One of those games with a truly unique atmosphere. Dark, brooding, but with some sparkles of hope and belief in higher purpose. Certainly not a horror.

It gives you a lot of freedom: regarding both mechanics (skills, weapons) and story. You can explore many areas in a non-linear way and even skip some bosses, but then you won't get all the achievements of course. Which is not a big issue, because the game is good enough to do another playthrough.

There's a good amount of lore in item descriptions and dialogues. Combined with a huge, labyrinthine world containing many secrets, it's a boon for explorers. The secrets can be easily found without looking at a wiki, though. The game requires some backtracking if you want to explore everything, but backtracking in this game isn't tedious at all.

The combat system is very good compared to other platformers. Requires some getting used to, but you'll be executing combos with ease after a few minutes.

However, you may find Salt & Sanctuary quite imbalanced. Some weapons and spells are far superior than others. Not a big issue as there's no PvP, but depending on which skills you choose you may find boss fights either frustrating or boringly easy. Finding these OP combinations may be considered part of the game, though, as long as you don't use a wiki.

Speaking of wikis, there are many things which aren't explained in-game, like encumbrance system (apparently you get slower after reaching 25/50/75% encumbrance) or damage scaling on weapons. Some items have hidden properties. However, you don't need to know everything to beat the game and you can easily say if an item is better than your current one by seeing if the stats are green or red. One thing worth knowing is that you can invest more than 1 point in most skills (but you probably won't need this on your first playthrough anyway) and that you can reclaim skill points using grey pearls. Also, it makes a huge difference whether you're holding a weapon as one-handed or two-handed.

Personally, I find the lack of in-game explanations interesting, a bit like in most roguelikes. I have checked a few minor things on a wiki or asked a friend, but it turned out it was completetly unnecessary as it made the game too easy. Once you get to know the areas and enemies it should be relatively quick and easy to start a new character and make the same progress, if you're really unhappy with your choices.

One final tip: DON'T PLAY AS A MAGE. It's OP as ****. I defeated almost every boss in just a few seconds using spells. I guess the developers will fix the balance a bit in the future, but right now choose mage only if you don't mind making the game too easy. On the other hand, it required some training to use the spells effectively, but it was rather disappointing to not even see what most bosses' attacks are.

Also, try using a gamepad instead of a keyboard. Some things are easier on a keyboard, but you may find a controller more natural for this kind of game, like in most platformers.

If you're stuck or want to make sure that you're progressing through the game in the correct order, there's an excellent "Spoiler-Free Where Do I Go/What Do I Do Next" guide on reddit.