Salt And Sacrifice review – Soulsborne in 2D

metro.co.uk:

The sequel to Salt And Sanctuary is another impressive attempt at a 2D version of Dark Souls, but how does it fare post-Elden Ring?

Now that Elden Ring is out we’re going to need a new term for Soulsborne games, because changing it to Soulsbornering just sounds like some twee German village. Or perhaps the term will stay, because everyone already uses it to mean a game that is in the same style as Dark Souls or Bloodborne, whether it’s by FromSoftware or not. There have been many such copycats in the over 10 years since Demon’s Souls and while some have come relatively close to the same quality none have pushed the boundaries of the design to create something uniquely their own.

Salt And Sacrifice is in very much the same position, as while its 2D artwork and gameplay makes it look very different to a regular Soulsborne it sticks closer to the established template than most. A change of perspective can often make all the difference though and while, like predecessor Salt And Sanctuary, this offers almost no new ideas of its own, at least it borrows from the best.

There are some new features, such as a grappling hook and an interesting new approach to boss battles, but overall this is just Salt And Sanctuary again, only with different level design and improved graphics. In other words, it’s a sequel just like any other, although if you are already a fan of the first game that doesn’t guarantee you’ll like this one.

One area where Salt And Sacrifice does diverge from the Soulsborne formula is that the story isn’t quite so obscure. It’s not completely transparent as to what’s going on, but basically mages are causing trouble raising the dead and conjuring monsters and you’re press-ganged into a special inquisition made up of