No area in Salt and Sacrifice is easy to reach. The game's advanced difficulty curve will leave your palms sweating, and its sheer size makes it difficult to get anywhere, much less uncover every area in the game.
Still, some places in the game are especially difficult to get to, either because they're locked behind difficult enemies, or because they're easy to overlook. You'll have to fight your way through musty tombs and climb enormous trees to find them, but the game makes it worth your while. Fight for every grain of salt and be rewarded with wonders.
5 The Unclean Oasis
Compared to the rest of the game, most of Bol Gerahn is fairly tame. Sure, there's lightning spewing spider-human hybrid and a necromancer hiding in a temple dedicated to the worship of ancient gods, but that's all in a day's work for the Marked Inquisitor. One place you might miss as you battle your way across the desolate plains, though, is the Unclean Oasis. Getting there takes a long haul: you'll have to defeat both of the area's bosses and get through most of the temple of Bol Gerahn, an arduous task by any measure. There are also a ton of spinning blades and difficult enemies to test yourself against, which means you'll get obliterated more than once just trying to find the place.
Fortunately, the Unclean Oasis is a bit of a respite from the hordes of undying creatures that have harried you thus far. There are relatively few enemies here, and, if you drop down in the middle of the area, you'll meet Sherif Inquisitor Keir, who will give you access to a new faction. If you've been following Inquisitor Selet's questline, you'll also find him nearby, and in need of another Guiltless Shard.
4 Betrayal Crag
With its rotating spike traps of doom, poison water, and mages that are more difficult than is reasonable for the third area of the game, Corvius' Mire isn't an area that invites exploration. So, if you want to make your way to Betrayal Crag, a name that inspires absolutely zero confidence, you'd expect to have a rough go of it. Salt and Sacrifice does not disappoint. To get to the Crag, you'll have to beat two mages, along with the area's two bosses, and go on a difficult platforming journey that, mercifully, involves relatively few spikes.
While Betrayal Crag isn't exactly as scary as the name suggests, it isn't a nice place. It's filled with the fly-faced Sacred Knights and Abnormalities, huge humanoids that will knock you senseless. The area also includes the mage hunt for Luxian Steel-Glass, the Luminamancer, who, while not as difficult as the Corpumancer, will give you a serious run for your money.
3 Ashpeak Castle
Though it's in the first area of the game, the Ashborne Village, the Ashpeak Castle area is more difficult to get to than most. You can only get there by slogging your way up through the enemy-filled Archbridge District after killing and devouring the hearts of three named mages. Once you've gone through the hunts and evaded all of the tripwires, you'll be given access to Valesnight Square, just across the way from the castle. But, if you thought you were getting across without any trouble, think again. The Green Huntsman is here, and he will mess you up. Despite living in the first area, the huntsman is one of the most ferocious enemies in the first half of the game and changes his attacks to become more and more difficult as he gets closer to death.
Once you've hunted the huntsman, though, Ashpeak castle opens up like a vista full of armored soldiers and nameless mage hunts. You'll get some of the most valuable early game loot here, and unlock even more secret rooms of the castle as you progress through the game. Considering the challenge it takes to get here, though, it's not surprising if you didn't notice it existed. Or pretended not to notice.
2 Sentinel Caves
Getting through Dreadstone Peak is no picnic. Winds howl through the crags, Hazeburnt Cleftins leap out at you from out of nowhere, and there's a blue dragon that does a pretty good job at trying to murder you. Oh, and there are also four or five hidden areas underground that are filled to the brim with some of the toughest mages in the game. Of all of those places, though, the most difficult to find is the Sentinal caves. To even get there, the game puts you through a series of platforming challenges that use every movement item you've uncovered, find inquisitor Amben's scroll room, and go right. You'll probably fall once or twice, and, depending on the height, you'll find yourself out half of your silver and an aching sternum.
Things don't get any easier once you get there. Though the sickle-wielding Rimereaders aren't too difficult to slay, it's here that you'll find the hunt for the Umbramancer, Vodin Tenebre, one of the hardest mages in the game. Fighting him is a reward of a kind, but only if you consider being chased by deadly shadows a good time.
1 Hallowed Hill
While the mysterious Elder Copse is supposed to be a secret to everybody, everyone playing Salt and Sacrifice will get there eventually. The real secret area is Hallowed Hill, an area so obscure that you probably wouldn't know existed without the help of online guides. To get there, you'll have to fight your way through Dreadstone Peak, use the runes found there to get to the Elder Copse, and find a secret area in the caves underneath the area's first obelisk. Fight the Imperian warden down there, and you'll notice several runes glowing on the walls. If you happened to bring a pad of paper with you while you were playing or have a prodigious memory for nonsense characters, you will later be able to enter them into the runegate, and voila! The Hallowed Hill.
While there are no bosses or mages to be found in this area, that doesn't make it easy. Hallowed Hill is filled with tough-as-nails Rust Knights and even tougher platforming challenges. Make it all the way through, though, and you'll be rewarded with a fantastic suit of heavy armor and the Drowned Key. This key itself leads to a fairly inaccessible area in Pardoner's Vale with a new merchant hiding inside that will sell you crafting materials normally dropped by mages.