Salt and Sanctuary is a game that gives “Souls-like” a whole new meaning. Ska Studios, the developers behind Charlie Murder, took their time with this hand-drawn 2D Platformer, and it shows. Between the grim art within the level design and the punishing combat system, it’s hard to choose which aspect I’ve enjoyed more.
Salt and Sanctuary seamlessly combines fast, brutal, and complex 2D combat with richly developed RPG mechanics. Discover, craft, and upgrade over 600 weapons, armor pieces, spells, and items as you explore a cursed realm of forgotten cities, blood-soaked dungeons, desecrated monuments, and the fallen lords they once celebrated.
As a lover of the Souls series, I enjoy when games get dark and brutal. The art that Salt and Sanctuary brings to the table is robust in that nature. You’re cast into a grievous world as soon as the game begins and quickly unveil the grimacing villains within it. Each area has its own art style that goes hand in hand with its boss, and its not unclear where they’ve gotten their inspiration from.
The combat system brings every aspect you want in a hardcore game. Salt and Sanctuary utilizes a similar concept, giving you a Grade A brew for a challenging game. The combat system gets down to detail: Weapon Stat Scaling, Equipment Load Percentage, and different Defense types are all implemented. Fat rolling at 70% was a surprise upon first starting out the game. Soon after, you learn the ability of Parrying and Riposte.
Salt and Sanctuary couldn’t hide its inspiration from Dark Souls just as Dark Souls can’t hide its influence from Berserk. Truth is, Salt and Sanctuary‘s homage works so well its almost unfathomable. I’ve barely scratched the surface with Salt and Sanctuary’s progression and depth. During my playthroughs, I found myself itching to push on to the next area after every boss battle. Unfortunately, the local co-op didn’t get enough use at all. Playing with a friend changes most all battle strategies and creates those moments of chaotic fun we all know and love.
This game is great, there’s no denying it. I felt bad enjoying the game so much and trying to find faults in it! Though the music a bit lackluster and simplistic, it still worked! You have to give credit where its due, especially when a two person studio puts every element into a platformer properly. You can’t even complain about the price tag with this much content.
Hands down, Salt and Sanctuary is the most fun and challenging platformer I’ve explored yet. Get it now on PS4, Steam, or Nintendo Switch!
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PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
REVIEW | Spider-Man PS4
Review | Re-Exploring No Man’s Sky Next
REVIEW | Downward Spiral: Horus Station
REVIEW | Smoke and Sacrifice
Don’t be fooled by the whimsically beautiful, hand-drawn aesthetic Smoke and Sacrifice. Set underground and spanning multiple biomes, Smoke and Sacrifice is a wonderfully crafted survival adventure with an engaging story and an infuriatingly steep learning curve. This game goes from cutesy and innocuous to immediate psychic scarring in the span of its own intro scene. How is that even possible? Might have something to do with the player taking an active role in sacrificing the main character Sachi’s first born child upon an altar surrounded by sun-worshiping religious acolytes. Maybe.
The only reason I decided to play this game, out of a choice of several others, was purely visual. So, being the habitual lazy mug I am, instead of doing research along the lines of watching the entire YouTube video, reading about Solar Sail Games, or, you know, doing literally anything at all before just jumping into this, I… just jumped into this.
And once you jump in, the real nightmare begins. Flash forward seven years; the lights go out, the smoke pours in, and the monsters come into the village. Taking control of Sachi, the player will use the ensuing chaos, wrapped in a thick blanket of panic, to check out the temple and alter where Sachi gave up her child, only to be teleported to a hellish landscape of terror and smoke shrouded danger.
Look, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the brightest lighthouse on the coast, and I generally like my games fast and simple. But, had I taken the time from the outset to pay attention to the background environment, I probably wouldn’t have died 20 something times before making any significant progress in my first play-through.
Without the player ever being involved, the ecosystem of this world carries on with it’s bad self. Polyps (little jellyfish enemies) mate and produce offspring, plants swallow glowbugs and emit protective light, anglermoles eat fireflies and belch flames at you. Why does any of this matter?
