Salt and Sanctuary | In-Depth Review

[@Jaimas]

Fun Fact: If you get killed by the Queen of Smiles, your corpse will appear as one of the trophy bodies in another player's game world. This actually occurs for many bosses, including Carsejaw (other players' bodies will be impaled on spikes), and the Sodden Knight (they'll be hanging from the gallows outside his castle).

[@turntapeover5749]

These are literally like bloodstains in Dark Souls. They appear in way more places than boss fights. And the statue has the emblem of your creed on it.

[@vulcainnn4873]

Finally a lore video about Salt And Sanctuary, even if it's a 1h30 video and i'm not english, I'm sure it can only be good

[@Jadedinu]

Sorry my salty friend but it's 74% analysis here :( Coopdeville has some lore vids although I'm loath to report it's also in english: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnTCm4Ctmb-VqJI

[@armandogavilan1815]

One of the best games ever.

[@Replica2901]

The world is influenced so much by ASOIAF, not just the Greyjoys, and that's awesome. For me, the story and the world gripped me so much more than Dark Souls. In Dark souls and elden Ring everything seems so grandiose and unreal. I love revisiting this game from time to time, such a gem.

[@monkebro1820]

I thought I had done everything there was to do in the game, but then this video popped up. I honestly didn't know that Mal and The Forgotten King existed. I beat every other boss, including Cran. Whelp, time to go back and whoop some ass or have my ass whooped. You hit the nail on the head with builds. WHY AREN'T BOWS VIABLE IN SOULS GAMES? I just want to cosplay Legolas and feel cool with a bow. Seriously though, I've beaten SnS 3 times. First time was a magic build, second was a strength build and third was a dex build. Greatswords feel op from beginning to end. Magic takes a bit of time to make it strong, but once you get there, it can be broken. Dex felt strong but it wasn't broken in my humble opinion. My 4th playthrough which I've yet to complete is a ranged build. Crossbows, Bows and Guns. Oh Lord. This has not been a fun experience. I just wish to have a Souls like game that has viable ranged builds. Actually, if you've played Code Vein, Bayonet builds are pretty fun and can deal high damage. But yeah. This was a well done videogame critique. I'm interested to see the growth of this channel. Edit: You did mention music for a little bit nearing the end of your video. Not going to lie, the background music when your traversing was pretty nice, however my biggest gripe was lack of boss themes. The only boss that it's own unique theme was The Nameless God. The same beginning guitar riff with the chorus followed after is all you hear in boss fights from The Unspeakable Deep to Cran. Music is an important part of games, especially for bosses. It can set up the vibe and it can give more personality to a boss. Not having unique themes for each boss was a missed opportunity and I hope that they call have more diverse boss music in their following games.

[@Jadedinu]

Hey thanks so much for watching the video and the comment! Yes it's a huge game which is surprising given the small team but I think Ska really wanted to have this sort of replay value in the game. And totally agree it's a shame they didn't have time to flesh out the builds. I do wonder if this was fixed in Salt and Sacrifice. Interesting about the music! To be honest I'm not personally as interested in music as other aspects of game design so I tend to miss those points. But thanks for bringing it up and hope you stick around and see this channel (hopefully) grow haha

[@nicholasbarton3184]

Oh yes, the sea gods have blessed us with more Jaded. Great job with this, makes me want to go back and play it again.

[@Pingotron]

me acabo de percatar que le invertí una hora y media para ver un video tan bien hecho y completo como este y tan solo tiene 99 me gusta y el canal 79 suscriptores, lo cual me parece terriblemente injusto. buen video y buena reseña

[@Jadedinu]

It was fun to make but alot of work, thanks so much for the kind comment - cool to see other fans of the game!

