In this review we will tell you about Salt and Sacrifice, the new sliding action RPG developed by Ska Studios
If you are a lover of soulslike maybe you will remember Salt and Sanctuarya particular indie title that was released in 2016 by Ska Studios. At the time the game was received in an extremely positive way and is now considered a must play for all lovers of the genre. Now Ska Studios is in the process of releasing Salt and Sacrifice, the sequel to his acclaimed action RPGand in this review we will talk about it in detail.
Magicians and the condemned
Despite technically being a sequel to Salt and Sanctuary, the history of this title is not directly related to that of its predecessor. In fact, in Salt and Sacrifice, players will play the role of a criminal who, due to his faults, was forced to become a Inquisitor. Inquisitors are individuals who are forced to hunt for wizards, ruthless individuals who use magic to gain power at the expense of human lives. These beings are really very powerful and, as if that weren’t enough, they cannot die unless their heart is completely destroyed. Confronting such enemies would be unthinkable for any human but luckily the Inquisitors are supported by the power of rito magivoroa particular ritual that allows them to come back to life after death.
Once your initiation as an Inquisitor is complete you will immediately be thrown into the action and you must immediately begin to deal with wizards and their aberrations. From this point on, you will have to hunt down one wizard after another and throughout your adventure the story will continue with a not too present narrative typical of the souls. This indirect style may not appeal to everyone but it still represents a really good choice to tell the desolate and fascinating world of Salt and Sacrifice. Furthermore, thanks to the absence of direct explanations and revelations, you will be pushed throughout your adventure to pay close attention to everything around you and, if you are careful enough, you can make disconcerting discoveries that can leave you speechless.
A Reworked Formula – Salt and Sacrifice Review
The gameplay behind Salt and Sacrifice it doesn’t stray far from that of its predecessor. The fights are still based on the stamina management and on dodge or parry enemy attacks with the right timing. The combat system has also remained almost unchanged, since once again you can only use some light or heavy attacks very simple and perform some combo basic alternating the two moves. In addition, the typical soulslike mechanic that causes you to lose all your salt (experience points) and silver (money) in the event of death has also remained.
Salt and Sacrifice, however, also introduces some Announcements very interesting. For example now Ranged weapons will have their own equipment slot and you will be able to use them in a more natural way during the clashes. Furthermore the spell system has been completely revised. In fact, now the traditional magic present in the first chapter no longer exists and has been replaced by runic abilitiesi.e. particular techniques that can be used by some specific weapons.
In addition also the management of objects consumables has changed significantly. In the first chapter your character had basic healing items available that regenerated automatically at each checkpoint, while in Salt and Sacrifice instead to restore most of your items you will need to collect the necessary materials. This change unfortunately represents a small one step back since, although resources are very abundant throughout the game world, very often you will end up running out of health or ammunition and will be forced to waste time to refuel.
Chaotic News – Salt and Sacrifice Review
In Salt and Sacrifice, bosses won’t always be standing in their arenas waiting for you, but very often you will have to be looking for them. In fact, exploring the game world you will often come across the mangled remains of the victims of the wizards and examining them you can start hunting them. As soon as you are on their trail you will see a trail on the screen that points towards the place where they hide and following it you can easily track them down. Once you reach a wizard, however, you will not be able to kill him immediately, but first you will have to fight with him and his minions until it moves to another area. During a hunt you will have to repeat this process several times, until your quarry is cornered and you can face it in a real bossfight.
The mechanics of wizard hunting is very important in Salt and Sacrifice, since killing these creatures will be essential to empower your PC and especially for access more advanced areas. Unfortunately, however, chasing these creatures will stop being fun after a short time and it will get more and more frustrating as you progress through the game.
This happens because during the intermediate stages of the hunt, some extremely chaotic situations in which you will have to face the boss, his minions, the enemies that normally inhabit that area and also any environmental traps at the same time. As if that were not enough then once you have passed the introductory phase of the game you will often end up with meeting more than one magician at the same time in the same area. In these situations, unfortunately, you will have practically no sensible way to deal with enemies and you will be forced to wait for the monsters to slaughter each other. until one of the two decides to change area.
Mage Hunter – Review Salt and Sacrifice
Salt and Sacrifice is an RPG and like any title of this genre, it will be fundamental here too boost your character to move forward. You can of course use the salt for to level up and acquire skill points, but to improve your PG it will also be essential find new equipment and upgrade them. The first installment of the series placed a lot of emphasis on exploration and as a result most of the game’s weapons and armor were hidden around the world. In Salt and Sacrifice, on the other hand, although it is still possible to find equipment by exploring, the best ones will be obtainable only through the crafting.
By killing the wizards you can in fact get hold of numerous materials which will be usable at the forge for create unique weapons, armor and accessories. Obviously it will be very difficult for you to be able to get all the materials you need at once and consequently, to create all the equipment you want, you will have to fight the same wizard several times by starting secondary hunting missions. All this creates a farming-based gameplay loop very similar to that of Monster Hunter and other games of that kind, far removed from Salt and Sacrifice from its predecessor. While some fans of the first chapter may not like it, this change in itself is not bad. Unfortunately, however, as we have already told you in the previous paragraph, hunting wizards is an extremely frustrating activity and consequently it won’t be pleasant to have to fight them more than once.
Simple and Effective – Salt and Sacrifice Review
The art style of Salt and Sacrifice is very simple, but despite this it is really very beautiful to look at. Compared to the first chapter there were also gods significant improvements regarding above all attention to detail and animation. Also design of the enemies have improved significantly, as the creatures you face will be extremely varied and well characterized. Moreover, thanks to this simple style, the game manages to be extremely light, maintaining a very stable framerate even during the most hectic moments and on not too performing platforms.
During our test (which took place on PC), however, we unfortunately came across various issues. For example we had problems with spawns of some creatures and with and IA enemies, who often ended up repeating the same actions over and over again. The most serious problem we have encountered, however, concerns the audio compartment. In fact, very often we ran into a glitch that generated a annoying audio distortion which could not be fixed except by restarting the game.
Conclusions
Now it’s time for our review where we take stock of Salt and Sacrifice. This title may seem very similar to its predecessor on the surface, but it actually features many changes which make it a very different product. The combat system is now faster and more immediate, the management of spells has changed completely and above all it has been introduced a strong farming component linked to hunt for wizards. Unfortunately however this new mechanic also represents the biggest weakness of the game. In fact, the hunts for wizards will always be extremely chaotic and frustratingthereby significantly damaging your experience.
This issue, however big, doesn’t automatically make Salt and Sacrifice a bad game. The title in fact he will still be able to entertain you during all the other fights and, thanks to his fascinating and mysterious story, will be able to take you without too much effort until you reach the final. Additionally, Salt and Sacrifice is fully playable in cooperative. So if you have a friend to play with you can make this experience much lighter and more fun.
Salt and Sacrifice is available now for PC, PS4 and PS5. If you are interested in staying up to date with all the news on the world of video games and much more, then continue to always follow us here on TechGameWorld.com. Furthermore, in case you want to buy the game at an advantageous price, we suggest you take a look at the catalog of Instant Gaming.
A good title with problems
Points in favor
- Fascinating story
- Immediate and satisfying combat system
- Stable frame rate
- Very fun online multiplayer
Points against
- The hunt for wizards is extremely chaotic and frustrating
- Some technical problems