Salt and Sanctuary for Mac: A Detailed Guide

Step 1: Create a New Character and Initial Setup

After launching the game, select “New Game” from the main menu.

1. Choose a Class: Such as Knight, Cleric, Thief, etc. This determines your starting attributes, equipment, and skill baseline, but has very little restriction on late-game builds.
2. Choose a Sacred Vow: Such as “Stone Root,” “Iron Stone,” etc. This determines the creed of the first sanctuary you establish, affecting which NPCs can be recruited and which unique items can be purchased.
3. Character Appearance Customization: You can adjust hairstyle, color, etc.—purely cosmetic.
4. After confirming, enter your character name and the game officially begins.

Step 2: Basic Movement, Exploration & Interaction

The game uses keyboard + mouse or full keyboard controls. Below are the default key bindings (which can be changed in system settings):

• Move: A (left), D (right). Use W/S when climbing ladders.
• Jump: Spacebar.
• Light Attack: Left mouse button or J.
• Heavy Attack / Use Left-Hand Weapon: Right mouse button or K.
• Roll / Backstep / Dash: Left Shift. Use in combination with directional keys.
• Use Item: Q, E, R, F (corresponding to slots 1–4 in the bottom-left quick bar).
• Interact (open doors, pick up, talk): W (when facing an object) or Enter key.

Tip: Your primary goal early on is to find and activate a “Sanctuary,” which serves as this game’s bonfire/checkpoint.

Step 3: Core Loop——Combat, Growth & Sanctuary Management

3.1 Combat & Death

• Combat requires careful stamina bar (green) management—attacking, rolling, and blocking all consume stamina.
• After death, you will respawn at the last sanctuary you prayed at. All carried “salt” will drop at the place of death, and an enemy named “Salt Wraith” will be generated to guard it. You need to return to the place of death, defeat the wraith, or touch the salt pile to recover your salt. If you die again, it will be permanently lost.

3.2 Leveling and Skill Tree

1. Interact with the stone statue in the sanctuary by pressing W and select “Level Up.”
2. Spend accumulated “salt” to increase your character’s level and gain Skill Points (Black Pearl).
3. Open the Skill Tree menu (shortcut: Tab) and use skill points to unlock nodes. You can expand in any direction to build a unique character.

3.3 Sanctuary Functions

Placing different “sacred objects” (such as stone statues of the Cleric, Blacksmith, Priest, etc.) in the sanctuary can summon the corresponding NPCs, providing the following services:

• Pray: Restore health, remove curses, and upgrade weapon elemental attributes.
• Forge and Enhance: Use materials to upgrade weapons and armor.
• Buy Items: Purchase supplies, weapons, and spells.
• Teleport: Fast travel between activated sanctuaries (requires the “Coral Idol” item).

Step 4: Boss Fights and Area Progression

At the end of each area, there is usually a powerful Boss guarding it. Defeating the Boss is the key to advancing the story and entering new areas.

1. Defeating a Boss grants a large amount of “Salt” and a “Boss Heart.”
2. “Boss Hearts” can be exchanged at specific NPCs for unique weapons, spells, or skills.
3. After defeating an area Boss, a path to a new area usually opens up, and you may gain new movement abilities (such as a double jump) to explore places that were previously unreachable.

Step 5: Beating the Game and Multiple Playthroughs

After defeating the final Boss, the game offers the option to enter “New Game+.”

• New Game+ (NG+): Keeps all levels, equipment, skills, and most key items, but enemies and Bosses become significantly stronger and yield more Salt.
• You can choose to enter NG+ immediately, or continue exploring unfinished areas and collecting items in your current playthrough.
• The game has no traditional “export” feature; character progress is saved automatically on your local machine. Steam Cloud saves will sync your progress.