How’d you miss that!? (Salt and Sanctuary)
- Vincent DiFusco
- Aug 2, 2017
- 5 min read
What do you get when you take the side scrolling, back tracking, platforming world of Metroid and throw it in a blender with Dark souls? One of the best unnoticed games of 2016. Salt and Sanctuary from Ska Studios is a perfect blend of those two, and so much more. An RPG platformer isn’t anything new in this day and age, but Salt and Sanctuary’s strength isn’t in the broad ideas its using from other games but the small details. From the tight well-constructed controls, to the art style, the lore and all the hidden details that even I haven’t stumbled upon.
Let’s start by talking about the controls, elegant in their simplicity. My play through has been on PS4 and so I’ll describe using the Dual Shock 4. The attack buttons are mapped to the Square for light attack, triangle for heavy attack, Cross is used for jumping and circle is the Use action. R2 is used for a very clever dodge roll which I’ll speak more on later. L2 is used for your left-hand weapon/shield/magic. L1 is for switching your load out, R1 for using items. Left and right on the D-pad switch items, holding down on the D-pad lights your torch (which you will use…A LOT). Lastly, left stick for movement and right for camera control and aiming of weapons. As you can see pretty standard stuff for a 2D side scroller, but while easy to learn, it’s the mastery of these that will make or break you gaining victory.
Just like in Dark Souls combat is brutal, timing is everything, knowing when to press the attack button, flurrying between light and heavy attacks is essential as certain enemies will block, dodge and attack with sometimes frustrating accuracy. In your defense is the Dodge roll. It’s importance should be noted due to the fact that its mapped to R2 a button your index finger will stay glued to. Being a side scroller heavily limits your ability to move around targets easily, so dodge rolling is the best way to escape enemy attacks, or to get behind them opening them up for attacks of your own. The difficult part is when fighting the dodge will only allow you past an enemy as their going to attack you, hit it too early and you’ll roll right into your enemy’s front allowing them to make you a fancy new breathing hole in your face. Hit it too late and your reward will be whatever implement of death your foe wields slapping you across your freshly presented back. It takes trial and error to learn each enemy’s timing.
Speaking of Error, get ready to die. Borrowing again from Dark Souls is a system that is very grind heavy, as you adventure you’ll gather 2 main resources the titular Salt and Gold. Salt is used to level up, helps in upgrading and crafting your weapons, and is gained from killing foes. When killed the enemy who killed you will gain all of the salt you had and hold it till you manage to kill them. If you’re killed before vanquishing the creature who holds your salt then you lose it forever, causing some very stressful moments. Gold is also dropped by enemies, its used to revive you, to buy items and weapons. Luckily this resource is not completely dropped on death.
On the topic of leveling up, it works the same as in most RPG’s you use the salt to level up which in turn gives you “Black Seeds” these are used in the expansive Skill Tree. This was one of the first things that really made me stop and appreciate this game. Too many times in RPG’s you have a character build in mind but not sure what you need to do to get to that goal. Salt and Sanctuary makes this easy by giving you a skill tree that branches out in easy to understand paths toward builds, but also allows you to build something of your own.
To level up, buy new weapons and play Co-op (yes couch Co-op!!) you’ll need to find shrines, here you can place your symbol down on the alter, or adopt a new symbol which grants you new permanent items you have in your inventory (think Flasks from Dark Souls). This is also where you’ll respawn when you die. As you adventure you’ll find Statues that turn in to merchants that allow buying/selling /upgrading and the before mentioned co-op, however if you summon them to a shrine those merchants stay in that shrine, adding a level of strategy, deciding how far your willing to back track to buy or sell things.
The art style of the game seemed kind of silly to me at first, almost a dark web-cartoon or comic book look to it, however the more I’ve played the more this feels like the best choice they could have made, it keeps the game feeling a little more lighthearted but still gory.
What is a great looking game however without a great story to accompany it though? The game opens with you in the bowels of a ship, tasked with escorting a princess to a faraway village to marry her in an effort to avoid war. As I’m sure you can guess, that plan doesn’t quite work out. When control is given to you, your ship is being attacked by soldiers, you hack your way to the deck of the ship where you’re attacked by, I kid you not, Cthulhu. Freaking Cthulhu. So yea you fight him, and me? Well I lost, I mean it’s freaking Cthulhu, I may be Vindingo Maximus, but ain’t no one taking out the Old One. After your run in, you’ll awaken on a beach where you talk to an old man to pick your starting character type and away you go on your adventure.
The layout of the map is very Metroid esc with a lot of back tracking, bosses blocking progress and secrets to be found everywhere. Areas change as you explore, and in each area the enemies and their strategies will also change, keeping you on your toes and adapting to meet the next challenge.
Salt and Sanctuary is a game I know will stick with me for quite some time as the poster child for how it’s done for mixing two very different game types. At the time of writing I picked it up on sale for $10 but I expect it will price drop again soon.
“Whenever you're scared and alone, remember that you are your own hero.”
*Citations for Pictures:
Wiki Home Salt and Sanctuary Forums Wiki To-Do Wiki Shop Fextralife Blog Fextralife Wiki Hub. (n.d.). Retrieved August 01, 2017, from http://saltandsanctuary.wiki.fextralife.com/Salt and Sanctuary Wiki
Salt and Sanctuary Free Download. (2017, July 10). Retrieved August 01, 2017, from http://oceanofgames.com/salt-and-sanctuary-free-download/
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