[@justsomejojo]

Personally, I thought it was really refreshing to have a metroidvania for once that did NOT rely on mobility so much for its combat. I generally don't play platformers and metroidvanias much because they usually extend beyond my dexterity no matter how often I try (Hollow Knight is one of the hardest games I played in my eyes and it's purely because of the way it demands constant mobility in combat). The only reason I even tried Sanctuary was because of the very build focused challenge videos of the Backlogs. It's interesting to hear the platformer side of the coin, because I basically just view the game as an action RPG that happens to be 2D. I absolutely agree on build balance btw. Like you, I just happened to stumble on the Kureimoa on my first playthrough and that was that - the game felt pretty easy (for the most part) after that, EVEN though, looking back at that character, I was actually fat rolling (kinda crazy to think about). The only other builds that ever even came close to feeling as powerful were Flintlock + Flanged Mace (because guns are weird in this game) and a general magic build. Everything else felt vastly less powerful. Barely changed in the fanmade Enhanced mode either (I replayed the game again recently to try it and 2H weapons still slap)

[@chasegaetze4507]

Exactly my thoughts. Hollow knight was ridiculous on the platforming. I love the fact that this game just focused on combat. I heard they even rebalanced the game like 6 months ago but yeah the 2H sword is just plain OP. I tried the war hammers as well but seems more enemies are resistant towards blunt than slashing.

[@justsomejojo]

​@@chasegaetze4507 The rebalance a few months ago is the Enhanced mode I briefly mentioned. It's actually made by a modder as far as I know but endorsed by the devs. It adds back in a few items that were lost before (most notably the Twinmetal Ring which powers up your unarmed combat) and has general number readjustments to make certain weapons more viable. Doesn't really challenge the general meta (2H weapons still slap hard) but it makes stuff like whips actually worth using

[@Corrupted]

Very excited to watch this, I recently finished it for the first time and thought it was "just alright" - can't wait to hear other people's detailed opinion on it

[@tomvandl]

If you consider, that it was developed by just two guys, it is a 10/10. But it has it flaws. I don't know, why they left out a map. You can get lost so easyly when you arrive at an optional area and don't know how to progress after it. The upgrade systems were also not that good. Further more, I was not able to make a "bonfire" in two (!) areas, so I was unable to level up and lost souls for about 20 level-ups. In depth, I would give it a very good 7/10.

[@Justzero3000]

Servus Corrupted dachte nicht,dass ich dich bei dieser Art von Video finde.

[@Scowleasy]

It’s unreal how little health Carsejaw has, and it was never addressed until the freaking enhanced edition, years after release

[@WeeWooJoker]

Just finished the game and found your review, you deserved much more attention with the amount of effort you put into this video

[@Jadedinu]

Hey thank you for the kind words. I took a bit of a break to focus on another channel after making this video because of the amount of effort but I'll probably return to this channel at some point

[@happylindberg923]

I've never felt so called out in my life. Catboys is however so unreasonably correct.

[@vladi3862]

a really solid review, didn't agree with you at many points but i always understood where you came from. and i think you missed the ronin cran boss, who is kind of similar to artorias from moveset and design

[@alextalker5979]

The witch just runs one of them Noita machine gun wand builds, I swear 🤣

[@wtflolmau]

Excellent and detailed video! I would like to add a few points: My biggest critisim of fromsoft games and those who imitate them is they do a terrible job explaining the game's mechanics to the player. In s&s this is sometimes to the degree it seems on purpose to maliciously misslead players. For example: the Knight class advertised as a strength class but given a dex starting weapon. Combos are also never explained properly. Enemy resistances to strike/slash damage is never hinted and new player will struggle to figure out why they are getting stomped. Gj on putting this together!

[@nate_d376]

I'm hoping you come back to YT. Great video. Just started playing this game too.

[@Jadedinu]

Hey thanks for the kind comment. I actually started another channel called exits examined which is taking up most of my time, but I do hope to come back to this channel at some point. Hope you enjoyed the game though, it's great

[@CJMaserflash]

Nah dude, you have a lot of vertical attack options in this game. Get creative especially with magic of all kind. This game has its own identity, interact with the game more and you'll see. Also the torch isn't tied to your inventory, it's the down button

[@TyuErt]

while I agree with you overall, I think he meant more like how you lose your shield or otherwise have to one-hand your weapon when you've got a torch out

[@CJMaserflash]

@TyuErt That's nothing new though, most RPGs have that. I understand the frustration of it, it definitely sucks giving it up but then you also get spells and all that shit to substitute the torch

[@turntapeover5749]

You think big swords are OP and then you try Dagger/Gun and youre like... Ok yeah THIS is OP. 😂 I think the problem is more than some builds get earlier ceilings, like strength, and some who get late game ceiling, like Dex and Wisdom. I have made all builds possible and thats the problem I encountered. Some builds are gonna breeze through early game and then hit a wall late game and some will feel like you hit with a wet noodle for half the game and then suddenly they get the right spell, a good staff and you destroy everything before they can even approach you. Also, I think its very hard to gauge bosses difficulty until you get to NG+ or NG++ where the builds feel a bit more on equal footing.

