The indie Souls-like title Salt and Sanctuary presented gamers with a grueling journey into an accursed island populated by dark fantasy monsters, and its sequel Salt and Sacrifice seems to pick up where it left off. Although both titles were inspired by FromSoftware’s iconic library, these indie games still managed to put their own spin on the Souls-like formula. Part of what helped Salt and Sanctuary stand apart from its contemporaries was the addition of classes and other RPG elements. Classes are often a bit less important in Souls-like games than in other genres, but this may change in Salt and Sacrifice.
There are eight classes available in Salt and Sanctuary: the Knight, the Mage, the Paladin, the Thief, the Chef, the Cleric, the Pauper, and the Hunter. Each class provides different starting equipment and a slightly different stat distribution at the beginning of the game. Although some players may have a preferred class, it doesn’t matter much after a few hours of gameplay, especially since people can discover the armor and items meant for the unselected classes as they progress. Salt and Sacrifice has an opportunity to expand upon the original game’s take on classes.
The Role of Classes in Souls-like Games
Salt and Sacrifice is reportedly leaning into the RPG elements of its predecessor, and classes are a time-honored part of many RPGs. However, most Souls-like games prefer to give the player flexibility within a single class, allowing users to choose between items and playstyles. Fans of the Final Fantasy series and other RPGs that allow characters to change classes may weigh in by saying a class provides limitations and structure that would otherwise be absent.
As a general rule, if a game exclusively gives its powerful healing magic to a priest character who can only equip robes and staves, that game features classes. If the game instead allows players to teach any character powerful healing magic and put them in robes and staves as a way to advance past obstacles, that game does not feature classes. This is interesting because while Salt and Sanctuary’s classes end up relatively pointless as the game progresses, the concept of adding classes to a Souls-like title has merit. Salt and Sacrifice’s Marked Inquisitor may be the perfect place to experiment.
Creating a Class
In Salt and Sacrifice, players will take on the role of a Marked Inquisitor, a condemned criminal who must spend the rest of their serving the kingdom in penance. For the game’s purposes, this will involve tracking down powerful Mages, killing them, and crafting unique weapons and armor from their remains. While Mage is a selectable class in Salt and Sanctuary, Salt and Sacrifice’s Mages are described as merciless embodiments of elemental chaos that have the kingdom under siege. Players won’t just be able to make gear from a Mage’s remains - they’ll also be able to gain some of the Mage’s powers by eating its heart. This, combined with the game’s apparent focus on stealing the powers of foes, could be Salt and Sacrifice’s ticket to an expanded Souls-like class system.
If players are able to choose between a variety of pieces of equipment and runic arts, Salt and Sacrifice could walk the line between an open Souls-like system and a more closed RPG system. Perhaps certain pieces of gear could be linked to certain runic arts, presenting players with pre-established classes of sorts, meanwhile other armor and weapon sets could be applied to any runic art.
Alternately, perhaps the crime players’ Marked Inquisitor committed, which players will be able to select, could offer characters a certain affinity for specific types of combat while allowing the player to customize their load-out and approach. Whatever the case, it’s clear that Salt and Sacrifice has the opportunity to do something incredible with Salt and Sanctuary’s class system.
Salt and Sacrifice releases in 2022 for PC, PS4, and PS5.