Actual transcript of this fight: F***. This game is hard… No wait, I got it… Nevermind, I’m dead again.
See that monstrosity in the picture up there? That was the first big enemy I was tasked to kill. And how many times did he annihilate me instead? An embarrassing amount. It wasn’t until I accidentally brought him too close to that wasp nest that the coin finally dropped. The wasps killed the boar, I killed the wasps, and I then applied that lesson to every other big-bad in the game. Paying attention to the environmental interactions are the key from taking Smoke and Sacrifice from impossibly frustrating to an enjoyable experience.
Even the sound design is amazing. Flapping insect wings, gnashing teeth, screen rumbling explosions, and prosaic music all contribute to a perfect symphony to accompany you on your quest.
Of course, no game is without its flaws. However, in this particular case, for Smoke and Sacrifice they are few and far between. Sometimes items you try to pick up are inaccessible because of the placement of permanent objects and how items drop. Also there’s… um… well, actually, that’s about the only bug I found. Other than the wasps.
Fans of diesel-punk, the crafting elements of Ark, and games like Penny Arcade’s On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness should definitely give this one a go. From perfect visuals and incredible audio, not a tedious amount of grinding, Smoke and Shadow is a visually perfect game with incredible audio and a plot that gave me actual nightmares. I cannot wait to play more.
PS: SAVE.
PPS: SAVE OFTEN.
Editor’s Note: This review was written in conjunction with Jon Calise, a contributor to Sub Cultured. You can find more of his writing on his personal blog, Petting Zoo Rejects.
REVIEW | Salt and Sanctuary
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
REVIEW | Spider-Man PS4
Review | Re-Exploring No Man’s Sky Next
REVIEW | Downward Spiral: Horus Station
For fans of Portal that want a more serious plot, Q.U.B.E. 2 is the sequel to the hit first-person puzzle game Q.U.B.E. from Toxic Games, an award-winning, independent game development studio based in the U.K. which specializes in brain-twisting, first-person puzzle games.
Q.U.B.E. 2 immediately introduces the player to Amelia, a British archaeologist who has just woken up on an alien planet with a bad memory and special gloves. Ameila, with the help of fellow survivor, Emma, must face the challenging puzzles of the Q.U.B.E. in order to try and find a way back home
The innovative mechanics of Q.U.B.E. 2 is where the game truly shines.Taking control of Amelia, the player will utilize her gloves to create different colored cubes in order to solve the various puzzles throughout the game and escape this strange, alien world. A blue cube creates a surface that propels anything to come in contact with it in the direction that the square is facing. Green creates a cube that is primarily used in conjunction with the other squares and environmental objects, while orange manipulates a rectangular cube that can be used to reach higher areas, as a surface for green cubes to rest on, or to move.
Once the player has the basics down, the mellow atmosphere of Q.U.B.E. 2 keeps the player involved and introduces new mechanics at at a steady pace. Gameplay can be slow at times, which is part and parcel for puzzle-based games, but Q.U.B.E. 2 provides enough deviation in the mechanics to keep the progression fresh.
Accompanied by subtle, atmospheric music that gradually swells when appropriate, the sense of locomotion in Q.U.B.E. 2, whether launching through the air as a part of a puzzle or plummeting off a high platform with no consequences, leaves the player enraptured and prompted many accidental exclamations of delight during my time with the game. While the ambient music is not present at all times throughout Q.U.B.E. 2, this adds to the sense of urgency, which is fitting for a puzzle game of this nature. The characters in Q.U.B.E 2 are believable and easy to empathize with, thanks in part to the realistic voice acting. Amelia in particular has personal connections outside of her current predicament which gives the player motivation to get her out of her dire situation.
Good news! There is little to no learning curve if you’re old hat with puzzle games. Q.U.B.E 2 employs good use of pacing and gets the player accustomed to solving puzzles early on with ease. Which isn’t to say that the entire game is a no-brainer! Puzzles in Q.U.B.E. 2 require some serious outside-the-box style thinking, but never become controller shatter frustrating.
