SALT OF THE DEARTH
Salt and Sacrifice is the game that broke the camel’s back. I am tired of Souls-likes. To borrow a Dark Souls phrase (as shamelessly as these games rifle through the FromSoftware’s pockets for lint), I’ve gone hollow. My interest in seeing variations on these themes is spent. No more do I wish to repeat the same criticisms, to make the same comparisons. These imitators invariably make the same mistakes. Lifting the mechanics wholesale but with none of the underlying fundamentals to make them sing.
Stamina and status effects and all the usual Souls malarkey
It doesn’t start without intrigue. You’re an inquisitor, banished to the edge of the world to hunt down mages causing destruction wherever they go. The character creator is pretty standard but does let you choose the crime for which you’ve been banished, even if it’s just for kicks. That gave the game some flavour, a bit of tone to set it. It’s devoid of the intriguing strangeness, like mention of a Bell of Awakening or a grafting. There is a cool little gateway from which you access each of the game’s worlds, by setting runes in the stones like it’s a stargate, with a lot of the games progression is tied to finding new runes. It’s a rare novelty in a game almost bereft of them, even if it’s simply a spin on archstones.
