When Ska Studios released its sleeper hitSalt and Sanctuaryin 2016, the small indie team made it abundantly clear that they understood the key fundamentals to an engagingSouls-like experience featuring all the genre staples that hardcore action RPG fans crave. WithSalt and Sacrifice, Ska Studios returns with the help of Devoured Studios to deliver another excellent 2D reimagining ofDark Souls,this time with a more profound focus on world exploration and aMonster Hunter-like approach to boss fights.
From the start,Salt and Sacrificewill be familiar to any fans ofSouls-like games, as players are slain within minutes of creating a new character and choosing a starting class. The Marked Inquisitor is neither living nor dead but is a reanimated soul that finds itself routinely dying and spawning throughout a once-peaceful world now wrought with chaos. Only through utilizing Guiltless Shards, acquired through boss fights, and collecting Salt from slain enemies, which are used as the game’s leveling currency, can the Inquisitor grow strong enough to fixSalt and Sacrifice’sdreary Altarstone Kingdom. It’s an all-too-familiar storyline and set of mechanics for anyone that has spent time in FromSoftware games.
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However, the similarities don’t end there. CommonSoulsmechanics like the Estus Flask, now named the Hearthen Flask, and bonfires, now called Obelisks, take up the healing and resting roles for players tackling the brutal world ofSalt and Sacrifice. The game also features a central hub area from which players can increase their character traits along a branching skill tree and access a teleporter to reach new zones, akin to 2015’sBloodborne.
The multiplayer component is new forSalt and Sacrifice, offering players the chance to call in some help in taking on the game’s multiple bosses or to partake in PvP action. Much likeCovenants inDark Souls, players have the opportunity to join various factions like the PvE-focused Blueheart Runners or PvP-focused Shroud Alliance. While missable and not essential toSalt and Sacrifice’s main story, factions add a neat role-playing element to the game and expand replayability across multiple save files.
Visually,Salt and Sacrificestill retains much of its flash game-inspired art style but with new player and enemy character models. Where previouslySalt and Sanctuarypresented a very foreboding and dreary atmosphere, painted with monochromatic color tones and dimly lit environments,Salt and Sacrificeinjects a new layer of color into its settings. Every zone pops with more vibrancy than before, and the cartoon-inspired visual style benefits from it greatly while still effectively delivering a world on the brink of collapse.
Salt and Sacrifice’s most notable deviation from itsSouls-like inspirationscome from its 2D nature, taking the sprawling and intricate level design of FromSoftware titles and translating it into a sidescrolling adventure. The result is a compelling series of levels ranging from destroyed towns, underground crypts, and snowy mountain tops that expand vertically and horizontally with crypts and dungeons.Salt and Sacrificetakes concepts thatSoulsgames frequently dabble in, such as the rigid platforming and booby traps of Sen’s Fortress, and expands upon them as the main challenge in world traversal, occasionally to a fault.
While the classic platforming feeling ofSalt and Sacrificeis often fun and keeps players on their toes, it does manage to feel dated in some regards. From a level design standpoint,Salt and Sacrificestill feels as if it is working within the playbook of the first iteration ofSouls-like games. In a post-Elden Ringworld whereSouls-likes are beginning to rely more on interesting bosses and mastery over combat mechanics as the driving force for a challenge,Salt and Sacrificeleans into using booby traps and surprise attacks to chip away at the player’s health.
Frustratingly, Ska Studios makes many of these traps extremely subtle, often blending into the scenery so well that only upon repeated deaths and backtracking through the game’s levels will players know precisely where each trap is. For experiencedSouls-like players, these design principles all may sound like a core part of theSouls-like experience. However, to newcomers fresh out ofElden RingorTunic,it could add a layer of frustration or even a sense of feeling “cheap” asSalt and Sacrificestill dogmatically follows the originalDark Soulsstyle level design.
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Combat inSalt and Sacrificealso deviates from the standard bumper button-based inputs of manySouls-likes, shifting to a combo-oriented system using the face buttons. Each weapon in the game has its own unique combos requiring players to alternate between light and heavy attacks to potentially stun an enemy as their poise breaks or even uppercut them into the air. No two classes play alike inSalt and Sacrifice, offering plenty of replayability for players embarking on multiple playthroughs. Additionally, the game’s rather forgiving skill tree, featuring numerous opportunities to respec, all amount toSalt and Sacrificebeing a highly versatile game in terms of build crafting.
Players will spend plenty of time backtracking throughSalt and Sacrifice’s five main regions due to Ska Studios leaning intoMetroidvania-style platformermechanics compared to its more linear predecessor. Scattered throughout the world are various Inquisitor tools, which unlock new traversal mechanics that will make seemingly mundane pieces of the landscape all make sense once the player has discovered how to interact with them appropriately. Going back and exploring old areas with new tools is always a worthwhile venture, asSalt and Sacrificerewards exploration with plenty of loot and, most importantly, more boss fights.
Among the game’s various minor bosses that dot each region are the pivotal Mage Hunts: prolonged excursions where the Spellmarked Inquisitor follows the trails of the chaos-inducing Mages, eventually leading to a boss fight and culminating with the Iinquistor devouring their hearts. These Mage Hunts are of great importance to the player, as hearts unlock new doorways and Mage Trails leave behind high-level enemies carrying critical crafting materials. Every Mage uniquely employs a themed power such as fire, earth, wind, or even fungus. However, despite plenty of variance in elemental powers, art style, and henchmen for each Mage, these excursions feel quite monotonous towards the tail end ofSalt and Sacrifice.
Past the opening jitters of challenging a new boss, players will find that most bosses use the same three attack types: an AOE attack, a homing missile barrage, and a standard physical strike, all of which are openly telegraphed and dodge-able. More than anything,Salt and Sacrificebecomes an exercise in stamina management and zoning when it comes to most Mages compared toboss fights in otherSouls-likes, where the 3D plane allows for far more intricate movesets and a higher skill ceiling for combat.
That’s not to say that bosses inSalt and Sacrificeare leisurely affairs. Fights can get frantic when bosses unleash a quick series of AOE attacks and homing missiles within the game’s claustrophobic arenas, often pushing players into seemingly impossible situations. Though, after a certain point with a high leveled and focused build, these Mage fights start to blend together mechanically.
Additionally,Salt and Sacrifice’s hitboxes are not well defined, and attacks tend to reach a good deal past perceived points of failure. Hitbox problems are made worse when the game’s low frame rate cartoon aesthetic comes into play, creating a layer of challenge that occasionally feels independent of player skill level. Even the most patientSoulsfanscould find themselves gritting their teeth when an enemy attack lands in a spot where they presumed themselves safe and subsequently get thrown across the screen or, even worse, off a cliff.
However, despiteSalt and Sacrifice’s shortcomings with repetitive boss battles, less refined hitboxes, and a few dated world design elements, it’s still a remarkably entertaining game to play. Even if its key gameplay loop starts feeling repetitive towards the end, the game doesn’t overstay its welcome and wraps up just when needed.
Overall,Salt and Sacrificestill nails the core elements that make a 2D reimagining ofDark Soulsa compelling idea thanks to its fundamental understanding of how character and level progression should flow and its expansive combat system. By adding in an extra layer of Metroidvania-style exploration and a unique approach to boss encounters with its Mage Hunt mechanic,Salt and Sacrificesees Ska Studios carve out a space for itself as more than the studio that is good at making 2DDark Soulsgames.
Salt and Sacrificereleases May 10 for PC, PS4, and PS5. Game Rant was provided a PC code for the purposes of this review.
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