The attention to detail is extremely prevalent in Q.U.B.E. 2, particularly in the building of the intricate cube formations that are littered throughout the game. Q.U.B.E. 2 employs beautiful graphics and runs smoothly with no significant frame rate drops, and a great use of color palette, starting with more neutral colors and proceeding to lush, natural colors as you progress deeper through areas. Mesmerizing geometric formations can be found throughout and fit well within the theme of Q.U.B.E. 2.
Where other games can be too in your face about the theme of extraterrestrial involvement, the plot of Q.U.B.E. 2 leaves the player with a sense of intrigue.The smooth execution of this normally campy plot device urges the player to continue pressing forward to unravel the mystery behind why the structures were built and how Amelia fit into the overall story.
Editor’s Note: This review was written in conjunction with Bernard “Beano” Huang, a contributor to Sub Cultured. Catch him on “The Bean Stream” every Wednesday and Thursday night at 9PM CST on Sub Cultured’s Twitch channel!
REVIEW | The Punisher Season 2
REVIEW | Spider-Man PS4
Review | Re-Exploring No Man’s Sky Next
REVIEW | Downward Spiral: Horus Station
REVIEW | Smoke and Sacrifice
REVIEW | Far Cry 5
Black Friday sales have become a thing in the UK, in spite of the fact that we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.
A lot of retail outlets go a step further, and start their sales a week (or more) prior to the big day itself. That was when several shops started advertising they would be selling the PlayStation VR bundle with VR Worlds for £249.99 (around $334.00 at time of writing), with many including an option of either Skyrim VR or Gran Turismo Sport.
It’s now a month later, and I find myself looking back at the investment and wondering if I am happy with my purchase, so I thought it might be helpful to share my experiences.
The PlayStation VR bundle itself did not come with the PS Move controllers, but I still had a set from the days when motion control was the direction that the console manufacturers wanted to take their market. Though they have had the sole purpose of gathering dust for a few years.
I couldn’t really afford to buy it, but if I chose the Skyrim bundle, I would be getting a £49.99 game included in the purchase, so I justified the purchase by the fact that I would be saving around £150, as well as already owning a couple of VR titles thanks to the PlayStation Plus offerings of RIGS and Until Dawn : Rush Of Blood.
It’s now a month later, and I find myself looking back at the investment and wondering if I am happy with my purchase, so I thought it might be helpful to share my experiences.
What I have been the most surprised with is the interest from my friends and colleagues.
On the day I rushed to the store during my lunch break to grab the unit before they inevitably sold out, I had several people asking to have a look, and perhaps understandably, some not even understanding that you’d need to plug the system into the PS4. However, once I had explained all this, my manager told me I should leave the office early to go home, wire it all up, then tell him how great it was so that he could try and persuade his family it would be a great present for Christmas!
It didn’t take long for a few colleagues to invite themselves over an evening to try it out. At this point, I had only really tested the waters by playing through the Rogue One X-wing mission in Star Wars Battlefront (a free DLC content pack), which I guarantee will astound any Star Wars fan, although you can quickly establish if they have played any kind of flight game before by how fast they get confused by the controls.
One of my colleagues was a little older than me, and although she had a Wii, clearly hadn’t used a PlayStation controller before, as she was constantly confused by the buttons, but aside from that, was clearly blown away. When the next player put the kit on, I could hear comments such as “It’s a shame you can’t get this for the Wii”, as well as quietly discussing how much money would be required to invest whilst also having to order the PS4. Although I was not in the office the next day, I heard that she was so impressed she was telling everyone.
I’ve travelled to see friends over the holiday season, and having purchased a carry case to store the headset when it is not in use, I’ve taken it with me to let others try it out, and even the friends who were initially resistant at thought of stepping in to virtual reality have changed their mind and asked for go with the feigned reluctance of, “Oh, I suppose I’ll give it a try since you’ve set it all up…”.
I feel I should make it clear that I have not been showing off the VR as a demonstration to my friends as a kind of humble brag. It was purely because the price point means that the average potential buyer will not consider it, as it is too much of a risk if they don’t get on with it. I had had the luxury of trying it myself at a friend’s house before I bought my own.
