6) Salt And Sanctuary
Salt and Sanctuary isn’t shy about borrowing heavily from the Souls series that it takes its inspiration from, but it does such a brilliant job of refining that gameplay formula in 2D guise that we can’t help but adore it.
Gameplay is a familiar loop for anyone who’s played a Dark Souls game. Enemies drop salt, which can later be used at sanctuary points to increase your avatar’s level and statistics. But sanctuaries are few and far between and death means the loss of precious salt. Salt and Sanctuary, then, is all about risk versus reward.
The gameplay is certainly addictive, but the rest of its design is just as accomplished, too. Visually, it’s superb, with a moody, foreboding tone that creates a genuinely creepy tension. Each of the game’s weapons feel appropriately weighty, the accompanying sound effects raw, and the death animations brutal.
In the end, Salt and Sanctuary is a superb hybrid of Dark Souls and Symphony Of The Night that’s right up at the top of the pile of this year’s most distinguished indie games.