Quick Look: EX: Salt and Sanctuary

2D Dark Souls? Sign me up!

Is this Firewatch?

Not to throw shade, but why is ok that games are just blatantly ripping off the souls games? Is it because they are an indie studio therefore the underdogs?

@brianp: games rip off other games all the time, and while they take a lot of ideas from the Souls games, it neither looks or really plays much like Souls, at least I don't remember doing air combos in any Soul game.

Ska should just make a sequel to Survival Crisis Z already.

True, I don't know why it seems so egregious to me in this game

How cool is that? Working with your loved one on a game! Really looking forward to this.

@brianp: Might be the UI design, it's really similar.

So happy to hear that it's coming to the Vita. A portable, Dark Souls-esque game sounds fantastic.

I was about to say whatever man this whole industry is built on borrowing good ideas, then i watched a bit of this video and i see where you're coming from, this game is taking so much from dark souls that i can only view it as a budget 2d version.

Still, the game looks fun. The only real negative is they will always be directly compared to a game that is no doubt much better.

@brianp: I think it's the font. They're putting their own spin on a lot of Dark Souls elements, which is fine, but cribbing the font that closely really puts a Gameloft-ish stank on it, for me.

I didn't like Demon Souls so I didn't play the others. That said I think this looks great. I like linearity of the 2D and the skill tree. It seems way more manageable than the souls.

Don't let Jeff see that skill tree or he will have sphere grid flashbacks.

I continue to think this looks incredible. It seems to nail the Soul-style combat in a 2D environment without seeming derivative, the art is incredible and the attention to detail, such as the blood spatter, is really impressive.

Above all, it manages to create that foreboding sense of uncertainty toward what's around the next corner, a feeling I always really treasure when playing a Souls game for the first time and sorely miss on consecutive playthroughs.

While it's unapologetic about where it's drawing it's inspiration from, I really think the game is more of a love-letter to the Souls series than anything else, as they make it obvious just how much respect and admiration they have for that franchise. The 2D also lends to it being it's own beast.

Played at PAX Prime last year and it was pretty fun. Looking forward to seeing more.

As much as I'd love a 2d Darksouls by the original team, I really can't get behind somebody completely ripping it off without even trying to hide it and making money off of it. I know games just copy from each other all the time, and the same goes for music, TV, movies, and every other medium, but there's an art to trying to hide your influences. Then again Terraria was 2d minecraft with better combat and I enjoyed that so maybe it's the features in the gameplay that'll make or break it for me.

This is kind of disappointing. At least The Dishwasher and Charlie Murder are somewhat unique games, but this is just straight up 2D Dark Souls, right down to the bonfires, "unbeatable" first boss, covenants, player messages, etc.This doesn't have the Ska Studios style to it like their other games do.

So why would I want to play 2D Dark Souls when I can play actual Dark Souls?

Man, that's some Dark Souls ass Dark Souls. Still looks like a bunch of fun, but there's a fine line between an iterative homage and just kind of using another dev's ideas wholesale.

Not saying this game crosses that line necessarily, but with even the UI, death messages, and other purely aesthetic stuff, this game just seems like it's really trying to straight-up be that other game. I hope that maybe they tweak some of those less impactful things to set their game further apart. At least visually.

I think that's what's nagging me about this. A lot of games being made by small studios now are very blatant with their direct influences. There are innumerable Kickstarters that say, "Our game is a "spiritual successor" to X.". But that only really works when X is a beloved game from a lost era that isn't being made anymore. In this QL they even mention how The Dishwasher was a pretty direct response to Devil May Cry, but at that time the DMC games had sort-of fallen out of popular favor.

I'm confident that it isn't Ska Studio's motivation at all, as they seem like totally legit nice folks who are passionate about games and just love the Souls series, but when you're aping a current franchise that's hugely popular internationally, it's hard to shake the feeling of them just riding From's coattails for a guaranteed buck.

Isn't this is more of a unfinished EX? Also, gimme this game now!

