficulty and frustration of Souls. Now add in TONS of platforming. Can you make that jump? Not sure? Well go ahead and try it, and if    Kudos to the developers for a decent 2D Dark Souls imitation. The art style is interesting, and combat feels solid and weighty. I enjoyed and appreciated weapon variety too.

    However, the Souls/Castlevania mashup has some fatal flaws. Imagine all of the difficulty and frustration of Souls. Now add in TONS of platforming. Can you make that jump? Not sure? Well go ahead and try it, and if you miss, look forward to having to kill 20 difficult enemies again as you restart from the last sanctuary.

    Souls can work without a map because levels are linear enough, and 3D landmarks help you find your way. But without a map in this game, I was frequently lost, and constantly wondering which of the many dark, dingy hallways I was in this time.

    And combat can feel very uneven, particularly when some bosses and enemies just knock you down and hit you over and over again before you can get back up.    … Expand
  11. yertre
    Feb 9, 2021
    7
    I'm really conflicted about this game. It's one of many games which translates the souls formula to 2d, and one thing the game excels in is its themes and atmosphere. It's a lot darker than many similarly inspired games, and there's a lot more blood too. However, gameplay-wise, the game is quite imbalanced and messy, and hardly a stand-out for the genre.

    The game isn't very hard,    I'm really conflicted about this game. It's one of many games which translates the souls formula to 2d, and one thing the game excels in is its themes and atmosphere. It's a lot darker than many similarly inspired games, and there's a lot more blood too. However, gameplay-wise, the game is quite imbalanced and messy, and hardly a stand-out for the genre.

    The game isn't very hard, especially when compared to the similarly inspired Hollow Knight, but the game is so incredibly inconsistent that it becomes a lot more frustrating than the latter. Magic builds break the game, and the difficulty steadily decreases as you progress, but some enemies will still one shot you out of nowhere. Sometimes. When they feel like it. The game is VERY poorly balanced, but these are things than can be fixed in patches, so maybe this criticism will be redundant soon.

    The game feels great to play, but I doubt I'll be replaying it anytime soon. Overall I recommend it if you're a fan of the souls series. I commend the team of two people for their impressive work, but I didn't like it nearly as much as I wanted to.    … Expand
  12. Antsa
    May 26, 2022
    6
    Sadly this is not a sequel that Salt & Sacrifice deserves. There is things that I like about this game and lot of things that I would like to like. My two main issuses is

    1. No map. It was one and (maybe) only issue for me on first one. Its not making game any more fun to play. Tryng to platform to some place that might have been somewhere that direction. Maybe. What works on 3D does    Sadly this is not a sequel that Salt & Sacrifice deserves. There is things that I like about this game and lot of things that I would like to like. My two main issuses is

    1. No map. It was one and (maybe) only issue for me on first one. Its not making game any more fun to play. Tryng to platform to some place that might have been somewhere that direction. Maybe. What works on 3D does not work on 2D when every screen looks the same.

    2. Combat. Now, there is lot of good about it but man, the boss fights. It really feels like you beat the boss if game wants you to beat the boss, not if you play well. Why? Sometimes (manytimes) bosses get weird rage mode and start to attack endlessly when only choices is to roll endlessly untill your stamina goes down and then they hit you few times and only thing you can do is watch how you get up, try to roll away from impossible hit and get killed.

    So yeah, this game get very frustrating very quickly. Take any soul game. Dying to hard boss you always feel like "ok, I did that mistake and thats why I get downed" but on this one, it really don't feel like that.

    I don't say this is bad game. But most of the time it's not fun to play either. And even if it got some addicting elements, good graphics and nice atmosphere, sadly its not enoght to bring this game to even close to that goodnes what Salt & Sacrifice was.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

30
#30 Best PS4 Game of 2016
42
#42 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2016
50
#50 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 56 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 51 out of 56
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 56
  3. Negative: 0 out of 56
  1. IGN
    Aug 1, 2018
    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.
    Read full review
  2. CD-Action
    Jun 29, 2016
    60
    A tribute to Dark Souls done with a deep understanding of the original game, but ugly and derivative as hell. [06/2016, p.61]
  3. Edge Magazine
    Jun 7, 2016
    60
    Salt & Sanctuary can be brilliant, but it's held back by undersized visual design, both in UI and open play, making playing it from distance a pain. [June 2016, p.122]
See all critic reviews »