Salt and Sanctuary

Salt and Sanctuary is a punishing, atmospheric 2D action role-playing game that expertly translates the challenging difficulty, intricate level design, and dark fantasy aesthetic of the Dark Souls series into a fluid side-scrolling format. Developed by Ska Studios, the game immediately immerses the player in a bleak, mysterious world, drawing inspiration from both the Souls franchise and classic exploration-heavy platformers like Metroid.

The narrative begins with a shipwreck, leaving the player—a nameless sailor—marooned on a hostile, purgatorial island. This desolate land is home to monstrous creatures, forgotten cities, and, most importantly, Sanctuaries. These serve as the game’s equivalent of bonfires, offering a momentary respite, a place to level up, and a crucial hub for fast travel and trade.

The Core Loop: Salt and Gold

The game’s economy and progression revolve around two key resources: Salt and Gold.

• Salt: Equivalent to the Souls in FromSoftware’s games, Salt is gained by defeating enemies and is used to level up your character's stats at a Sanctuary. Dying causes you to drop your accumulated Salt, requiring a perilous return journey to retrieve it from the creature that killed you.

• Gold: Used to purchase equipment and items.

The penalty for death is severe, forcing players to approach every enemy encounter and corner with cautious planning and calculated aggression.

Deep RPG Mechanics and Combat

Salt and Sanctuary boasts an impressive classless progression system via the massive Tree of Skill. This sprawling network of nodes allows players to specialize in various combat styles—from heavy armor tanking and dual-wielding daggers to powerful arcane magic—offering deep customization and replayability.

Combat is tight, responsive, and demanding. It utilizes a stamina meter for all actions, including attacking, dodging, and blocking, requiring careful resource management. Players must master parrying, dodging rolls with i-frames, and the use of powerful magical Incantations and light-based Prayers. The variety of weapons is extensive, and each weapon type possesses a unique move set that can be upgraded and transmuted into more powerful forms.

Intricate World and Co-op

The world design is a masterpiece of interlocking, confusing, and rewarding exploration. The labyrinthine, gothic environments feature hidden pathways, shortcuts, and platforming challenges. Finding creeds—the game's various religious factions—and dedicating yourself to one unlocks powerful abilities and items while providing a deep layer of lore and allegiance to the game.

For those who find the island too daunting alone, Salt and Sanctuary uniquely features local co-op, allowing two players to face the brutality of the island and its 20+ terrifying bosses together. It is a fantastic homage that establishes its own identity through superb 2D design.