[Update]: Salt and Sacrifice, Salt and Sanctuary's direct sequel, has been pinned for a May 10th, 2022 release date.

Salt and Sanctuary released on the PlayStation Store last month, but ever since then there was not even a single shred of information from the developers in regards to the long awaited PC version, only that it will be coming in the near future.

Since this article wouldn't exist otherwise it appears that the future is now as Salt and Sanctuary has just materialized on Steam with essentially no announcement message to follow it. Even the Steam Store page seems confused as the very first news post talks about the upcoming big release. Bizarre marketing choices aside, here's one of the more recent trailers so you can get an idea of what Salt and Sanctuary is really like:

After watching that trailer I think you can now understand why I put the word inspired under quotation marks. Salt and Sanctuary isn't simply inspired by Dark Souls, it is about as close as a 2D game can get to it without attracting the infernal wrath of copyright lawyers. You have numerous weapons that all come with unique playstyles, an open-ended level design that's focused around exploration, giant bosses that are capable of beating you down in to a pulp, and let's not forget the bleak and depressing atmosphere.

The one area Salt and Sanctuary didn't take pointers from Dark Souls is in the various platforming sections, which from my limited experience are some of the most aggravating parts of the entire game since the controls are clearly not designed with jumping around in mind. Other than that one annoyance I found Salt and Sanctuary to be a rather enjoyable, albeit slightly clunky experience. Not a replacement for the Souls series in any sense, but perhaps an intriguing little diversion before the first Dark Souls 3 DLC arrives.

You can grab Salt and Sanctuary on Steam for €16/$16 which includes the currently ongoing 10% discount.