Salt and Sanctuary

Salt & Sanctuary is great in many aspects, with very few weaknesses such as dialogue and story. The game is excellent and it utilizes its references well, delivering a competent game.

Salt and Sanctuary is the result of a perfect combination of the metroidvania and “souls” elements in order to create a unique, hard and satisfying 2D adventure that knows how to reward players’ skill. The Nintendo Switch version is indeed a great one.

Salt and Sanctuary manages to convey to 2D the difficulty, rawness and beauty of Dark Souls. We will have complete freedom to choose from a massive number of weapons and ways of fighting that we can experiment with. We'll enjoy the artistic side of their world and tremendously complex and challenging bosses.

For those who are fans of the popular Souls series, you’ll be right at home and likely be just as enamored, but the game is also worth checking out if you’re eager for a substantial action title to take with you on the go.

This little platformer wears its influences loudly and proudly. Salt and Sanctuary is a tribute act of the finest kind, distilling the essential Dark Souls experience in 2D.

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.

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 Dark Souls in 2D.

Salt and Sanctuary isn’t the most original game in the world, but Ska Studio’s take on a 2D Souls game has enough going for it to stand on its own two legs. It’s held back somewhat by occasionally cheap difficulty spikes, performance issues, and a bizarre tendency for things to appear too tiny or dark to be perceived when in portable mode, but none of that should deter you from picking the game up if you’re looking for a game that will kick your ass.

Time does not seem to have left any negative signs on the production from Ska Studios.

While Salt and Sanctuary is truly its own game, with themes and elements appealing to fans of the genre, there were moments when it was too similar to its predecessors, and some unnecessary mechanics were added in an attempt to separate itself from the pack. Sometimes, paying homage to something can get caught up in the fine line of copying. However, it is a title that fits well with a "pick up/put down" pace and gives players a lot of choice in how they wish to play. Salt and Sanctuary provides ample replay value in a fun title that is fast-paced and challenging enough for anyone seeking a "Souls-like" game.

I can recognize that Salt and Sanctuary is a well-constructed game and that there’s a lot of depth and challenge here for those that crave such things from their entertainment. It just isn't for me and I don’t think it ever will be, as I'm not the target gamer here. From that perspective, I can't give this game any less than 4 stars. It delivers on everything a fan of the Souls series would crave, and does so with style. If that's your thing, dive right in there and go conquer some brutally tough fights.

Salt and Sanctuary not only manages to encapsulate the games in which it took liberal inspiration from, but then confidently build upon them, ensuring a complete, unique package that demands your attention at all times.

An excellent Souls-like with slight design flaws, fits the Switch like the salt to the pepper shaker.

If Dark Souls and Castlevania had a 2D child, it would probably be called Salt and Sanctuary. It may not be the most innovative game out there, but Ska Studios has managed to merge elements from both series to give birth to a truly great experience that we won't put down easily.

If you want a 2D Dark Souls it’s hard to imagine FromSoftware doing much better than this, even if it has too few original ideas of its own.

So yeah, go with the Switch. You’ll die, die and then die again, but you’ll always go back for more.

At its core, Salt and Sanctuary is 2D Dark Souls. I say that not as any indictment but more of a very adept comparison. Ska Studios smartly transformed the core concepts of a Souls game and turned it into a side-scrolling action game with an ample amount of Metroidvania influence. The result is tough as nails, but doable with perseverance and gumption. Salt and Sanctuary is not for the faint of heart, but it’s a journey worth suffering through for those who think they are worthy.

Salt and Sanctuary takes the Souls-like formula to 2D and almost perfectly executes upon it.

As someone that loves Dark Souls, I can say I enjoyed aspects of Salt and Sanctuary, but comparing the two games side by side seems incredibly unfair. Similarly to the Souls games, Salt and Sanctuary requires time and patience for players to reap its true rewards. While that may be attractive to some, it doesn’t quite have the same level of depth and finesse that would warrant it as a worthy substitute for one of the greatest RPGs ever created.

Salt and Sanctuary is a solid homage to its blatant source of inspiration. It doesn't supplant its predecessors, but it does an admirable job nonetheless, and offers players a moody, intricate, and fundamentally enjoyable dark fantasy experience.