Salt & Sanctuary is the real deal folks!

On 05/21/2016 at 04:30 PM by asrealasitgets

This game really got me hooked right away. I was surprised at the way it captured the rythm and flow of combat, giving attacks a little resistance and kickback just like the weighty weapons in 3D Souls. The atmosphere is fantastic. The music is very gloomy and atmospheric. Again, a plus. The boss fights are a real bitch. There are different weapon builds. There are NPCs. It's great! What I appreciate about the game is that it lets me use a shield at least. I couldnt really do that in Bloodborne, but thats a different game, yet I feel like Salt&Sanctuary is very much a sequel or prequel that could fit in between big Souls games just like they try to do with 2D Arkham Batman and 2D Assassins Creed. Oh, and the game encourages exploration and each new discovered area has new tricky and strange enemies to mix things up and keep everything fresh all the time. It's very good! GOTY candidate perhaps?

Matt Snee Staff Writer

05/21/2016 at 06:09 PM

Is this on vita?

asrealasitgets

05/21/2016 at 10:22 PM

I believe it is. Im playing it on PC. It is very hard though. Only if you enjoy suffering.

transmet2033

05/23/2016 at 01:18 PM

It is coming to Vita, and I for one am waiting until then.

Blake Turner Staff Writer

05/22/2016 at 02:13 AM

It has Souls difficulty curve, in that the first 25% is quite difficult until you work it out, then the next 50% is laughably easy, and then the last 25% makes you want to kill yourself.

Finished this a while back, and I quite enjoy it. Where are you up to?

05/22/2016 at 05:12 PM

Yes. I am finding this to be true. I had a hard time with a few bosses at first, but it was mostly because I had to let go of the block button to let stamina recharge before blocking again. It is very Soulsy in this way. I've beaten maybe 4-5 bosses so far and Im stuck at a dead end. I reached a castle where there is just a bottomless pit at the end. Not sure what to do. I probably have to re-explore other areas now to see if I missed something. The only boss that game me trouble so far was the Alchemist, but mostly because of the poison. I switched to a poison reducing gear and it was cake. Again, very souls like. Honestly, the Alchemist reminded me of a Bloodborne fight. It got very hectic with so many enemies being thrown at me, plus fire, lightning and poison slimes. I had to just get in and melee the fuck out of him and roll away, then repeat.

Nick DiMola Director

05/22/2016 at 02:07 PM

I need to give this a go. Still totally hooked on Dark Souls 3 though and Bloodborne is still lingering incomplete in my backlog, as is the DLC for DS2. Oh yeah, and Lords of the Fallen. Argh!

Eventually I'll grab this one on Vita and go to town.

05/22/2016 at 05:16 PM

It feels more like Dark Souls 1 than anything else. I'd even say that Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 deviated much too far from base Souls with the speed. This is more slow paced, metroidvania clone with weighty Souls combat. Its not just a knockoff, it feels like Souls.

05/22/2016 at 08:50 PM

Awesome. Dark Souls 1 is a masterpiece, so I'm glad to hear it's like that.

While DS3 is definitely faster, I've found that it feels really good as I've gone through it. I've almost wrapped up NG+ and it's just such a satisfying game to play. It feels new, while still being familiar. At the time I really enjoyed Dark Souls 2, but it just didn't match up to my experience with 1. I think 3 evokes the feelings I had with 1 and I've really been enjoying myself. I literally can not stop playing it and now getting into PVP, I might be stuck on it for a long while.

05/23/2016 at 12:06 AM

I didn't dislike 2 at all like most people. I just didn't really like the shift away from shield defense in Bloodborne. It seems DS3 has the speed of Bloodborne, but I like playing through slowly with a shield. I don't hate Bloodborne, but I just prefer the slower paced Demon and DS1. So, Salt&Sanct feels more like the slow pace and exploration from DS1. I'm quite excited about Nioh, although it feels more fast paced like Bloodborne which has me worried.

Homelessrook

05/24/2016 at 08:04 AM

I will check it out when it comes to the Vita. That is when I am finished with Odin's Sphere. lol.

PixlBit