I'm the rare case that got into Salt and Sanctuary first then got introduced into Dark Souls from it, so, I'm always thrilled when creators give this gem the attention is deserves. Great ranking, Billy!
The fact that Salt & Sanctuary doesn't get mentioned more often in the community is a tragedy. Like yeah, the sequel didn't do so hot, but S&S was formative for early Soulsborne RUclips and people need to put some respect on it's name!
Nah same bro, I was playing S&S, Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, Last Faith, etc. and my little brother is like how have you not played dark souls? He’s mainly a PC gamer, so he gifted me his ps4 and bought me the trilogy last Xmas and I’ve been hooked since.
@@BillySYT It really defined the 2D genre imo. Would love to see you do an S&S Collab with the Backlogs, he's a fellow Salt appreciator! Plus I think you two would be hilarious together.
Seeing this was such a pleasant surprise! I’ve been a massive fan of this game since 2017, I have a shirt for it and everything. You’re so right in saying that it understood the souls formula to its purest form. It’s such a good and engrossing game for a 2D game, and one of my all-time favorites. My favorite bosses were always Nameless God, Kraeken Cyclops, and Tree of Men. Nameless God has some of the best build up of any boss ever. Also, the sanctuary music? Incredible.
The soundtrack, despite being relatively short in comparison to the Soulsborne series, is still so fresh in my mind. I could recall the Sanctuary or the boss tracks any day, or the random electric guitar riffs as you're exploring. I do think certain aspects of the game didn't age super well (Some of the late-game areas feel a bit less interesting, Ancient Temple, Crypt of the Dead Gods), and the platforming can sometimes be VERY hit or miss. But the bosses and the enemy designs are fantastic!
@@BillySYT you are absolutely correct from top to bottom! The boss tracks from Salt and Sanctuary were awesome and very memorable, and they did make a great choice in having that music kick in from time to time throughout the game. Really gave it its own vibe and identity. I never appreciate the enemy design in that game enough but there actually was a ton of variety and genuinely cool designs! I also agree that the platforming is sooooo frustrating at multiple parts 😂 anything having to do with the disappearing and reappearing floors was such a pain.
I adore this game so much, I discovered it after I finished the FromSoft library and began branching out to similar games in my favorite genre: Metroidvania. Definitely not cheap for a hard copy, though, I paid $200 for my unopened copy. I’d suggest Steam as the platform for people who aren’t as concerned with physical copies of games. I hope Billy does more Indie Soulsvania titles, there are so many good ones such as Moonscars (my personal favorite), Blasphemous is possibly the best in this niche, Ender Lilies is a masterpiece, Afterimage is vastly underrated, the list goes on and on.
Ronin does have a sanctuary on his left side accessible through the area with the Tree Man boss (sorry been a few years) It’s also the home of the covenant that gives you the drink that’s boosts your attack and defense.
Hey billy- not sure if you've heard of it, but theres a fantastic game out there called Nine Sols that's criminally underrated, I have a feeling that you'll love it! It would be great to see some content from you about it! The parry combat is so fun ❤
I’ve beaten the Unspeakable Deep before. It’s super tedious since your max stamina lowers so fast from fatigue and you do barely any damage. Unless you *need* that upgrade mat it drops, just skip it every time
Since you already know the video is a banger and we all here agree, I am just here to commend the use of Shadow Hearts music again. Nice to see that game keeps being remembered.
@@BillySYT Yeah they are gems. But don't sleep on the frist one either. It has its jank and some questionable voice acting choices but it is still a great, concise story. Anywah that is it for my PSA, Have fun.
as far as i know, the forgotten king/knight/judge arent actually a recreations but the original 3 gods that have been captured and drained of their light (the faith of their followers) by the nameless god, leaving only husks behind. Thats pretty much the nameless god whole shtick. He lures saltborn and gods alike to his islands so he can harvest both in a fruitless attempt to become a god himself.
Either way, the lore reason for their existence is fantastic. Just wish the game could handle a three-way gank fight without veering so far into "Oh I got knocked back again, time to get u- Oh I got knocked back again, time to get u- Oh I got-" You get the picture xD
S&S is fun, happy to see it get some love. For bosses, Witch of the Lake was the most memorable for me. She was different enough from the other bosses to keep things nice and interesting. For me her main problem, as with so many Souls-like bosses, is that she can be absolutely trivialized with a tower shield (and there are low stat requirement tower shields that any build can use effectively).
Love a Witch of the Lake defender. She's easily one of the most memorable bosses in the game for me, but I just don't enjoy the way depending on your build she can one-two shot you. It feels very unbalanced, but I think that's a late-game issue with S&S as a whole.
