I've got... a lot of issues with this game despite how high I rank it. Simply put the reason I enjoyed myself this much is because the gameplay felt good to move around in. It felt good to hit, it felt good to fight, it felt good to explore. My biggest issue with this game is the lack of a map. I always found myself lost, and couldn't explore without backtracking and checking every nook and cranny because the game refused to tell me where I was at any point. When I got a powerup, I didn't think "oh! I can check out all those areas this would be useful in!" because i was too busy trying to think about where I can go next at any point without this powerup, trying to store all this information was impossible, at least for me. On the topic of powerups, they're mostly not great. The two torch ones, while interesting, are bogged down by using the torch feeling clunky, the wall jump always felt a little off, but the air dash felt amazing to use and loved it. The bosses were mostly all ok. Mainly easy but I enjoyed my time with most of them, save for like 2. I had no idea the final boss was the end of the game, he was kind of just a dude. I had fun, but this game is very flawed in my eyes

Doubtlessly, Dark Souls is a revolutionnary game that got so many things right, especially with its level design. Yet, for some reason, I am not really into Dark Souls. I think the reason is due to some design decisions that are not cut out for me, and the fact that I am more confortable with platforming games rather than third person action RPG.

Salt and Sanctuary then comes into play. It basically adapted Dark Souls ideas to a 2D setting, with a light "metroidvania" component. Thus most of the issues I have with Dark Souls are now gone. This is the reason why I like this game so much.

True, it is a little bit rough around the edges. But it worked perfectly on me.

Man. This one was tough. These 2D Soulslikes feel harder than their namesakes, for real. This really is Dark Souls in 2D. You have all sorts of weapons and classes, covenants, magics, and armors to choose from. The map is interconnected, but it really felt kinda pointless, tbh. Sure, you could open a gate into an older area, but it just felt random rather than meticulously constructed like Souls. This is where the lack of a true Hub world hurt this game. It seems to emulate its progenitor for good and for ill, emulating even the outdated tropes that Souls phased out. Things like ridiculously cheap falling and enviromental hazards and brutal one-shot enemies. I was feeling a little bitter about this game and ready for it to be over when I learned one critical fact. This game was essentially made by ONE person. I think there were separate music contributions and the developer's wife added important artistic elements, but the game was built by ONE guy. There is a HUGE amount of detail to take into consideration. There is expansive lore (if you choose to dive in, they don't shotgun you in the face with it), cleverly balanced combat options, unique boss encounters, and distinct and NUMEROUS areas. I didn't have the most fun in the world, I actually spent a decent chunk of it irritated, but color me impressed. What a monumental achievement by this individual. It deserves way more praise than criticism. If I'm honest, I am more likely to replay Hollow Knight or Blasphemous, but if this kind of game is your bag, then dig it.

Juego con grandes ideas, pero muchas carencias. Todos los jefes (menos el último) comparten la misma música, no hay diferencia entre las animaciones de las armas del mismo tipo, y llegados a un punto del juego los jefes apenas tienen vida (el último duró menos de un minuto sin haberme parado a farmear, yendo melee sin ningún tipo de magias). Pero me ha parecido un juego divertidísimo, y que, puliendo unas cuantas cosas, podría ser un juego sobresaliente.

Puntos positivos:
Sistema de combate entretenido y con cierta profundidad
Mapeado enorme y con muchos rincones secretos
Lore interesante

Puntos negativos:
Una OST casi inexistente
Apenas hay jefes exigentes
Una parte final bastante vacía y sencilla

I dropped the game after around 10 hours. Overall it is good experience but I decided to leave when game became work. I wasn't surprised by visual design and I didn't notice good story. It was fun to walk around, beat some monsters and upgrade skills and equipment. Then I struggled on dragon boss and understood that I should grind to move on (at least to equip the shield with fire resistance). Few hours later I gaved up on grinding.
In general, I would prefer more exploration than the game provides. Also, performance on PS Vita is crap.

Solid game but I wish the Jaws of Death weren't so ridiculously overpowered to the point I first tried nearly every boss in the latter 70% of the game. Sure I kinda blame myself for not switching to a weaker weapon but cmon Ska Studios, balance the game so we don't have to gimp ourselves on purpose

Also I liked the exploration because unlike most "metroidvanias" - bit of a stretch, this is just a 2D side scroller soulslike imo - there were very few times I had to turn around and retread massive distances due to lacking an upgrade like a ground pound or something (looking at you, Hollow Knight)

Hardest boss for me was Kraekan Wyrm with 5 attempts, think I was still using the Kureimoa

“You know that really popular game, Dark Souls? Well, what if we took Dark Souls rubs hands emphatically in anticipation and made it...2D?!” - the pitch for Salt and Sanctuary at Ska Studios circa the mid-2010s, possibly while high.

