Review: Salt and Sanctuary (Nintendo Switch)

A doomed sailor is shipwrecked on an uncharted island. In fog-shrouded valleys, where grinning, mossy corpses cling to rusted arms, shambling figures begin to stir. Beneath crumbling, salt-worn structures, labyrinthine passageways lead to unspeakable evil, long forgotten by man.

Pros:

• Fantastic looking graphics.
• 999MB Download size.
• Tutorial support throughout.
• Character creator- Name, Hairstyle, Sex, Eye/hair colors, origin, class, and effects.
• Class- Knight, Mage, Paladin, Thief, Chief, Pauper and hunter. Each class determines your starting stats, weapons, and any traits.
• Effects- Starting bonus item.
• Cannot pause the game.
• Stamina system for blocking/attacking and rolling.
• Dark Souls inspired 2D action RPG gameplay.
• Salt- Drops from enemies and is used to level up.
• Tree of skill- Massive skill tree, Use points and put them in to open up new buffs and abilities.
• Unlock shortcuts in the world.
• Many secrets to find.
• Tense yet satisfying combat, You must learn to block and time attacks.
• Chillingly beautiful soundtrack.
• Amazing huge boss battles.
• Full inventory system.
• Can have your stats show on every menu which is dab handy when selecting weapons and armor.
• Align yourself with a convent and you earn favor with them.
• Clear yet minimal UI.
• Can grab and climb ledges.
• Upon death, you have your next life to get back to your death spot to reclaim all your salt that you drop when you die.
• Pro controller support.
• Altars- Acts as checkpoints and hitting it resets all monsters.
• Very moody color palette, Lots of dark colors and sections that are just black and white. Has been known to have explosions of bright colors.
• Rewarding gameplay.
• Difficult.
• Beautiful backdrops.
• Its got one of those worlds you want to get lost in and discover.
• Many NPC to find/interact with.
• Clear stats screen, Green for up and red for down.
• Simple control layout.

Cons:

• No description for class types and effects.
• Cannot pause the game.
• Initially, you have no idea about controls and must rely on the signs.
• No brightness control which is a bigger problem when in handheld mode.
• No online interactions.
• Difficult.
• No key mapping.
• Has a high reliance on you having played the genre before.
• Can be hard to make enemies out on some backdrops.
• No touchscreen support.
• Some small text sections.