izigame.me

I'm writing this while currently replaying the game for a 3rd time, after a year of the game having been out or so, and getting it on steam after initially having it on Epic.
to be clear: I never had an issue personally with Ska taking epic's money, I fully support the decision, money is being given to a team I like a lot.
but
This is a game I feel nothing but contempt for.
I loved the designs, art direction, and vibe of Salt & Sanctuary, ever since I played it on the xbox as a kid.
I loved charlie & I loved vampire smile, primarily for the art, the style just felt so at home to me.
This game feels like it was made by a completely different artist, not just one that'd grown up, but one that'd changed fundamentally. From the colors, to the design of the enemies, even the bosses; everything feels- IS weaker.
I feel there are so many changes made in Sacrifice that almost come across as a slap to the face for someone that loved what made Sanctuary unique compared to other 2d metroidvania souls-likes. I can't even begin to understand why some changes were made at all.
One that immediately stood out to me was the removal of parrying, in favor of perfect blocking, a much stingier and far less rewarding option. Parrying gave you a since of earned empowerment, a skill you'd hone with each enemy you fight, tagged with the reward of a finisher that gave you a massive lead in damage; this felt good. Perfect blocking, a significantly more time consuming and riskier option, would never be able to compete due to it's requirement being all the more demanding. Is there any reason this change needed to happen? All it's resulted in is some enemies, very few albeit, feeling mind numbing to fight due to their low attack cooldown. I suppose I could spend more time learning the perfect block timings on some of these enemies, but grueling through learning the timings and the amount of times I'd need to perfect block, just to do the damage I'd do in 2 hits anyways, is a little ridiculous? I felt similarly about elden rings approach to parrying, with the introduction of some bosses requiring multiple parries, albeit with that instance you are granted a moment to retaliate inbetween micro-parries.
I feel I could tangent on about the removal of parries for a while, I guess I just liked the feeling it gave a lot and miss it's existence in this game. Another issue I take with the game is it's bosses, not mages, the bosses you fight in every area (like 2 every area...?) which have no reward to speak of. I remember first fighting the spider with the glaive in the desert, and thinking I'd get her glaive that has red lightning infused magic and play around with it, only to beat her and be rewarded with nothing but a single upgrade material I didn't even need. Not a single boss in this game, not including the first boss you fight in the lake, has any kind of gear to be rewarded to the player? Also, that first boss in the lake, a significant downgrade to the sodden knight.
On the topic of boss design, all of them are incredibly weak and seemingly thoughtless in their design it feels. Maybe it's meant to capture a specific mythological aesthetic, but it had gone over my head throughout my time with the game. Almost every boss in Sanctuary, for me, was incredibly memorable and fun to fight, even if not all of them had a reward to speak of. Their designs carried the experience and made the fights all worth it, yet in Sacrifice it feels as if several bosses lack any kind of strong, imposing detail to them that makes them either memorable or interesting. Especially the final boss. The final boss, felt very heavily like it was a knock off version of the first games final boss, with a significantly worse design, worse music, and no where NEAR as amazing a set-up as the first games. Walking through the upside down salt city to the final boss in Sanctuary felt incredible, it felt like I'd entered a palace of impossibility, sending all sorts of feelings up and down my body when I'd first reached it. I loved this moment with the first game, this final moment.
I can hardly remember the final bosses design, let alone the introduction to them, as I recall it feeling abrupt and out of the blue, like I'd just been dropped into the final bosses room while still thinking I was only going through another normal area with nothing special to it. This was beyond disappointing after all this time.
I just hopped in a call with my friend to play divinity OS2, and I can't bring myself to care to finish writing this.
I love Ska and their work, but this is a stain in my eyes that I'd rather forget about.
It makes me happy to see them still updating Sanctuary after all this time, adding new features to it, and I can only hope this game will continue to receive updates, maybe even some massive changes brought in that bring the combat and feel of the game closer to the first some day? That's a bit of a pipe dream.
Please keep working on new things Ska and don't let this game be the last one. I believe in your team still, I know you have it in you.