Since you already covered Hollow Knight and now S&S have you also considered playing Blasphemous? If not then I really recommend you try it out, it’s also a Metroidvania
If it helps, the Pitchwoods area is entirely optional. You can beat the game without dealing with those unicorns. They're not really made to be fought either, I think the point is you need to platform over them with the timed platforms ^^
The Sodden Knight actually has 3 phases. The first phase he will never chain moves together, any attacks that looked chained are all part of the same attack. Phase 2 at 50% HP is when he adds a sword swing/thrust thing to the end of his lightning attack. Phase 3 at around 25% HP remaining he adds a third attack to that chain which includes 3 fast swings.
Here's some advice for the witch of the lake and the kraken wyrm, the attacks of the witch can actually be trivialized with one specific greatshield that fully or mostly absorbs her attacks, if I remember correctly. Meanwhile the wyrm attack where he flies above and spews fire isn't actually RNG based. He will always fly the same distance before breathing fire, depending on where his takeoff point is and which way he's facing.
Ah, that makes a lot of sense for the Wyrm. It's the first I'm hearing of that strategy as I don't think anyone ever documented it anywhere. If that's the case, the fight jumps up a few spots for sure. Witch, I respect the Greatshield meta, but I still think it's a flawed fight if you have to change your whole build to use it.
@@BillySYT Indeed, the witch was basically a bullet hell boss, although shields can actually trivialize quite a few bosses like the false jester and the smiling queen. Btw were you planning to rank the areas too? Since I think they add so much character to the game and mirror the complexity and variety of the early souls game areas (especially DS2)
The dagger flip kick is one of the strongest attack in the game. Salt and Sanctuary has a bit more than R1 spam. 😂That's the way to play dagger. Dagger kick+Gun=GGEZ.
Squid dragon is actually easier if you mostly ignore the concept of rolling through entirely. Breath attack gets dealt with using jumping away and using hangtime like the the last dragon. His decision to to shoot lighting behind him is based on your proximity. Get close enough while it's happening he'll shoot behind to catch roll spammers. So don't roll after getting close during it. Just hit the bastard. You'll still have to roll through if he lives long enough to take you to a corner, but that's not rolling to dodge things. Just opening arena space.
Damn I finished this game in 2020 but I barely remember any of the bosses in this video. I definitely had fun playing it though so maybe I shoud give it a replay. On my last playthrough I used a big strength sword which made the end of the game relatively easy.
Yeah - I think when you get to a certain level with your weapons/stats, regardless of build the end-game gets really easy. Strength gives you that good damage, while dex gets you a lot of stagger potential.
I remember doing a NG+ run back in 2017 and I was pleasantly surprised by how tough all the bosses were on a second playthrough. Even the Sodden Knight felt like a real threat.
@@BillySYT I gave it a go because I loved this game and it was one of the biggest gaming disappointments I've had. Lots of design decisions I didn't like.
Flying dragon gets dodged by running after it in the direction it flew off. That's where it'll come from, and if you run properly it'll almost never hit you. Other breath attacks mostly get dealth with by the fact attacking in the air giving you hangtime. Also the game handed you the blacksmith's set for free in an earlier sanctuary which dumpsters fire damage, and multiple sources of more fire defense in the castle itself. Multiple NPCs also warn you it's a dragon to give you tips to pack fire defense. Thing was unironically easier than the first boss. That guy had gap closers that happened very quickly and elemental damage we had NO free defense equipment for.
You'll notice in the footage I was wearing the blacksmith's set & I had fire resistant gear. I know HOW to dodge the flying dragon's breath attack - My problem is that there's no consistency in when he actually launches the flames. Sometimes he'll do it a few seconds after he comes back on screen - Other times he's started the breath attack while he's still off-screen, so it's risky to commit to just running to the very edge of the arena in case he does the latter variant of the attack.
I have not playd it yet, but Im 100% goung to. Great video as usual Billy❤
I'm the rare case that got into Salt and Sanctuary first then got introduced into Dark Souls from it, so, I'm always thrilled when creators give this gem the attention is deserves. Great ranking, Billy!
The fact that Salt & Sanctuary doesn't get mentioned more often in the community is a tragedy. Like yeah, the sequel didn't do so hot, but S&S was formative for early Soulsborne RUclips and people need to put some respect on it's name!
Nah same bro, I was playing S&S, Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, Last Faith, etc. and my little brother is like how have you not played dark souls? He’s mainly a PC gamer, so he gifted me his ps4 and bought me the trilogy last Xmas and I’ve been hooked since.
@@BillySYT It really defined the 2D genre imo. Would love to see you do an S&S Collab with the Backlogs, he's a fellow Salt appreciator! Plus I think you two would be hilarious together.
Don't forget the other games by Ska Studios too! Mainly Charlie Murder and The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile.
Seeing this was such a pleasant surprise! I’ve been a massive fan of this game since 2017, I have a shirt for it and everything. You’re so right in saying that it understood the souls formula to its purest form. It’s such a good and engrossing game for a 2D game, and one of my all-time favorites.