But getting all my friends to try it is not the only use it has received. Far from it! I have had quite a lot of fun streaming games on twitch.tv. When using the PS4’s native broadcast mode, chat comments are displayed as pop-ups on the view screen inside the headset, rather than reducing your field of vision by having the chat bar along the side of the screen. Whilst this is very handy, it doesn’t display the message for long, and if you don’t have the chance to read it, you can’t exactly scroll through the chat to find it again. I guess it is also open to abuse if you had a lot of users in the chatroom spamming messages. You’d probably want to disable your comments at that point.
So far, there have been two elements of occasional frustration. The first is the tracking of the headset and the move controllers. There are plenty of videos on youtube that will help you reduce this by setting up the camera correctly and calibrating the headset for you. It does a pretty good job right out of the box, but some people have wider faces than others, and this can lead to the vision being a little off because the image is not directly in front of your eyes due to an average position being adopted. You can also suffer from your move controllers going out of the cone of vision of the camera, resulting in frozen hands in the game.
The second obstruction to blissful gaming is that some players will be more susceptible to nausea from movement in certain games. By far the worst offender for this is the game RIGS, which as the name suggests places you in charge of a mechanical rig, which turns its torso as you turn your head. Because the game is designed to be fast-paced, there are multiple “comfort settings” which need to be toggled until you find what works for you. I found it took a couple of days of playing in short bursts before I could tolerate more than 1 match before quitting.
When you have everything set up correctly though, you can find yourself totally immersed. You take for granted that other characters are a little cartoony, but even that feeling disappears as you forget you are sat in your living room (or whichever room you set it up in), because these characters are talking to you with the sort of volume you’d expect from someone being a foot to the right or 6 foot in front of you. I played Star Trek Bridge Crew for the first time yesterday, and found that I played for a straight sitting of 6 hours, as there is no in-game clock to tell you of the time in the real world.
Bizarrely, I still haven’t tried Skyrim, but I’ve watched it being streamed. The only reason I haven’t installed it myself yet is because I know that I will lose far more than 6 hours!
I should also point out, as some people may not be aware, that the PSVR will shortly be sold as a newer model. The PSVR model 2 will be largely similar, but will have some sockets in the headset casing to store the earbuds that come bundled with the system, as well as an upgraded processor box that will allow HDR passthrough. Currently, if you have a HDR-enabled tv you need to disconnect the box to enjoy the extra benefits over a standard tv. For me, that isn’t an issue as I currently don’t have a 4K / HDR television, but if you have upgraded it is definitely something to consider.
With the Playstation Experience showcase highlighting 80+ games in development for the hardware, I am confident that this is not going to be yet another case of Sony releasing a product and letting it slowly die by not supporting it. Games like Skyrim VR and Doom VFR being available, and hopefully Fallout 4 VR being migrated to the PS4 in 2018, there is a lot to feel confident about.
Ultimately, this reflective piece was intended to confirm if I think I wasted my money on the PlayStation VR, or if I feel that it will certain reward my investment.
As of right now, I am definitely happy to have bought it. The variety of games available means that there are experiences available for everyone, ranging from peaceful experiences such as Eagle Flight and Ocean Descent, to role-playing games, such as Star Trek and Skyrim, to scary games like Resident Evil 7 and Rush of Blood : Until Dawn, and not forgetting puzzle games like Tumble and Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes.
– Justin Smith has been a podcaster for over 6 years, and has been visiting the cinema regularly for 4 of them. When he’s not playing games with Star Wars themed miniatures, he spends time with video games.
Aquaman is the Embodiment of “Fine”
REVIEW | The Punisher Season 2
Sub Cultured Heads to PAX South 2019!
REVIEW | The Batman Who Laughs – #1
Sub Cultured is Heading to DakuCon 2018!
It’s 2.45 in the morning, and I have just returned from the latest instalment of the juggernaut that is the Star Wars Saga.
I actually went to a double bill screening of The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, to ensure that I was caught up on the new characters and their introduction. It became quite clear that very little back story is explored with the new generation, and The Last Jedi begins to address that.
