Salt and Sanctuary Review

 (Originally published to Glitchwave on 7/26/2021)

[Image from igdb.com]

Salt and Sanctuary

Developer: Ska Studios

Publisher: Ska Studios

Genre(s): Metroidvania, Soulslike

Platforms: PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One

Release Date: March 15, 2016

“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.