The concept of a Soulslike game in 2D might not seem like a spark of visionary gold. Dark’s Souls’ more obvious influences stem more from 2D Metroidvania games than any 3D franchises. Dark Souls is a 3D translation of aspects commonly found in 2D games. Translating Dark Souls conversely is merely an example of a Metroidvania game. At least setting a 2D game inspired by the components of Dark Souls makes sense. The franchise has garnered much more notoriety than any pure Metroidvania game over the past ten years. I suppose the new wave of Soulslike games could interpret the unique elements of Dark Souls into a 2D Metroidvania game organically. In the case of indie developer Ska Studios' 2016 game Salt and Sanctuary, this is not just an example of using the core properties of Dark Souls as a mere influence. Hollow Knight is an example of a 2D Metroidvania that borrows properties from Dark Souls. Salt and Sanctuary, on the other hand, is an unabashed Dark Souls clone in which the only distinctive property is that it is played on a 2D axis. The similarities here border on the uncanny. I should smite this game with venomous words lambasting its lack of originality and completely write it off as a cheap imitation. However, I’m not going to do that. Dark Souls is one of my favorite games of all time, and I like anything that reminds me of it or at least something that competently emulates it.

Where do I start making comparisons? Salt and Sanctuary shares the medieval setting, the moody, depression-drenched atmosphere, the tough, meticulous combat, the vague narrative, the weapon/armor scaling, the dodge-rolling, the health system, the varied boss battles, etc. I’d list more that this game shares with its obvious template, but I feel I’ve made my point. This game shamelessly flaunts its derivative nature to the point where I’m surprised FromSoft didn’t bring down the wrath of a cracked legal team on Ska Studios. The 2D axis really makes a world of difference, I suppose, but this alludes to more than just a potential lawsuit. The only difference between Salt and Sanctuary and Dark Souls is the 2D plane. Despite all of the similar properties taken right from Dark Souls, Salt and Sanctuary at least feel different because of the more direct Metroidvania playstyle.

Salt and Sanctuary still insists on heavily borrowing too many features from Dark Souls that do not work on a 2D plane. Dark Souls didn’t need a map because the spatial awareness that comes organically in 3D helped the player learn the foreground and how to traverse it. The 2D Salt and Sanctuary follows suit and does not offer the player a map, even with many-leveled passages that lead to different sections. Considering how much backtracking is involved in any Metroidvania game, a map is essential for the genre. Salt and Sanctuary, not including a map, always made navigating the world cumbersome and going in the right direction a matter of trial and error. Most if not all 2D Metroidvanias offer one, so it baffles me that Salt and Sanctuary would omit something that seems so essential to the genre. The worst instance of this comes with bastardizing a Dark Souls staple.

Covenants are a familiar property from Dark Souls that Salt and Sanctuary also borrows, naming them creeds instead. Unless you are an avid PVP player, they won’t mean much to a Souls player. These creeds in Salt and Sanctuary represent much more than just an online faction. Depending on which covenant you join, you can decorate a sanctuary with the influence of your chosen faction. These sanctuaries act like bonfires in that resting at one saves your progress like a checkpoint. I changed my creed in Salt and Sanctuary, thinking nothing of it. The worst I thought would happen is that maybe one NPC would be pissed off at me, and I’d have to defend myself in combat. I instead found myself not being able to rest at any sanctuary, frustrated beyond belief as a result. The only way I could absolve my “sin” of changing my creed and being able to make checkpoints again was to run all the way to a far-off corner of the game. Remember, there is no map, so attempting to find this specific point in the game infuriated me beyond belief. I must say this loud and clear: A MAP IS ESSENTIAL TO ANY METROIDVANIA GAME.

One aspect of the Metroidvania genre is the heavy use of platforming. Dark Souls implements platforming on rare occasions, but these instances are never ideal due to the rigid jumping control. The platforming aspects of the 2D Salt and Sanctuary feel much more natural due to the 2D plane of movement. This is a relief considering how much platforming there is in the game. This aspect almost feels unlike Dark Souls until one factor in the fall damage mechanic. This isn’t often a problem in most Metroidvania games because the developers are understandably merciful with jumping errors in games with a platforming-heavy emphasis. Fall damage is always factored into every awkward tumble in Dark Souls, and Salt and Sanctuary, of course, follow its big brother like a panting dog. Most of the deaths in Salt and Sanctuary will result from a mismatched jump onto a platform. To make matters even less favorable to the player, Salt and Sanctuary borrows the Metroidvania Castlevania games pension for blowback damage. This, combined with the fall damage, often leads to the player dying instantly, crashing through a series of scaffoldings like a slapstick routine.