My favorite bosses were always Nameless God, Kraeken Cyclops, and Tree of Men. Nameless God has some of the best build up of any boss ever.
Also, the sanctuary music? Incredible.
The soundtrack, despite being relatively short in comparison to the Soulsborne series, is still so fresh in my mind. I could recall the Sanctuary or the boss tracks any day, or the random electric guitar riffs as you're exploring. I do think certain aspects of the game didn't age super well (Some of the late-game areas feel a bit less interesting, Ancient Temple, Crypt of the Dead Gods), and the platforming can sometimes be VERY hit or miss.
But the bosses and the enemy designs are fantastic!
@@BillySYT you are absolutely correct from top to bottom! The boss tracks from Salt and Sanctuary were awesome and very memorable, and they did make a great choice in having that music kick in from time to time throughout the game. Really gave it its own vibe and identity. I never appreciate the enemy design in that game enough but there actually was a ton of variety and genuinely cool designs! I also agree that the platforming is sooooo frustrating at multiple parts 😂 anything having to do with the disappearing and reappearing floors was such a pain.
I LOVE THIS GAME! seen the first mage in salt and sacrifice and just couldn't be arsed with the spam
Gimme my nostalgia fix.
Gotta hit the veterans with that discount
I adore this game so much, I discovered it after I finished the FromSoft library and began branching out to similar games in my favorite genre: Metroidvania. Definitely not cheap for a hard copy, though, I paid $200 for my unopened copy. I’d suggest Steam as the platform for people who aren’t as concerned with physical copies of games. I hope Billy does more Indie Soulsvania titles, there are so many good ones such as Moonscars (my personal favorite), Blasphemous is possibly the best in this niche, Ender Lilies is a masterpiece, Afterimage is vastly underrated, the list goes on and on.
Blasphemous is next on the list. I can't say I fully vibe with the moment to moment gameplay myself, but the boss fights are immaculate.
Ronin does have a sanctuary on his left side accessible through the area with the Tree Man boss (sorry been a few years) It’s also the home of the covenant that gives you the drink that’s boosts your attack and defense.
Hey billy- not sure if you've heard of it, but theres a fantastic game out there called Nine Sols that's criminally underrated, I have a feeling that you'll love it! It would be great to see some content from you about it! The parry combat is so fun ❤
I have fond memories of this when I played it all those years back
one day I'll play the sequel, still need to buy it
Admittedly, I haven't heard the best things about the sequel. I think it goes in a different gameplay direction, which turned a few people off.
I’ve beaten the Unspeakable Deep before. It’s super tedious since your max stamina lowers so fast from fatigue and you do barely any damage. Unless you *need* that upgrade mat it drops, just skip it every time
Ah I really enjoy S&S! Nameless God has gotta be my favorite, I made a cosplay build around him even ^^
Since you already know the video is a banger and we all here agree, I am just here to commend the use of Shadow Hearts music again.
Nice to see that game keeps being remembered.
My partner is making me play the 2nd & 3rd games, since it's a series he really loves. And god, I get it, I get it so much now!
@@BillySYT Yeah they are gems. But don't sleep on the frist one either. It has its jank and some questionable voice acting choices but it is still a great, concise story.
Anywah that is it for my PSA, Have fun.
The tree of men being 13 is a crime. It should've been last alongside that stench most foul and the witch of the lake.Nice vid tho.
The earliest example of a game trying to emulate the souls formula was the original Lords of the Fallen from 2014, two years before S&S came out.
This game was amazing and another good one is The Last Faith
as far as i know, the forgotten king/knight/judge arent actually a recreations but the original 3 gods that have been captured and drained of their light (the faith of their followers) by the nameless god, leaving only husks behind.
Thats pretty much the nameless god whole shtick. He lures saltborn and gods alike to his islands so he can harvest both in a fruitless attempt to become a god himself.
Either way, the lore reason for their existence is fantastic. Just wish the game could handle a three-way gank fight without veering so far into "Oh I got knocked back again, time to get u- Oh I got knocked back again, time to get u- Oh I got-" You get the picture xD
S&S is fun, happy to see it get some love. For bosses, Witch of the Lake was the most memorable for me. She was different enough from the other bosses to keep things nice and interesting. For me her main problem, as with so many Souls-like bosses, is that she can be absolutely trivialized with a tower shield (and there are low stat requirement tower shields that any build can use effectively).
Love a Witch of the Lake defender. She's easily one of the most memorable bosses in the game for me, but I just don't enjoy the way depending on your build she can one-two shot you. It feels very unbalanced, but I think that's a late-game issue with S&S as a whole.
Since you already covered Hollow Knight and now S&S have you also considered playing Blasphemous? If not then I really recommend you try it out, it’s also a Metroidvania
I am literally recording footage for it as we speak lol
Great game. I could never beat the first one though. 2 was very memorable for me.
