If you’re anything like me, you may tend to struggle solving puzzle games. On the other hand, maybe you’re just an exploration lover and you’re on the hunt for a mini atmospheric adventure game to play in your spare time.
If any of these apply to you, Silt might be the perfect candidate to add to your collection.
Taking place in a creepy and surreal underwater world, Silt’s narrative is vastly open to interpretation. There are, however, some important clues we can use to derive a main storyline.
To begin with, you start out as a diver who has been chained up to the bottom of the ocean. The diver then finds the ability to possess underwater creatures, allowing them to escape and navigate through difficult paths. This becomes the main method utilised to solve puzzles throughout the game, which I personally found was a unique and quirky approach to an exploration mechanic.
Alongside various underwater life you encounter along the way, old statues of fox-like beings can be discovered lying around in different locations. This implies the world may have been previously ruled by god-like figures, who were using a selection of human divers as their slaves.
Our diver, the protagonist, is given the prophetic task of freeing the remaining divers by defeating and absorbing the souls of four goliaths. ‘Goliaths’ are deep sea giants which appear to be dominated by some sort of superior, supernatural force.
Regardless of what you may make of the story, this much remains clear: The underwater kingdom we see before us used to glorify otherworldly beings to a devoted level, functioning on some sort of creature/human exploitation. Even though this world has been abandoned, it has created a vast amount of destruction and we are now left to navigate through it and pick up the pieces. Silt is essentially the embodiment of this process, guiding the player’s journey to freedom.
The narrative structure reminded me somewhat of my journey when playing Little Nightmares; a game which also revolves around escaping a dark and corrupted location. The concept is simple yet effective, allowing a lot of room for exploration tactics. Both of these function on puzzles solved via trial and error, which is something I personally enjoyed. You could say the combination of exploration mixed with trial-and-error complements each other. In my opinion, it creates an effective recipe for an intuitive atmospheric/puzzle hybrid, such as Silt.
Many puzzles in the game require the player to thoroughly interact with the world's surroundings, which naturally counts as a plus towards atmosphere and adventure. As someone who is relatively new to this genre, I appreciated the intuitiveness of Silt’s puzzle discovery approach.
However, players who pertain to more advanced puzzle-solving knowledge may find Silt falls flat on its difficulty level. Those with previous experience in games such as Mist will find the challenges quick and easy to complete, running the risk of it perhaps feeling repetitive and even a little boring. That does not mean, however, that they cannot still enjoy the game for what I believe to be its strongest point, exploration.
If I were to judge the game solely based on its puzzles, I would rate it a 4 or maybe a 5 at best, so I can understand why some of the reviews on Steam are calling this game ‘too easy’. I find that with a game such as Silt, it would be unfair to treat it solely as a puzzle game when so much work has been evidently invested into its unique atmosphere. I can’t help reflecting on it as a little piece of art, something someone came up with in a game jam perhaps. So, let’s go on and talk a little bit about ambience, shall we?
The game’s art style expresses itself through eerie graphics with a drawn-on effect, almost lightly resembling those of Tim Burton. The colour coding is a striking combination of black, grey and white shades, giving it a slightly gothic undertone.
The underwater sounds are minimal yet hypnotic, consisting of a deep ocean ambience together with an orchestrated soundscape. These sounds often intensify in line with the player’s threat level. Many dangerous moments are indicated primarily through irksome sound cues, such as when a flurry of eels begins to follow the player in the dark. Even though I was not able to fully decipher the image, I knew from the gradual crescendo on that shrill violin note that I was being hunted.
For myself, the experience of Silt felt like playing a mini dark version of the underwater exploration game Abzu. Perhaps I am a little biased for all things gothic, but I find the art captivating and worthy of special praise. So, with that being said, my hat goes off to our art director Mr Mead...very nicely done! You can check out some of his concept art here: www.mrmead.co.uk
SUMMARY
I will make the decision to rate Silt based on its atmosphere and exploration elements. For that alone, I give it an 8 out of 10. It is important, however, to keep in mind that if you are after a game which challenges your problem-solving, you will find this game disappointing.
If you enjoyed games such as Voyage and Abzu, this little indie gem may be the perfect experience for you.
Silt is available on both PC and console, for a moderately small price of £11.99. It has a playtime of approx. three hours long and in my personal opinion, well worth its value.
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