Salt and Sanctuary is also among the ugliest games I’ve ever played. The tone and aesthetic here are supposed to replicate the defeated, medieval look of Dark Souls. It achieves this in theory, but it also looks like this forsaken world is suffering from water damage. It looks as if someone took Lordran and put a perpetual rain cloud over it to signify a sense of depression. Places like the Undead Burg from Dark Souls still achieve this sense of dread and emptiness even though the sun is shining. Salt and Sanctuary looks a bit overwrought with its aesthetic. The interior places are incredibly dark, and their foundations look like they are covered with rusty blood. It all feels like the developers are trying too hard to give the impression of some kind of angst. It does not help matters that this game looks like a 2005-era flash cartoon and the common background music sounds like Marilyn Manson’s cover of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This).” Most of these aspects are just unappealing.

It mostly sounds as if Salt and Sanctuary aren’t worth a drop of piss from Dark Souls’ magnificent swinging dick, but there is a saving grace to all awkward translations that do not work well. The best aspect of Salt and Sanctuary is that it completely understands the essentials of what makes the Souls games so engrossing: the combat and the bosses. Salt and Sanctuary ensures that it always feels satisfying to defeat a tough enemy and give the player the deserved satisfaction. This is where the uniqueness of translating Souls combat into 2D comes in. Salt and Sanctuary often felt much more fair and fluid in combat due to the 2D plane. Parrying was much easier, and dodge-rolling always felt more in the player’s hand. These features essentially work in Dark Souls but are much harder to execute when there is more spatial movement in 3D. Like the bosses in Dark Souls, Salt and Sanctuary offer many incredibly tough foes to conquer. All of these bosses are extremely varied, arguably more so than in Dark Souls, and defeating them makes the player feel just as accomplished. A special mention goes to The Witch of the Lake, a boss that I’d argue is more punishing than any boss in Dark Souls. One of the reasons she is so difficult also leads to an awkward point in the game’s 2D foundation; the bosses will exploit the 2D space to venture off-screen, an unfair hiccup that usually results in the player’s demise. I’d be angrier about this glitch if it didn’t help me exploit the final boss, an encounter that I was having considerable trouble with. He glitched me into a wall that rewarded me with invulnerability, hilariously giving me ample opportunity to hack away at him with ease. I’ll take this equally unfair glitch as an apology for The Witch of the Lake.

Dark Souls may be an incredibly unique and influential game, but its foundation had to come from somewhere. The 2D Metroidvanias that inspired Dark Souls are taking note to return the appreciation by implementing Dark Souls features into the Metroidvania genre. In the case of Salt and Sanctuary, it borrows so much from Dark Souls that it’s a borderline tribute in 2D. Did the developers purposefully want to just translate Dark Souls into 2D, sacrificing all traces of a discernable product? It seems like this is the case, but fortunately, Dark Souls being an exceptional game makes Salt and Sanctuary an adequate game by proxy. After all, there are worse franchises to shamelessly rip off.

------
Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com

É basicamente um souslike com metroidvania que tenta replicar vários elementos de Dark Souls e Bloodborne, mas fracassa miseravelmente nesse aspecto porque apresenta falhas de design terríveis e muitos problemas técnicos. Particularmente, também acho o design dos personagens humanos pavoroso. É um bom jogo, mas os problemas, as inconsistências, e as decisões questionáveis de design atrapalham muito a experiência. O desempenho no PS Vita também é péssimo, com muitas quedas de FPS. Os cenários extremamente escuros do jogo também contribuem pra uma experiência ruim no portátil.

