I love this f*cking game. Every single second of it. It brings me back to 1997 when I first played Castlevania: Symphony of the night as a kid. Salt and Sanctuary takes the 2D side scrolling action and makes it feel retro and so new at the same time. With the challenge's of SOUL SERIES game, SANCTUARYS = BONEFIRES and SALT = SOULS in this game. Unlike Alucard, you can pick between a few classes in Salt and Sanctuary. I made a Hunter, a Chef and finally settled on a standard Knight with a shield.
The look of this game is dark, atmospheric, spooky and calm. You feel lost in this abyss of a gothic world just like you do in Dark Souls. The water reflects a dark moon's reflection. Stars can be seen in the dark sky as you walk back and forth between area's. Dark dungeon like area's, castles, lots of enemies and big bosses await your arrival. Armor pieces make your character look great, especially the pumpkin face helmet. Weapons look nice, especially a double handed AXE that is HUGE and stands out.
As you roll, block and smash foes, collect salt and level up you keep exploring and pushing forward. Leveling up at Sanctuary area's. You become strong, but never strong enough to feel unstoppable. You can never get too cocky in S&S. You will die, over and over again, just like in the SOUL SERIES. That is why Defeating tough bosses is so rewarding. There are a lot of bosses and tough enemies ahead. You can parry enemies to do fatality moves too! The combat is so fun, especially since every small victory essentially helps you become even more stronger.
As a knight you level up your equip load and strength mostly. The skill tree allows you to branch out, my character had 3 major branches: sword, axe and shield. Each brand comes with small attributes to unlock (strength, dexterity, ect.) You can be a whole bunch of different classes though. Some shoot gun and some have magic. As you progress just like in Castlevania, you unlock different skills that will enable you to back in different area's and progress further in area's previously explored.
There are secrets everywhere. Hidden doors, special weapons and gates that are up that leave you wondering how to get to that area. It's not just a one way game. You can go in many different directions and there are so many secrets to uncover. I found in my game session that I found a shit load of armor pieces. That was cool but I would of liked to find more AXES for my character. However, I did upgrade the shit out of my AXE and then transform it into a different axe type which was cool.
Upgrading armor and weapons is fun in S&S. You find hidden NPC's that have stores that give you the materials you need to upgrade your stuff. This allows you to upgrade a lot of weapons and armor more freely. To upgrade your weapon or armor to the max you will need special material required from boss fights and whatnot.
Between the exploration and crazy enemies S&S will have you playing for HOURS trying to uncover all the secrets. Combat is satisfying and leveling up and becoming stronger in a world that feels so dark is great. This game def. captures the spirit of 2 of my favorite games of all time, CASTLEVANIA SOTN and DARK SOULS and combines them into a perfect blend 2D side scroller. I would buy another sequel in a heartbeat. This is the BEST indie game I have ever played as of 2/22/2017.