Salt And Sacrifice Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

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For our Salt And Sacrifice Review, we travel to a place called Altarstone, The Kingdom’s precious peace is threatened by the arrival of “Mages” – creatures of pure elemental malice. The Kingdom has responded by forming a Marked Inquisition, a cursed organization assembled of the condemned, charged with rooting out and destroying all Magic.

Salt And Sacrifice Review Pros:

  • Beautifully dark grim graphics.
  • 1.1GB Download size.
  • Character creator choices – name, 8 classes (assassin/cleric/fighter/duelist/high blade/paladin/ranger/sage), 12 crimes (alchemy/arson/blasphemy/brigandry/drunkness/forgery/heresy/lasciviousness/smuggling/sumptuousness/ursuary/vagrancy), male/female, hair/eye/whiskers/eyebrow colours along with hairstyle, 7 ancestry (dusk/highlander/Mountain/oasis/sun/wood/Valley).
  • Powerful soundtrack.
  • In-game cutscenes.
  • Graphics settings – legible font, camera zoom slider, HUD scale slider, and menu scale slider.
  • Blood – on/off.
  • Cross play – on/off.
  • Gameplay settings – player markers, ranged mode (default/toggle/release to fire), hide helmet, and screenshake slider.
  • Action RPG gameplay.
  • A love letter to Dark Souls-style games.
  • 2D perspective.
  • Tutorial pop-ups as you play.
  • Can rebind controls.
  • The network interactions can be turned on and off along with optional password protection.
  • Player marker choices – always-on, local co-op only, Co-op only, and off.
  • Pardoners Vale is your main hub/safe space where you can use shops, blacksmiths, heal, and more unlocks as you play.
  • The portal to take you to the world is controlled by runes, enter runes to open the door, and mission and found rune codes can be auto-filled otherwise you have free control.
  • Button prompted interactions.
  • Runs really well in both handheld and docked.
  • Obelisks in the world can be touched to activate and with them, you can rest and resupply, return to camp or nothing.
  • Stamina-based system for jumping, attacking, and dodging.
  • Scavenge resources from bodies, the environment, and mining.
  • Dark grim atmosphere.
  • Easy to learn controls.
  • Salt is the currency used for leveling up and is dropped from enemies and items.
  • Leveling up will increase stats and must be done in the hub.
  • Tree of Skill is where you can unlock new abilities and buffs.
  • You can pet the animals.
  • Leave and read messages from other players.
  • Enhanced equipment allows you to upgrade all your gear with resources.
  • For crafting recipes you have to hunt down mages with the portal.
  • Mages act almost like a boss fight but first, you chase them down, they can enhance enemies with magic and it all culminates in a face-off.
  • The grappling hook allows a lot more verticality.
  • Bestiary fills in as you fight new enemies.
  • Factions support allows you to play PvP online.
  • Craft and earn powerful weapons and armor from mages.
  • Multiple choice encounters.
  • Handy file bug integration.

Salt And Sacrifice Review Cons:

  • No touchscreen support.
  • The tutorial approach taken is limited and often missed, it’s pop-ups but you have to hit the very small stakes in the ground for them to appear.
  • Hard to see enemies.
  • Difficulty spikes.
  • The main hub is so large it’s easy to get lost or confused.
  • Doesn’t offer any in-game achievements.
  • It takes a while to get used to the gameplay loop and controls.
  • Does a bad job of introducing new players into the world.

Related Post: Rogue Legacy 2 Review (Steam)

Salt And Sacrifice:

Official website.

Developer: SKA Studios

Publisher: SKA Studios

Store Links –

Nintendo

Summary

The original Salt and Sanctuary showed the gaming world how a 2D soulslike game can and should be, it maintained everything you came to expect, and like I said it nailed it. Here in the sequel, everything is bigger and more brutal than before! You have a huge hub world with shops, important people, and more, the locations are definitely bigger and feel more like an adventure and not a case of following breadcrumbs until the boss fights. They have introduced new mechanics like Mages who are boss fights that take over the place with you fighting them at different times in different places. The runes idea for areas is one that seems OK but could have more meaning to it as time goes on, online Co-op is here and so is local so it’s never been easier to Co-op. I’m bad at these games and continue to be but in this game, I can get a lot further and feel myself getting better more than ever. Honestly, it’s like a whole new game, and only the general atmosphere and aesthetic remain from the first game. I think that outside of the big boy soulslike, Salt and Sacrifice is one of the best soulslike games out there and the perfect fit for the Nintendo Switch.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!