To bring us up to date, the Republic was decimated by Starkiller Base, Rey had departed in search of Luke Skywalker, and Finn was left in medical care.
Fast forward two years and we now have Rey meeting Luke, and looking for answers about The Force and how she can use it. Finn is still in the medical bay, and Poe Dameron is becoming a reckless and daring pilot.
As you would expect, there is quite a lot of the movie devoted to Rey seeking guidance from Luke, who has gone to great lengths to isolate himself from the galaxy. We are also introduced to the species native to the island, who have looked after the ancient Jedi temple for thousands of years, and also the Porgs, cuddly looking birdlike creatures that are clearly only in the movie for their cuteness. The setting felt very reminiscent of Fight Club, with recruits following around the master, waiting for some recognition and acceptance.
Towards the end of The Force Awakens we saw that The First Order had confirmed the location of the Resistance headquarters, and were powering up for a second shot when the base was crippled and destroyed. We now have the Resistance evacuating the base ahead of the inevitable counter-attack, in a move that feels very reminiscent of The Empire Strikes Back. If I am honest, I was a little worried that this would set the tone for the entire movie as simply a reskin of Episode V, in the same way that some people consider The Force Awakens to be a reskin of Episode IV.
Luckily, the movie wisely chose to change things around by making a bold decision to introduce new characters quite early on, who become central to the film’s plot.
Finn wakes up from his recovery and wants to go and find Rey, but instead meets Rose, who changes his mind, and becomes his companion for much of the film.
Supreme Leader Snoke was presented as a hologram throughout Episode VII, but here we see him take a central role, as he tries to manipulate his subjects, as any decent villain would do.
We still see regular sniping between General Hux and Kylo Ren, as they vie for favour with Snoke aboard his flagship, and by the end of the movie there is a clear winner in this infantile struggle.
Captain Phasma returns which a much more interesting role, in that she does a lot more than simply walk about ordering others to do as she commands. She proved to be one of my favourites with her increased use as a character, and seeing her engaging in combat is encouraging.
BB-8 seems to have been upgraded from central character with the occasional comedy moment to occasionally on screen, but always commanding attention when he is. BB-9e was introduced in the summer as a First Order version of the new favourite droid, but he is in and out of the movie so quickly a more cynical person might think he was only featured in order to sell more toys.
Rey and Kylo Ren had an intense fight towards the end of The force Awakens, and there is a large investment in exploring the relationship between the force-wielders.
This is one aspect which frustrates me a little. Anakin Skywalker was the Chosen One, and was supposed to be one of the best Jedi. In this movie we see a lot of new Jedi powers, and whilst it is good for the story, it did leave me beginning to predict the next series of new powers that we would have seen.
I would suggest that there is plenty of space combat to keep fans happy, plenty of drama, and loss of characters, though some new tricks you didn’t see coming are generally well received. The humour is a little more abundant, but some of the jokes miss the mark, but they can’t all be golden. There is also a cameo of a character that was very well hidden from the media, so I will not mention who it is, but it was great to see.
My biggest criticism of the movie is that it felt like it was 2.5 hours long, which is was, but that is like saying I was fed up with The Return Of The King for going on another 20 minutes or so after they could have ended the movie. I will almost definitely see the movie again at the cinema, but it began to feel like so much needed to be crammed into this movie that the Episode IX team will need to work hard to create some form of peril for our new heroes.
This film is definitely much darker than the previous one, but it feels like it is constantly trying to throw in a joke or sidewards glance to remind you that there are other factions and allegiances being represented, and I have already mentioned the Porgs.
Overall I enjoyed the movie, and would recommend it, although not before advising of a trip to use the toilet prior to the film starting.
– Justin Smith has been a podcaster for over 6 years, and has been visiting the cinema regularly for 4 of them. When he’s not playing games with Star Wars themed miniatures, he spends time with video games.
Aquaman is the Embodiment of “Fine”
REVIEW | The Punisher Season 2
Colorado Anime Fest Wrap Up
Viz Media Announces Free Streaming Anime!
Sub Cultured is Headed to Colorado Anime Fest!