Salt and Sanctuary, yıllardır imrendiğim Bloodborne'un temasıyla metroidvaniayayı bir güzel harmanlayıp sunuyor. İlk başlarda sadece "Bu oyunun ikincisi çıkacaktı ilki nasıl acaba" düşünceleriyle başladım. Pek bir beklentim yoktu açıkçası ama oyunun her bir adım daha ilerlediğimde karşıma çıkan her şey beni şaşırtıyordu. Şaşırmamın sebebi de çıkan bosslar, düşmanlar ve yeni mekanlar fazlasıyla kendine özgü kendince görkemli olduğu için şaşırıyordum. İlk olarak az çok tadımı kaçıran bir noktaya kısaca değinmek istiyorum. Tür olarak metroidvania olan bir oyunun neden oyun içinde harita yok. Bildiğiniz bir harita yok o yüzden gittiğiniz yolları aklınızda tutarak ilerleyebiliyorsunuz. Tabii harita olmaması ara sıra sıkıntı olsa da pek umursamadım. Oyunda harita yok ya bu problemi şöyle çözmüşler. Salt and Sanctuary'nin fiziksel satışlarında yanında oyunun haritasını da veriyorlarmış. Bu bilgiyi de öyle Reddit'te harita var mı? diye bakınırken gördüm. Harita olmaması dışında pek bir şikayetim yok. Genel anlamda benim gözümde en yükseldiği kısım kendine has tasarımları diyebilirim. NPC'ler genel olarak aynı tipte olsa bile bosslar ve genel düşmanların çoğu hoş tasarımlara sahip. Bana özellikle oyunun son bossunun görkemli havasını aşırı beğendim.

Souls oyunlarının yapılarını bilenlerin anlayacağı bir durumu anlatmak istiyorum. Genel olarak her souls oyununda çeşit çeşit NPC'lerin görev dizileri var. Souls-like oyunlarda doğal olarak kendi oyunlarına buna benzer görev dizileri koymaya özen gösteriyorlar. Neden bilmiyorum ama Salt and Sanctuary'de bu görev dizileri bana sönük kalmış gibi geldi. Tabii doğru hatırlıyorsam oyunda zaten 3 tane NPC görev dizisi olması lazım. NPC'lerde konu açılmışken birde tuzlanmış bonfire sistemini az anlatayım. Souls oyunlarında olan bonfire kayıt noktalarını SaS kendince çok iyi yorumlamış. SaS soulslarda bulunun bonfire sistemini ve covenant mantığını birbirine harmanlayarak Sanctuary kayıt noktalarını hazırlamış. Sanctuaryler yemin ettiğiniz bir çeşit din varsa oyun dünyasında ona göre farklı can yenileme şişeleri alıyorsunuz. Ek olarak bu Sanctuarylere keşifleriniz sırasında bulduğunuz ufak rehber, lider gibi heykelleri kullanarak kayıt noktasına bir sürü NPC ile doldurabiliyorsunuz. O karamsar tondaki dünyada dinlendiğimiz Sanctuarylerin öyle kalabalık olması benim içime hoş ve yalnızlıktan kurtulmuşum gibi hisler veriyordu.

Sanctuaryleri topladığınız NPCleri isterseniz bir işlem yaparak kendinize düşman bile edebiliyorsunuz. Tabii böyle bir durumda klasik souls oyunlarındaki gibi günahlarınız birikiyor. Onu da başka bir NPC'ye giderek günah çıkarabiliyorsunuz.
Salt and Sanctury'de soulslarda olduğu kadar günahkarlığın bir etkisi yok galiba yani ben bir etkisiyle karşılaşmadım. Souslarda genel olarak sizin dünyanızı diğer oyuncuların işgal etme oranını arttırıyordu. Sas'te ise oyunun online özelliklerini çok az kullandım. Herhalde Sanctuary'e çağırdığımız Sellsword NPCleri sayesinde online bazı özellikleri kullanıyorsunuz. Benim online tarafında tek kullandığım özellik etraftaki oyuncuların bıraktığı mesajları okumaktan ibaretti. Zaten oyun pek online yardım gerektirecek kadar oyuncuyu zorlamıyor. Bunların dışında oyunun karakter oluşturma kısmı fena olmayacak seviyede çeşitli. Bu yapımın karakter oluşturma ekranının basitliği sayesinde hiç vakit harcamadan hoş görünen bir karakterle başlamak benim hoşuma gitti. (Bazen işin ucunu kaçırıp fazla vakit gömüyorum) Karakteri oluşturduktan sonra seçtiğiniz klasa göre kendinize göre çeşitli şekilde hangi yönde güçlü olacağını oluşturabiliyorsunuz. Mesela benim karakterim Avcı klasıyla başladı. Normalde ana silahlarım arbalet ve kırbaç iken karakterimi direk katanasıyla hızlıca düşmanları yok eden bir şeye dönüştürdüm. Düz fiziksel hasar bir karakter dışında konuşmak gerekirse az çok kullandığım büyülerde oynanışa keyif katıyor. Düşmanları keserken uzuvlarının kopuşu da oynanışa ayrı bir tatmin hissi katıyor. Sizin de benim gibi Bloodborne PC portu hayaliniz var ve Bloodborne benzeri bir şey mi oynamak istiyorsunuz. O halde indirimlerde Salt and Sanctuary'i kapın derim.