Over the past few years, there were a lot of incredible games inspired by Dark Souls, often referred to as "Soulslike" games. Among them was 2016's action RPG designed in 2D, Salt and Sanctuary. Ska Studios last title was quite successful and had lots of replayability, thanks to the great depths of character builds, the amounts of secrets hidden in Salt and Sanctuary's creaks and crevices, and of course the speedrunning potential. Now, during the Summer Game Fest, came the announcement from the original creators of Salt and Sanctuary that another title is coming next year, called Salt and Sacrifice.
Salt and Sacrifice seems to retain some of the elements from its predecessor, including several classes and attributes, unique abilities and pieces of gear, and the signature 2D graphics from Salt and Sanctuary. Overall, Salt and Sacrifice seems to delve even deeper into classic RPG elements than the first game ever did, and that's thanks to an increased pool of stats/attribute to choose from, and also because of the classes showcased in the trailer. Character customization and the process of making a new character seems to be much more impactful in Salt and Sacrifice, and the main reason is that there are more and better options than in Salt and Sanctuary.
Salt and Sacrifice Looks Like an Improved Salt and Sanctuary
Salt and Sanctuary had eight classes, just like Salt and Sacrifice, but the starting class was not super impactful on the final builds all characters could use, thanks to the branching spherical skill tree shared by all classes. Another thing to note is that classes in Salt and Sanctuary felt pretty standard, meaning that even their names weren't as appealing as those shown today with Salt and Sacrifice. The Knight, the Paladin, the Pauper, the Mage, the Hunter, the Thief, the Chef, and the Cleric were in Salt and Sanctuary, whereas Salt and Sacrifice adds new classes like the Duelist and the Highblade.
Classes in Salt and Sanctuary also didn't provide boosts to stats, and what mainly differentiated them from one another was the starting gear. However, it's still too early to say for sure how this will change with Salt and Sacrifice.
Speaking of stats, Salt and Sacrifice features nine attributes versus the six of Salt and Sanctuary, and the character customization screen looks a lot like that of Dark Souls, which could bode well for the new sequel. Even the role bestowed upon players is going to differ in Salt and Sacrifice, as gamers will now be Marked Inquisitors on the hunt for the evil Mages that plague the land, some of which are shown in the new trailer. That's not all for this new action RPG platformer, and there are some other little things that likely will allow players to further change the looks, the background, and the playstyle of each character.
In Salt and Sacrifice, in fact, the character creation panel has more items than that of its predecessor, starting with Name and Class, and then including other things like "Crime," which is likely related to the criminal act committed by the Marked Inquisitor before the story begins. This trait may influence how the character is perceived by NPCs, what their goal is, and many other things. However, for now, this remains speculation; the game will release in 2022, which means that fans should keep an eye out for news in the future.
Salt and Sacrifice will release in 2022 for PS4 and PS5.