New Star Wars Trilogy in the Works
** NOTE: During the time of writing the SNES Classic had yet to be announced, and as such Nenedamus was still awesome and ahead of the game **
Nostalgia is wasted on the young. So many things in gaming these days are sequels, or updates, or HD special editions, or whatever the hell most companies feel like repackaging to sell to the old folks like me. And thankfully for something refreshing from that formula, the NES Classic was released – a mini console that thanks to today’s technology was able to pack 30 classic games from Nintendo’s 8-bit era into one convenient unit. It opened for $59.99 and it sounded pretty good at the time. Classic Nintendo IP like the Mario and Zelda series along with Metroid were now plug and play, with many other popular titles rounding out the 30.
And those positive vibes lasted for roughly 38 seconds.
There was absolutely no way in the infinite 8-bit hells that this price was going to remain steady. Just like all other re-issued nostalgia it was going to be bought in bulk, stocked out, and sold to gouge the highest bidders for profit. I saw the device go as high as $600 on eBay (a 1000% price hike for those playing along at home) and people jumping at the opportunity to have one. 1.5 million units were sold in just a couple months on the market. Which turned out to be… well, all of them.
So now we come to the recent development in the NES Classic saga. Recently Nintendo, without any warning or heads up, stopped production on the mini console a couple weeks ago. They have since announced that they would cease production in not only the North American region but in Japan and Europe as well. What happened next, though, surprised the hell out of Old Man Nene though for such a simple thing – the gaming community, at least what I’ve seen on social media, lost its damn mind. But it didn’t make any sense to me. Most kid gamers my age still have our NES and games intact. Younger gamers have online emulators and ROMS. Why was this such a big thing in the gaming community that I simply couldn’t bring myself to care about? What was the draw? Well kids, to all you Aging Gamer faithful that listen to Old Man Nene in his rocking chair tell you how it used to be – I can only offer the immortal words of DJ Khaled:
Congratulations. You played yourself.
It’s basic economics and mindshare. Firstly, Nintendo never meant for this to be an ongoing product – why would they when the Switch was just around the corner? This was always going to be special edition and never a permanent offering. The number of units manufactured was set to reflect that. Look at any supply and demand scenario – the second the “super rare” tag gets slapped on an item the price spikes like a rocket, and people are willing to pay more for a scarce product. What Nintendo did was create an artificial demand and gamers responded precisely the way they were supposed to.
It’s like some small restaurants that have lines for blocks leading to their front door. Sure it’ll draw more people and generate more demand, but they don’t tell you that there’s only 10 seats inside and that’s what causing the line.
[Side note: that was an angry morning in Philadelphia for Old Man Nene. I just wanted some pancakes.]
Secondly, they created an environment where gamers would have Nintendo control every free thought in their brains for the foreseeable future. The NES Classic dropped in November 2016. The Switch hit shelves four months later in March 2017. Look at the timing of those events, including the NES Classic price gouge in the middle. This is not a coincidence. It could be argued that hands clamoring for the NES Classic could ultimately lead to a Switch sale. Bummed that the NES Classic is done for? That 8-bit longing, along with murky rumors about a virtual console on the Switch, could be enough mind control to have gamers shelling out fistfuls of cash in the future for games they bought already via the NES Classic. I mean it’s not really that far a stretch… I’m sure there’s a bunch of Square-Enix fans that have 7 different versions and releases of Final Fantasy IV.
In the end, my prediction is this: The NES Classic is dead, but I can see a SNES Classic in the not too distant future.
So go ahead and be mad that you couldn’t get an NES Classic. Celebrate and rejoice if you managed to snag one. But remember this kids – in the end we’re all just logic boards in the gaming machine.
[And while I cannot condone a workaround that theoretically involves easily constructing a Raspberry Pi powered RetroPie DIY unit, legend has it (seriously you guys) would only take an hour to get together, be ultra cheap and allow you to play your old 8 and 16 bit games. I can also neither confirm nor deny such things exists.]
REVIEW | Salt and Sanctuary
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
REVIEW | Spider-Man PS4
Review | Re-Exploring No Man’s Sky Next