I need to revisit this game and finally finish it. I put it down due to those horrible awful Unicorn creatures that can one shot you lol.. 😢
If it helps, the Pitchwoods area is entirely optional. You can beat the game without dealing with those unicorns. They're not really made to be fought either, I think the point is you need to platform over them with the timed platforms ^^
@@BillySYT ohh I did not know that lol I must be lost then and need to take another path. Thanks 👍
The Sodden Knight actually has 3 phases. The first phase he will never chain moves together, any attacks that looked chained are all part of the same attack. Phase 2 at 50% HP is when he adds a sword swing/thrust thing to the end of his lightning attack. Phase 3 at around 25% HP remaining he adds a third attack to that chain which includes 3 fast swings.
Here's some advice for the witch of the lake and the kraken wyrm, the attacks of the witch can actually be trivialized with one specific greatshield that fully or mostly absorbs her attacks, if I remember correctly. Meanwhile the wyrm attack where he flies above and spews fire isn't actually RNG based. He will always fly the same distance before breathing fire, depending on where his takeoff point is and which way he's facing.
Ah, that makes a lot of sense for the Wyrm. It's the first I'm hearing of that strategy as I don't think anyone ever documented it anywhere. If that's the case, the fight jumps up a few spots for sure. Witch, I respect the Greatshield meta, but I still think it's a flawed fight if you have to change your whole build to use it.
@@BillySYT Indeed, the witch was basically a bullet hell boss, although shields can actually trivialize quite a few bosses like the false jester and the smiling queen. Btw were you planning to rank the areas too? Since I think they add so much character to the game and mirror the complexity and variety of the early souls game areas (especially DS2)
The dagger flip kick is one of the strongest attack in the game. Salt and Sanctuary has a bit more than R1 spam. 😂That's the way to play dagger. Dagger kick+Gun=GGEZ.
Squid dragon is actually easier if you mostly ignore the concept of rolling through entirely. Breath attack gets dealt with using jumping away and using hangtime like the the last dragon. His decision to to shoot lighting behind him is based on your proximity. Get close enough while it's happening he'll shoot behind to catch roll spammers. So don't roll after getting close during it. Just hit the bastard. You'll still have to roll through if he lives long enough to take you to a corner, but that's not rolling to dodge things. Just opening arena space.
I love this game. Couldn’t get into the sequel
Tho.
Out of curiosity, have you ever played Vigil The Longest Night? Since I think you might like it.
Nope, but I'll certainly keep it on my watchlist.
Damn I finished this game in 2020 but I barely remember any of the bosses in this video. I definitely had fun playing it though so maybe I shoud give it a replay. On my last playthrough I used a big strength sword which made the end of the game relatively easy.
Yeah - I think when you get to a certain level with your weapons/stats, regardless of build the end-game gets really easy. Strength gives you that good damage, while dex gets you a lot of stagger potential.
we can all agree husk on new game plus his gun is absolute bull!
I remember doing a NG+ run back in 2017 and I was pleasantly surprised by how tough all the bosses were on a second playthrough. Even the Sodden Knight felt like a real threat.
@@BillySYT ya I usually died to each boss a few times even tho I was like level 100 at the time
I would also reccomend blasphemous and it's sequel if you liked salt and sanctuary
Recording Blasphemous as we speak ^^
You should rank stonesword key gates
Lmfao, that's so camp.
I loved this game but thought the sequel was a massive disappointment.Nameless god and The Sodden Knight were my favourite bosses.
I didn't try the sequel because I heard it followed a different structure - Didn't interest me at all.
@@BillySYT I gave it a go because I loved this game and it was one of the biggest gaming disappointments I've had. Lots of design decisions I didn't like.
Flying dragon gets dodged by running after it in the direction it flew off. That's where it'll come from, and if you run properly it'll almost never hit you. Other breath attacks mostly get dealth with by the fact attacking in the air giving you hangtime. Also the game handed you the blacksmith's set for free in an earlier sanctuary which dumpsters fire damage, and multiple sources of more fire defense in the castle itself. Multiple NPCs also warn you it's a dragon to give you tips to pack fire defense. Thing was unironically easier than the first boss. That guy had gap closers that happened very quickly and elemental damage we had NO free defense equipment for.
You'll notice in the footage I was wearing the blacksmith's set & I had fire resistant gear. I know HOW to dodge the flying dragon's breath attack - My problem is that there's no consistency in when he actually launches the flames. Sometimes he'll do it a few seconds after he comes back on screen - Other times he's started the breath attack while he's still off-screen, so it's risky to commit to just running to the very edge of the arena in case he does the latter variant of the attack.
@@BillySYT Do it anyway. Even if you get singed you'll still take less damage than if you weren't running through it.