[@_Sidney_Santos_]

Very Good

[@Jadedinu]

Thanks alot! These take a ton of work and it's good to hear people out there in the real world like em!

[@ObsessiveBadguy]

I know you said that you dont even enjoy 2D sidescrollers but if you're looking for something that does the whole soulslike metroidvania thing then I cant recommend Blasphemous 1 and 2 any higher than the highest, 1 sorta leads towards the soulslike side while 2 more towards metroidvania but theres absolutely aspects of both in both games. Coupled that with the excellent combat and bosses it might just be what you were looking for in some of the areas you found this one lacking.

[@Corrupted]

+1, I thought blasphemous was quite a lot better than Salt, haven't even played 2 yet

[@ObsessiveBadguy]

@@Corrupted Its absolutely worth it if you enjoyed the first one, tho until theres any DLC or expansion for 2 I feel like you can get more out of the first with its various NG+ and challenge runs, especially if you're playing on PC and are into MODs and the like, but 2 is still absolutely a fantastic game and should be experienced

[@KingOppSanti]

There was two bosses I didn’t know about and I beat the game 3 times!

[@danielossaconcha7400]

I loved the huntmen i suffered them but I got a lot of cool moments with them😊 😎 The bone boys where kinda worse I think but when you get into the moment they were like an actual teleporting enemy would be. The ghost where nice for me. I had fun killing without seeing them. I didn’t like the kid mommies though. The knight type enemies were really awesome. I pretended to challenge them a lot. Is this review after the enhanced update?

[@vladi3862]

such a good game

[@CJMaserflash]

Did you miss the wall jump?

[@mpartner43]

I bought S&S on a whim way back after watching a trailer on PS4. I rarely play it anymore not because I didnt like it, but because I played it so damn much and saw literally everything in it multiple times that its just boring now. One of my fav games of all time honestly.

[@Polybox]

