Salt and Sacrifice Reviews
Salt and sacrifice brought me nothing but suffering, but I can't stop playing. Once I figured it out, I became unstoppable.
Salt and Sacrifice is the sequel to Salt and Sanctuary, Ska Studios' acclaimed 2D souls like, which seeks to reinvent itself by adding new systems and mechanics. However, it doesn't quite hit the nail on the head with certain mechanics, which leaves it a couple of steps below its predecessor. Even so, it manages to hold its ground solidly within the genre, thanks to experimenting with elements or systems that stand out in other renowned franchises.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Sharing much in common with its predecessor, this challenging Metroidvania has style but can be tough to love
Salt and Sacrifice isn’t as good as its predecessor, but still offers an enjoyable Souls-like experience packed with rewarding combat and exploration. The world is still wonderful to explore and offers a myriad of secrets to uncover and vicious enemies to vanquish, whilst combat is intuitive and gives players more creative options thanks to the likes of the grappling hook. It looks beautiful too, whilst the boss battles are once again a highlight of the experience. The new features just fall short of the mark a little, with the multiplayer fiddly and Mage Hunts a little bit boring to complete, whilst the lack of a map and proper fast travel can make traversal a drag. They don’t make it a bad game at all though, with Salt and Sacrifice still maintaining the overall quality of the original to stand out as an engrossing 2D Souls-like experience.
The Steam release adds nothing new to the game overall, but if you have access to a Steam Deck then Salt and Sacrifice comes highly recommended.
While it may clock in a bit below its predecessor in terms of overall package, main gameplay staples like combat and exploration continue to be of enjoyably high quality, and make this series’ second outing a worthwhile entry.
While Salt and Sanctuary is among the pinnacle of souls-likes and metroidvanias, Salt and Sacrifice fails to live up to this pedigree.
Salt and Sacrifice can be a lot of fun, and I do think that fans of Salt and Sanctuary have a lot to look forward to. But I cannot ignore its flaws, and I cannot help but recommend it only to those players who are really big fans already.
Salt and Sacrifice is a great combination of some of the best elements from games like Dark Souls and or Monster Hunter and definitely entertains, even though the core gameplay mechanisms and the combat system could get extremely hard and annoying at some points during the game.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Being sequel to a critically acclaimed title is always a hardcore task. Salt and Sacrifice didn't exceed the expectations, nor did it fail. It captures the essence of soulslike genre with hand drawn graphics exceptionally well but suffers due to a whole bunch of required backtracking and some questionable developer decisions.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Soulslike fanatics will enjoy the fix, while others may better spend their time elsewhere.
Salt and Sacrifice is a worthwhile sequel to Salt and Sanctuary. Where it does more of the same, it does so where it needs to and where it freshens things up, like the map change, it does it well. I still wish I had access to an inworld map, though. If you’re looking for a new souls-like to get into after something like an Elden Ring, I can’t see you going wrong with this one.
Salt and Sacrifice is a greatly ambitious title, melding a number of gameplay elements from other popular series but it comes at the cost of overall polish and focus, leaving a frustrating experience that feels like a step back from its predecessor.
If Salt and Sacrifice is not inherently bad, it is not very exciting. Neophytes will certainly find their account, but we would still tend to advise them to go to Salt and Sanctuary, much better, even if the game is 6 years old now.
Review in French | Read full review
Overall I did have a lot of fun with Salt and Sacrifice, although there were a few moments where it got rather frustrating. With the new change up to how the game plays out, I expect a lot of people to be upset with the new direction. It’s not a bad direction, just new. I really appreciate the devs branching out in a new direction, and hope they continue to do so from now on.
The Salt games are in an awkward spot now, having mish-mashed several wildly successful ideas from other titles, but being unable to make them fit together into an identity of their own. Hopefully, if we get a third entry, Ska Studios will be able to make it all coalesce.
In making the title Salt and Sacrifice, the creators have tried to take some risks and model the titles of Monster Hunter, which unfortunately doesn't help the overall gaming experience as it should and sometimes even causes problems.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Salt and Sacrifice does have room for improvement. That said, the things I disliked about the game are far outweighed by the swaths of things this game gets right. I was hooked from the word “Go!” and even though I’ve finished the game, I’m still hooked. There’s so much to experiment with, so many more hunts to carry out and that doesn’t even factor in the multiplayer! After every sitting with this game, I found myself wanting more. Surely that’s the best endorsement a game could receive? When you stop playing, but you don’t really want to. When the credits roll, but you really wish they weren’t. Salt and Sacrifice is a fantastic title with an infectious gameplay loop that makes it hard to put down, but easy to recommend.
Unfortunately, Salt and Sacrifice discarded way too much to place the focus on multiplayer. The aspects I do like, the exploration and combat, are carried over from the original game. The core Mage Hunt gameplay loop is tedious, and the lack of fast travel made me sick of seeing the same scenery repeatedly. You’ll probably find something to love here if you have a friend to place this game with and enjoy the original. However, as a solo adventure, it’s severely lacking.
Salt and Sacrifice is a good game that takes some ideas from FromSoftware games, as well as other popular projects, but does it very neatly, while offering an interesting visual design.
Review in Russian | Read full review