To everyone complaining about this game being too much of a blatant rip-off: you're forgetting how much work and original thought has to go into translating the souls style games into 2D. It's not so analogous that it becomes a cheap imitation of the real thing like Lords of the Fallen did. The only thing a little obnoxious to me is how much Salt & Sanctuary tries to ape the tone and art direction of Souls (the creators are really doing themselves a disservice by not letting the game stand completely on its own in those terms), but then again I love those things so I can't say I wouldn't be tempted to do the same. That's the nature of inspiration, sometimes you get inspired by an aspect of a game other times the whole game itself. I agree there's a fine line between inspiration and rip-off, but you cannot say this game is a clone in the literal sense of the word.

This game looks great and it doesn't look any where near as much of a "ripoff" as Lords of the Fallen was, so I don't see anything to be outraged about. The developers were also clear fans of the souls series and if they think they could use those game mechanics well and translate them into a 2D space why shouldn't they incorporate them into their game? Anyways, can't wait to play this.

I would say that there's a big difference between aping a game and evoking the same atmosphere. This evokes the same desolate, lonely and dark atmosphere of the Souls games, but most of the gameplay mechanics trace their lineage to other games: the combat from Metroidvania-like games such as Dust an Elysian Tale or Symphony of the Night and the skill tree from Diablo-like games. Come on, the movement and combat speed here is vastly different from the slow and methodical Souls franchise.

Heck, even the art style reminds me more of Yoshitaka Amano's wispy and lithe characters than the fleshy monstrosities found in the Souls games.

This looks really cool!

I love Ska Studios, can't wait to play it.

Looks awesome

I am Purdy interested in trying this game out for myself. Bring 'er home, team!

Looks competent, if a bit shameless and derivative. Inspiration is one thing...

I had no interests in this until I saw this video! Looks great.

This looks great. I love the art style and the concept. Consider me excited for the release.

My least favorite game genre is the newly popular 'super difficult' category, but at a 2D Dark Souls-inspired game might be easier to handle than the 3D inspiration for me.

This looks great. Love the Vita/PS4 stuff too. And the dev team was awesome on the EX. Day 1 buy.

"Ska Studios" reminds me of Brad Muir.

I love it when developers give real talk about games.

I am looking forward to this but add me to the list of people that feel it is probably a little too similar to dark souls. I hope that it has some unique things and isn't just 100% 2d dark souls.

Was definitely interested in this game before, but damn if I'm not much more so after listening to the Ska Studios duo. Very likable folks.

Yeah, really liked this duo!

I want to echo this sentiment again. It was awesome hearing them talk about the process.

I usually really dislike a QL:EX, as it always seems like the GB guys are holding back any criticism for the sake of the dev who's there. But in this it was really refreshing to hear Brad or Jason say, like, "Oh, that was weird.", only to hear the Ska duo respond, "Yeah, we should fix that.".

The game seems and sounds cool, but I hope that Ska studios would hire / use some other artist. Dont like the graphics style on this one at all (or the previous ska games...)

This looks great. Give me 2D Dark Souls!

I forgot this game existed, and I didn't know much about it to begin with. The video has me sold--reminds me of a Dark Souls / SOTN hybrid.

Also, Lord of the Fallen is shamelessly derivative. I don't know how you could say the same thing about this--the devs took the elements of something they loved playing and turned into something that plays completely different.

Wow, I didn't know this was the Ska Studio guy(s), are they still like semi (in bed with sounds like a bad term but) friendly with Microsoft?

Edit

'Salt and Sanctuary is a side-scrolling 2D action RPG developed by Ska Studios that will launch exclusively on the PlayStation 4, but will also come to the Vita and PC at a later date.'

Ha, well I guess not so much anymore.

Skill tree from final fantasy, menus from dark souls, gameplay from the dishwasher. Booooooring

thanks guy. At that first bloodborne spoiler I immediatly turned this off. I'm not buying this game, don't care what awards it gets

NEED. THIS. GAME.

HA! Brad realized his ability tunnel vision right at the end! He does this A LOT. The recent Sunset Overdrive dlc QL he used the 2 starting weapons and on the Shadow of Mordor DLC he barely used ANY of the abilities, even with Dan coaching him on how easy the game is.

Straight Morton's, son

Seems like an okay idea, but like all their other games, it's really hard to look at...