Sorry to say this man, but I think the writing in this video seems really sloppy overall and just bad in some places. A lot of points to make. I'll just list them as I go on. (Yes I know I'm quite late but I just discovered this video after getting back into the game so why not?) (This is a huge comment but it's about a huge video so I thought it necessary. It's gonna be broken up into two parts) First of all, I don't really understand you problem with bringing up dark souls. Why is that taboo, especially when talking about a game that took massive inspiration from it? Do you think it's played out and that's why you don't wanna mention it? Next: you can piss right off with your concept of "reskinned enemies". You never explain what this means to you. I see reskins as the same enemy except colored differently and with different stats. Maybe an additional move or two. The closest thing to this in S&S are probably the drowned bandits, soldiers and so on in the early game. Those I can accept you calling that. Pretty much all the others you call reskins I cann nonsense. Like the thing of Arms: you say they're just a reskin of medium sized enemies. First of all, which would that be? What enemy is even close to the thing of Arms? Second: you never explain what a unique enemy actually is to you. But regardless, how is that not the thing of Arms? They have unique attacks and don't share any of their graphics or animations. What's a reskin about that? They're pretty the only enemies that have both melee, grab and ranged attacks. These kind of strangely specific and badly developed points make it seem like you're stretching for things to point out and criticize. I don't really get it. Speaking of enemies: Another notable one is with the invisible whisper men of the dome. You say they're difficult to predict due to their flying movement although there's kind of a way to make them visible. Like, dude, that is literally the point. Don't act like that's some obscure workaround. They're invisible. Of course they're difficult to predict. Undersight is not some hidden mechanic that most people will miss. The way you put it, it sounds like one really has to dig to find the Undersight when in reality, it's even less offensive than the ghosts in Dark Souls. There's vials of the stuff right before the Whispermen. They even have "sight" in the name right as you face invisible enemies. Additionally, there are both spells and prayers with he same effect. Plus they're not even completely invisible. What even is the problem here? Again, you never elaborate and develop the point. Little rant on my part: I think you missed the point about the forced kneeling before the nameless god. Sure your precious edgy, badass character wouldn't kneel before any god. But that is the point, isn't it? Being forced to? Your char literally has to kneel when recovering from a fall like that. It's not a matter of agency or breaking character. If anything, it's about him braking his ankles. Really an insignificant point but it stuck out to me lol. A common thing you say is that bosses are easily solved by just rolling through and attacking. I get that can be somewhat formulaic but honestly, what else are you going to do? This is how it works in every game of this kind (As is Souls-likes, not metroidvanias), you dodge their attacks and punish them. Not sure what you think the player might do otherwise. I mean there's always the option of either tanking with a shield or staying out of range with magic or arrows. But for your specific build yes, dodging really is the only option. That's the path you chose and I don't see why you're bringing it up as some sort of criticism when there were indeed alternatives you didn't take. You say that due to it being a sidescroller, we lose an entire dimension making combat simpler and therefore a bit dull. Except there's actually the vertical dimension. Sure, it technically exists in 3D games such as the Souls series but really, it's never utilized at all. That's somewhat true for S&S too but sometimes you can actually dodge attacks by jumping over them. That is an option and a profitable one at that since you can still attack during it. I guess you just never tried it. Also, what the hell do you mean with your concept of a dance back and forth that isn't reactive? Aside from bloodborne maybe, there's hardly any boss in video game history where the player actually takes the initiative. Where are all the bosses that you don't play reactively around? Certainly not in dark souls, Castlevania or hollow knight that you also like to bring up. This just seems like something you made up in order to strengthen this point. Another thing about bosses: you say none of them have second phases. This cracked me up because you yourself say that they indeed switch up their move sets. Sure, they don't transform or whatever but neither do Souls bosses. In fact, considering you call this a staple of the genre, I can hardly think of any multi-stage fights in any of the souls games. This is personal, but I'd take many bosses with dynamic move sets over a few transforming bosses any day of the week.

[@Polybox]

