Salt and Sacrifice Review (Phranc)
A Prime Example Of "Mashing Genres Together Won't Automatically Make Things Better"
I fail to understand the thought process behind making one of the best indie souls-like into a monster-hunter-like. Actually, the game is labeled as "Monster-Hunter-like, Souls-like Metroidvania". I think to myself, maybe the developers find a way to mingle the merits from the three of them. After all, Salt And Sanctuary is a great souls-like metroidvania and probably the pioneer of this sub-genre. The result begs to differ, negatively. Salt and Sacrifice is a chimera. Developers borrow a lot of core ideas from the three genres, stitch them together, and somehow fail to breathe life into it. It's a shame because I really want to like this game. I like the iconic ska studio art style, and the animation is way smoother than Salt And Sanctuary. Everything else ruins the whole experience.
Things I Like About Salt And Sacrifice:
Minor Compliments
→The iconic ska art style.
→I like the mages and their lackeys' design.
→Unique and fancy weapons, armors and trinkets to craft.
→I guess Perfect Block is now a new standard for souls-like.
→Seeing mages fighting each other is oddly satisfying.
Things I Dislike About Salt And Sacrifice:
1. The Chimera Problem
Like I said before, mashing genres together won't automatically make the game fun to play. You need to have the right mechanic and design to glue the features together.
→In terms of monster-hunter-like: first, hunting mages does not feel good. Instead of you giving it all to take down a powerful being, the hunt plays out more like fighting the lackeys it summons until the mage stops running. The whole process before the showdown feels like a slog designing to stretch the length of the fight as much as possible; second, there is no real "hunting" involved. You find the residue the mage left behind, you accept the mission, and then you follow the guiding smoke till you find the culprit. No tracking. No collecting information. Just say yes to the mission and you are set; last, the most important part which was left behind, skills and set bonus each armor provides. I know the traditional level system and skill tree exist, but the lacking of those build varieties is such a missed opportunity to encourage players to hunt more mages and try out different build combinations.
→In terms of metroidvania: This is not even a downgrade, Salt And Sacrifice straight up ditches the level design in favor of the monster-hunter-like gameplay. None of the great design from previous title can be seen here. There is no actual mobility to unlock, and naturally there is no platforming or bosses' attacks to incentivize players to use those abilities more. The so-called gating abilities in this game are all just glorified keys to unlock shortcuts or activate hidden platforms. This issue won't be such hassle if the level design can properly use them. Alas, it doesn't.
→In terms of souls-like: this is more of a rant about design philosophy rather than gameplay mechanic. Often time when other games try to imitate the magic of the Souls-series, they always focus on the gameplay only. Of course gameplay is a core feature, but other things are just as important. Coherent item descriptions, logical enemy placements, environmental story-telling, the list goes on and on. Somehow Salt And Sacrifice throws everything away. Item descriptions of the equipment provides nothing vital clues or some interesting story. Most of them feel like they were assembled by random word generator. Bosses have no identity at all since they don't even drop their equipment when they're defeated, therefore no lore to read through. The Mages do not fare well either. Despite the cool design, their roaming nature and the lacking of dedicated levels make them more of elite mobs rather than significant bosses.
2. Other Complaints
→Locking all the weapon ability behind one or two stat requirement is not a good idea.
→Collecting resource to craft health potion does not fit souls-like.
→Enemies late-game deal absurdly high damage.
→The geyser/glider ability feels awkward to use.
→A proper map will make navigating the world less confusing and frustrating.
中文小簡評：
→什麼都要加一點的大雜燴，到頭來什麼都做不好的遊戲。
→真心不懂為何創造出首款獨立魂系類銀河系惡魔城的團隊，會把續作搞得一蹋糊塗。
→製作團隊的美工依然別緻。
→諸多巫師及其手下的設計特色十足。
→多樣奇特武器、護甲及配件供玩家製作。
→原來完美防禦已經是類魂的標配了。
→巫師間會短兵相接，隔岸觀火特別有趣。
→就類魔物獵人的部分，狩獵過程一點也不有趣、巫師在最終對決前只會刷小怪、裝備沒有專屬技能或搭配效果。
→就類銀河系惡魔城的部分，沒有實質技能解鎖，幾乎都是變相的鑰匙，關卡設計也只把這些技能用作開捷徑的工具而已。
→就類魂的部分，玩法有做到但其他特色都沒做好，道具敘述有講跟沒講一樣、敵人配置感覺較隨意、Boss和巫師沒有設計獨特的場景來烘托角色。
→所有武器技能一定要點信仰及特定配點才能用....
→類魂遊戲就不要設計什麼蒐集素材作補血道具了。
→遊戲後期每個敵人都能兩下秒你。
→降落傘詭異的難用。
→探索時沒地圖看很容易迷路。