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You begin as a sailor shipwrecked on the Isle of Salt. You're on a mission to save some princess. Naturally, there's lore and characters talking in riddles, yet that's all you need to know. I took a liking to this game immediately due to its responsive controls - that's something a trailer can't convey. Loved it shortly. Love at first... not sight, I didn't even like the look before playing... at first goresplosion - definitely! Blood splatters and enemy torsos flying off their legs after I hit them with a gigantic morning star have sold me right off the bat. The executions are delightful, too! Soon, I learned to appreciate the grimy setting as it revealed its sights macabre. From rundown villages and foggy heights of abandoned fortresses to pitch-black dungeons with stairs going down for days, I relished in Salt's atmosphere and its epic music. Its style is unsophisticated yet uniform. Sure, the puppet-like animation is budgetary, but good particle effects and punchiness offset it. Various equipment that displays on your character's model never gets old, yet somehow I still looked like a bum by the end. As for the issues, I sometimes experienced baffling framedrops. Too slight to be bothered, too weird to ignore. Ooh, how dare they have mild technical problems. That's the extent of my rage, let's move on.
Heights
Genre-wise, think Hollow Knight with Dark Souls' deliberation. It's a metroidvania first, involving mandatory abilities required to progress. You're gonna obtain a slick moveset by the end, being able to walk on ceilings in certain areas, wall jump, air dash. It's also a soulslike since you get your sanctuaries for bonfires, salt as souls you can level up with or lose on traditionally quick death, upgradeable gear as an incentive for exploration, and stamina-based combat with a trusty roll as your saving grace. Not the only one, for some attacks are best avoided by jumping. When it comes to your means of offence, there are plenty of weapons, some sporting interesting combos or special moves. Not as intricate as Dark Souls, but let's face it: there, the battles are also 2-dimensional with rare exceptions, quite literally. You could fight in DS from a top-down perspective, couldn't you? While it's obvious that the metroidvania aspect took the wheel, Salt's combat is good enough. It's not that easy to master. And when you do, you still never feel safe. I mostly mean normal enemies who can put you in a world of pain if you aren't careful. At times, there's no escaping a wombo-combo, a tricky ability, or a malicious placement. I respect such an encounter design that makes you think before attacking. Also, f#ck them unicorns with a blowtorch.
But nothing killed me as often as heights. Since the game is a platformer at its core, expect many frustrating falls. However, as I've said before, the controls are responsive enough to make traversal and fighting fun ordeals to master. I enjoyed platforming the most because it spiced up the main course, that being the exploration of this game's vast interconnected world. Filled to the brim with secret walls, shortcut porn, and branching paths, typically leading to several bossfights you can tackle in your preferred order. The biomes they inhabit are curiously themed if not that spectacular visually. Just check out the names: The Festering Banquet, Red Hall of Cages, Mire of Stench... Don't you wanna be there right now? A reductionist would claim these are just sets of the same old platforms in different colour schemes, but I think the authors managed to imbue each area with a unique charm. More importantly, unique monsters. Considering how sprawling and intricately looped locations can be, I could surely use a map to orient myself. Alas, there's none, so I had to rely on the rare landmarks and my own mental chart. As accurate as a treasure map drawn by a blind child. Following that map, I lost my souls left and right, getting killed in every dark corner of the world I couldn't always find again.
Dips
And I enjoyed my freedom to do so! Both in terms of RPG elements and the joys of enduring the hardships of a free-roaming adventure. The former are rather basic, so I won't even stop at them for too long. You get your boring skill tree where you invest in nodes that give you stats and class upgrades, allowing you to use better stuff. No interesting perks or anything. Mage, str, faith, dex builds. Flexible, if standard. Be wary, respec points are rare. I played as a paladin, using no shield, relying on one-handed weapons and cleric buffs. Not weak, nor peak. The progression system is nothing to write home about, yet the rest is regulated by plentiful gear and consumables, making it serviceable. Powerful gear, magic, and game-changing rings are dispensed at just the right intervals. Finding a well-hidden stash never ceases to be a cause for celebration. Good stuff. Two things that hinder exploration are wounds and stamina fatigue. Between the bonfires, your health and stamina bars caps lower the more you swing your weapon or take damage. I wouldn't say that dubious addition is crippling since it can be easily mitigated. Just worthless. Much like the real stinkers of the show.
Yeah, we're going for the bosses. Most bosses were a cakewalk even for a scrub like me. I was waiting for them to get punishing, forcing me to learn my class and enemy patterns. It didn't happen, they only got tankier. Some had adds, some had instakill combos, but nothing interesting. There's a ton of bosses, alas, most of them have blurred from my memory. Their mechanics are paper-thin, they all sport extremely limited patterns, being weak to attack spam. At least killing them rewards you with ashes you can use for transmutation. A fancy word for converting your stick into a boss stick. I used it once or twice. In rare cases, you'll see badass designs like the Tree of Men. It is what it says it is, only less sexy. Some wear dubious names. Who called the Disemboweled Husk that? He was so much more than this! A pirate and... well, a pirate. And how can you forget some ghosts with an axe or a... big... brown... guy? Eventually, I stopped remembering their names. The Witch of the Lake was the first one to give me (bullet) hell. Her fight slapped. So did the final boss! And the dragon before him looks badass. But too little too late. Mere 3-5 out of 20+ bosses are decent. The rest popped like bubbles. But hey, not everyone plays to sweat and it makes for a good gateway drug.
Not Just Hollow Souls
Bad bosses and bland progression stop Salt two steps away from greatness. Two and a half if you count the lack of a map. That said, for the dimensions and budget Ska Studios had, some design flaws were to be expected. I think the game played to its strengths competently enough to look past its shortcomings. It's varied and gratifying in other regards, with exploration clearly being the top priority. Seeing how much thought went into building Salt's world, it doesn't seem to be a soulless cash-in on the trend I mistook it for initially. Instead, to me, it was a better substitute than most soulslikes I've seen. Or is it a wannabe? Can't say for sure, it depends on your preferences. I realise that it won't scratch the itch if bosses are the most important ingredient of Souls for you. I have respect for your position, it's understandable. But if you go in looking for a quality metroidvania with light soulslike elements and all the pleasant hustle packed in that combination, Salt and Sanctuary would be a bang for your buck. After all, I enjoyed the game for what it was, and I couldn't put it down for long until I was done. In my easily distracted world, such an engaging loop calls for a strong recommendation. All things considered, Salt is a hollow soulslike. But it's a rock-solid metroidvania.
My curator Big Bad Mutuh