(Part 2) I think your points about game/build balance are kinda valid, although it's really only great swords that are overtuned. Magic can be as well, sure, but that's really in all games of this kind and there is a lot of micromanaging that goes along with it and presents its own challenges. But really, no build or equipment is underpowered in any way. It's all viable and you're never gonna lack in output. Maybe with bows you will but then, they're ranged which provides its own advantage. Pretending like everyone who doesn't run magic or great swords will regret their choice is ridiculous. In fact, I've recently watched some challenge runs of this game. And pretty much across the board the takeaway was something along the lines of "wow, I can't believe how viable and fun that thing was. The game totally works, even with these obscure way I play it in". Not very relevant to bring up, I know. But it is an interesting observation. And also, there's about 20 grey pearls to be found in the game. Do not tell me resetting 20 levels isn't enough to tweak a build in order to mitigate mistakes or minmax considering most characters will be around level 80 when finishing the game. Let's be real: if you're inexperienced and mess up to the point where you require an entire build swap mid way through, you'll have problems in literally any RPG. You also say you're likely going to stick to a certain weapon type throughout the entire game when mentioning combos. If that's the case I'd think it takes an exceptionally dim witted person to still mess up their build, wouldn't you say? Not sure I agree with you assessment on platforming. I've never experienced it not working as intended, aside from some hard light brand platforms being a little smaller than they seem. It seems like you're just lamenting that you're not playing hollow knight. This is supposed to be a 2D version of dark souls and a Super Mario type jump'n'run system would have felt very out of place. Yes, there is fall damage. Yes, dropping from 30 meters will kill you. But really, the game is pretty generous with the height of drops you can survive. The watching woods are a challenging area, yes. Does that mean platforming in this game is bad? No. It means you haven't gotten used to it at this point. Again, it works and I'd argue it shows just the right amount of restraint in that it still facilitates a 2D Metroidvania game while following the Dark Souls formula and keeping the appropriate aesthetic and atmosphere. If anything I'd agree with your statement that the game could've used a lot more of this stuff but you seem to be contradicting yourself in claiming to both dislike the platforming and wanting more of it. I suppose your statement in the end "I don't even like sidescrollers" explains a lot. Somewhat related to the platforming: I'm kinda sad you didn't bring up how incredibly open ended this game is. By this I mean that at pretty much any point in the game you have a wide variety of options on which areas and bosses to tackle and when. If you want, you can travel to the dome right after the castle of storms and carry on to get the dart brand from the dried king. It's not a late game brand at all. Even in the early game; after the sodden knight you can choose to fight either the queen of smiles, the alchemist or the cyclops. Each has its own benefits and routes they open up. The reason the sunken keep has two bosses back to back is because you technically only need to beat one of them. The game gives you options. Even the mage creed as well as the order of the betrayer in the pitchwoods can be discovered quite early, as soon as you get the dart brand. At that point, it's actually possible to carry on into the alkemancery and finish the game. With this context it's easy to see why the balance of bosses can vary a bit. Some of them can be quite tough or easy depending on when you fight them. This may be a problem for some, but to me, this freedom is one of the things that makes this game so special. It blows even Dark Souls out of the water entirely when it comes to this. A small note here as an example of sloppy writing: the wich of the lake and the unskinned/architect are not back to back bosses. There's an entire area separating them and a tough one at that. What's back to back about them? On another note: there's this weird point you bring up where the equipment is not varied enough for you. Where armors seem generic and not unique enough. You say they vary in stats and that's it, which doesn't quite cut it for you. I don't know what this means. They all look distinct and have their own pros and cons. This is the same as in most games including the Souls series. You also say they lack in special abilities. I assume you mean stuff like the dusk crown in Dark Souls boosting sorcery? Well, S&S actually has stuff like this where some armor pieces boost your attributes or give you other bonuses. I don't know what more you can reasonably expect. That's another weirdly specific complaint you don't develop at all. This kind of stuff is why it feels like you're just grasping at straws to have something to criticize. A few more small points: You say that weapon types/their combos are somewhat limited. Another point I don't understand as none of the games you reference even has any sort of combos in the first place. and this isn't Devil may Cry or the dishwasher where flashy combos contribute to the flair of the game so I don't know why you're missing combos of all things. Another nitpick: you repeatedly mention how dark and oppressive the world and atmosphere feel but then also state you didn't feel the world to be hostile when contrasting it with the sanctuaries. Just another small contradiction that makes it harder to listen to your video. Also: no, charms do not increase stamina regen or grant resistances. This ist just wrong and, once again, looks like bad writing. That all said, I do appreciate the work you put into this and think the video is fun for what it is. I may have seemed overly negative but that's just because the things I mentioned just kept me from enjoying this video. You call it an in-depth review yet, as you may have noticed, my main complaints boil down to a lack of depth in your points. Let's just say I want people to be better and so I don't hold back on criticism. I hope I offered a somewhat helpful perspective and wasn't being to rough. I'm subscribing because I do like you channel ethos and believe you're capable of producing truly amazing stuff. Looking forward to what's to come!

[@odinetsthepale6581]

Salt and Sacrifice will be disappointing

[@Night_Owl_Noah]

Very disappointing. Yo, I respect the fact they tried to do new things, even if I didn't enjoy the decisions they made. Game fell flat

[@slammurai6492]

I just beat Sacrifice and thought it was super mid which sucked cause I love Sanctuary. I went back and played Sanctuary a bit to make sure I wasn't gaslighting myself and Sanctuary just feels so much better to play lmao

[@bizzzzzzle]

I started, got halfway and quit. Mages bland and repetitive and actual bosses are even more bland…

[@zacharydobbins6267]

I loved it myself, find each mage cool design and each feel unique in how they look and act. Though I did wish there was more

[@psycomutt]

So disappointed, I can't believe they went a completely different route with it. They easily could've given it another name to not bait fans of the first game.

[@theemerginggamer2928]

Salt and sacrifice is dissappointing

[@JosephSalomonsen]

Have not played the prequels - have not played the sequels… still calls it in-depth «anslysis».