Quick Look: EX: Salt and Sanctuary

I really don't like the art style in these guys' games, but this looks better than Dishwasher. I would like to see it with a less Souls-y look, though.

I heard good things about this game and finally after seeing this QL I'll probably skip it. The art direction looks great, but doesn't look fun to play. And that skill tree, ugh what a mess.

I really liked Dishwasher's combat and style but I extremely disliked absolutely everything about Charlie Murder. This seems to carry over from what I wasn't a fan of in CM which was the extremely flat/boring combat and art style that I'm completely not a fan of.

I love that they're trying to create a 2D Dark Souls but I just can't get over the art style and flat looking combat. That skill-tree looks nightmarish too...

I'm gonna pass on this but hopefully it catches an audience.

Looks super neat. I'll pick it up.

And yeah, clearly Dark Souls has spawned a genre just like Minecraft did. It's ok.

Fuuuuuck this reminds me i forgot to pick up apotheon

Looks like a cute side scrolling platformer that borrowed some aesthetics from Souls series. Devs that like Souls and want to make Souls games are ok in my book.

For anyone who thinks this is a 2d Dark Souls clone:

The difference between the Souls games and this is that Souls was made as a love letter to Medieval Europe and it's history and was built primarily around online PVP combat. While this is just a love letter to the DS2 hypewagon that caught major mainstream attention except this is exclusively single-player. The two are nothing alike. An isometric 2d Souls rpg would have more similarities than this.

Tsk tsk Bradley, using the old invincibility frames excuse.

This looks awesome.

I don't see this "Vaseline Smear" thing. Just looks like a watercolor/gouache-y type thing going on, which I think looks cool enough. Not entirely into the character design, but nothing egregious at all.

Looks really fun. Hopefully this satisfies the 2D-Souls hole I was hoping to fill with Apotheon. Just couldn't get into Apotheon...

I love James and Michelle's work. Their studio is 2 people, a husband/wife duo. I don't think you understand how hard it is to make a game like this for true independent developers.

I've bought all of the Ska studios stuff in the past, and I will buy this too!

Looking good! Keep up the good work James & Michelle!

While much of this game is clearly directly influenced by the Souls games, I don't think it's a bad thing. I've been thinking a 2D Souls game would be awesome for a long time. This looks totally rad, can't wait.

This guy is like the Tim Burton of video games, all his stuff looks the same, no thanks!

Local Co-Op? Yeah? No?

Probably no. :(

Looks neat! I agree with what other folks were saying about the font being too close to Dark Souls for comfort, but it looks like the dev is messing with the actual game mechanics enough to make it his own. I'm keeping an eye on this.

Also, I loved how in the video they got kind of shocked when Brad just went gung-ho and desecrated the shrine; you knew right then and there that a righteous asswhupping was coming.

Being a fan of the souls game I'd give a side-scrolling version a try. At the same time though it's a little weird to see them rip off Souls to such an extent even their health and stamina bar is almost identical. I think they are trying to emulate Dark Souls to such an extent it's impeding their own creativity and ability to make something their own. But, good luck to them for trying this

If this comment section proves anything, it's that the Souls community are still incredibly precious about "their" game. So much so that I started to sneer intensely at the entire concept, before remembering that I've played and very much enjoyed playing DS1 and DS2. You people are driving others away so quickly that chronology and experiential preference are falling to pieces.

Anyway, I'm eager to see what this game can become with a little more refinement. If all goes well, I may be able to put hands on the build at SXSW!

It surprises me how many people dismiss the Dark Souls series because it's "3D", but then this (albeit GREAT looking) complete rip-off is ok, and would make someone jump into this ARPG "difficult" genre.

If you like the look of this game, great, play it! But do yourself a favor and give Dark Souls a serious try too, you won't regret it. Use a guide too, because the real difficulty in DS stems not from the gameplay, but the fact that the devs expect you to figure out the most absurd things possible to experience most of the game. You need a guide (or experienced other person, or wiki) to fully experience the Souls series, which is ok, because they're even better when you understand the mechanics and know what's going on!

I'm into it looks awesome. Also at the 45:55 mark outside the sanctuary seems like brad bugs the salt and consumables back.

As always from Ska, this is incredibly impressive for a two-person studio.

So... I absolutely hate the Demon / Dark Souls UI. And I don't know why anyone would want to emulate it. Why, whyyyyyyyyyyyy!

The almost-Times-New-Roman font, Daggerfall-looking inventory, it just doesn't do anything for me at all. While I really enjoyed my time with Demon's Souls, this style of game is very much not for me. BUT, I hope this does well, because I'm interested in what they do next.

Yes, Vita, awesome!! :D

I love how the look of this game!

Dark Souls was my favorite game of the last decade (Demons and DS2 are both in my all time top 10) - I love that the series seems to be inspiring a new (albeit small) genre of games.

Very excited about this game. I really like the art style.

Finally managed to catch up and watch this quicklook. I got extremely interested in this when Jason showed it during the Extralife marathon, but when he said it was ps only he stomped my hopes. Luckily they revealed here it will come to pc after a while; I'll definitly keep an eye on it now!

I need this game in my life.

I have zero problem with a scrappy indie developer trying to interpret this kind of game.

Really excited for this game next week!

Woohoo, turns out this game's great.