Souls-like games truly are a dime-a-dozen these days. After the success of From Software’s flagship series, Dark Souls, and the subsequent smash hits Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and most recently Elden Ring, the genre is well established as one of the most dominant and popular flavours in the current market. Alongside these large, sprawling 3D beasts are a humble smattering of 2D games that echo the same game design sentiments: overcoming immense challenge, decisive gameplay, and cryptic world-building. One such game that stood out among the crowd in the 2010s Souls-like boom was 2016’s Salt and Sanctuary, a game that took the Dark Souls formula and spun it into a Metroidvania-styled package that worked stunningly. 6 years later and Ska Studios have put out their follow-up: Salt and Sacrifice.

I’ll cut right to the chase here: Salt and Sacrifice leaves a bit to be desired. Straying somewhat from the true Souls-like by diving deeper into the Metroidvania vibes and taking influence from Monster Hunter, the game fails to uphold the strength and impact that its predecessor achieved. Taken at face value, the game presents a captivating premise: the kingdom’s peace is threatened by the arrival of evil creatures of pure elemental malice: Mages. By joining an organisation called the Marked Inquisition, it is your job to hunt these Mages down and cease their incursion upon the lands.

The boss designs are varied and interesting, with a variety of elemental aspects strongly in play to encourage changing builds and crafting new weapons. While this can give some variety in your gameplay, Salt and Sacrifice seems to pigeonhole your character based on your initial class selection, which makes engaging in different playstyles difficult and somewhat locked away. Unlike some of the other behemoths of the genre, in which your character is a canvas for experimentation and trial-and-error, Salt and Sacrifice is lacking in this department.

Combat in Salt and Sacrifice will be very familiar to fans of the Metroidvania genre, with actual combos being quite simple and rudimentary while supplemented with various tools and ranged weapons. These include a bow, crossbow, and various items like firebombs and poisons. As the game takes from both Metroidvania and Souls-likes, the simple combat is quite challenging, and I often found myself relying on all the available tools to overcome the enemies in front of me. Difficult combat on a 2D plane is a struggle in and of itself, and I often found myself lobbing firebombs and firing arrows in the wrong direction as my inputs became rushed and frantic.

The game also conveys a level of grindiness and over-gathering of items that fails to ever really feel beneficial. Gaining levels requires hefty amounts of Salt, and crafting items never feels like it gives you the advantage I would have liked to have seen. Indeed, even after levelling up to 20 by the 2nd area of the game, I felt like everything still posed a major challenge.