Through the doorways and up the ladders. I fought off walkers, bats, and even werewolves as I climbed through a castle just trying to make it to the other side. There were no obstacles that could stop me until I came across the Sodden Knight. Within 4 swings of his sword, I was dead again.
Salt and Sanctuary by developer Ska Studios, makes me nostalgic for SEGA adventure games that I blew into the cartridge before sticking them in the console while maintaining the gameplay of a modern RPO. It took me some time and several quick deaths to get the hang of playing the game, but I still loved every second of it. The combination of the gameplay and stunning 2D animation made for a fantastic game that was easy to play for hours.
The animation in the game is simply amazing, and made for a very unique experience on the Xbox One without sacrificing any of the gameplay advantages that come with playing on a modern console. All of the characters and environments are hand drawn, and the attention to detail really shows in everything. At the beginning of the game, you customize a character and choose the class that suits your style. I went with a knight but there are 8 classes to choose from with different abilities. The characters are very customizable and offer a lot of options regardless of the class you choose. After the initial setup, you can buy upgrades and weapons during the game using salt and gold collected throughout the game. In addition to the characters themselves, the environments are beautiful and have a sense of scale that adds to the mystical tone of the game.
In addition to looking like a classic game, Salt and Sanctuary felt like a game I had played before. The controls are very natural and it didn’t take me long to start chaining together fighting moves for some interesting combos that made slaying the lower level enemies a lot easier. There were a few varieties of lower class enemies that included walkers, archers, wolves, bats, and the creatures made from the salt you leave behind. I was able to figure out the lower level enemies eventually with weapon upgrades, but the bosses humbled me.
Starting with the Sodden Knight and continuing with every boss in the game, they served as my biggest learning curve of the game. Some of the bosses crossed over from challenging into the territory of overpowered. However, there is a way to beat every boss in the game, but it will definitely come with a lot of trial and error. The good thing about this game though is that all the salt (the most important in game currency) is recoverable in your next life. All that work collecting salt and gold to upgrade your character can be gone in an instant, but Salt and Sanctuary built a bit of forgiveness into their game. Whenever your character gets killed by the lower level enemies such as a type of walker or bat then your salt is transformed into a unique enemy that if killed will return all the salt you lost back to you. If a boss kills you then returning and killing the boss will return all the salt they took from you, which comes in handy when your knight needs a better sword moving into the next level.
Overall, Salt and Sanctuary was an extremely fun game to play. It made me feel nostalgic for the adventure games that made me love playing video games in the first place while maintaining the good features of a modern game. Salt and Sanctuary achieved a rare and fantastic blend of contemporary and classic game elements that made for a fantastic RPO gaming experience.
9/10
Take a Look at the Salt and Sanctuary Trailer:
Xbox One Review
My first console was the original Playstation and I would play Twisted Metal every now and then but games didn't hook me until I played the original Halo at my friend's house. As soon as I picked up that controller, I knew I needed an Xbox and I had to have that game. Since those early Halo days, I've branched out and played any game I could find with a great story and memorable characters but Master Chief is still my favorite. @thenotoriousTGT on Twitter
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