Saltsea Chronicles

I love the art. Intriguing story, fun minigame!

Okay, this is one where I had to get used to the aesthetic, but once I did get used to it, it felt natural, homey, familiar, like these multi-colored folk were my friends. Keep in mind that despite the bright colors and clear shapes, this goes dark places freely and often, but you're always making choices with your crew of fractious, complicated buddies. Lots of complex conflicts - the game always feels strangely gentle, but not straightforward. I usually love games that are essentially navigating lore, descriptions, and conversations - that's all this game is. So much text! a lot of branching! I hope to replay it and see how different it gets.

还不错，美术风格和世界观很对胃口，角色塑造和叙事节奏一般般

Maravilloso. Ni que decir que volveré a jugarlo para explorar cada rincón de mis caminos inexplorados. Un hito de la ficción interactiva.

[h2] Finding home [/h2] Stories are such a powerful force, they can divide us or connect us. In this developers work we find that duality represented as well. In [b] Mutazione [/b] the mc Kai is forced to learn the social codes and navigate the societal intricasies of an insular island society. The focus there is on nature, on showing the strength of society and the resilience of individuals. On the island, as in small towns, everyone knows each other and everyone meddles. There is gossip, there is misunderstanding and some reluctance to accept the new. The newcomer Kai must learn to integrate her goals with the islanders. The relationship she has with her grandpa is touching, and what remains with me of the game is the wonder of exploration (finding the swimming hole) and the gradual unfolding of that story around the central nexus of their world tree. There is the same sort of mythology of strange world inhabited by creatures we do not fully understand, people open up slowly. And they begin to tell Kai the story of their life. The way the community comes together in the end is nothing shy of amazing. [h3] Home is where the heart is [/h3] I found that [b] Saltsea chronicles [/b] built on this base expertly, there is the same sort of adventure style exploration of the world with thought bubbles. Which kind of remind me Disco Elysiums thought cabinet system. And they build upon it with the dialogue system, you pick one of two options and the story unfolds around it. Sometimes you can pick what looks like the wrong option, and that is no less interesting. The choice of companions also matters greatly in how the narrative evolves, with the amount of choices made you could almost call it a kind of emergent narrative. This also greatly enhances replayability. What i really like here is the emphasis on the story. The crew of the De Kelpie start out as mutual strangers (kind of) and they have to find their way into the world as well as a path forward. The event that determines their course is of course the departure of their captain Maya. There is a sort of reluctance to accept this at first, visible mostly with Molpe of course, and confusion. But as they learn more about events they begin to see their voyage as a quest. The ambigous nature of the story means that you can lay your own emphasis on words and interpret meaning as you wish. The characters are wonderfully written, there is the stodgy historian Murl, who learns to feel for others again. The adventurous and motherly Stew, who forms the nexus of the crew. The decisive single mother Molpe who has to deal with her loss. The introverted and nonbinary Iris who is kind of autistic but tries so hard to make her own way. And of course all the stragglers you pick up along the way, i will avoid spoilers around those but i have a suspicion that the destination you choose matters in this as well. In any case, you find that the crew slowly learn to rely upon each other and begin to regard themselves as family. As they begin to understand the past they can move forward to uncharted waters. What is so beautiful here is the way they make the De Kelpie a home. They learn to find solace and belonging in each other, as they confide and support each other. Collectively they mourn and find meaning. As they mark passage and cross borders they also deal with heartbreak and loss. This makes the characters so real and multifaceted. [h3] The sea took everything [/h3] Sometimes the Fates weave cruel twists and turns into their plaids. So too must people learn to deal with things they cannot understand. The choice for empathy is usually the right one as demonstrated in this game. Patience, kindness and understanding go a long way to healing rifts and clearing up misunderstandings. And with friends we feel like we can handle the whole world. So ultimately the story we tell ourselves becomes the story we tell others. But the author always remains at leisure to edit, it is a work in progress. And its messy, like some of the choices in this game. Sometimes there is silence, there are arguments, there is awkwardness. Sometimes things cant be resolved anymore. Like Neshko has to learn to live with his past. Or Murl who has to find a way to move on. So there is also a kind of finality that we have to reckon with. But who knows what lies around the bend, where will we moor next? So sail on brave seamen, take refuge in the wise words of Peeble von Dray.

Saltsea Chronicles is a visual novel about heavy themes told through common experiences of love and friendships, worries and regrets. With that, it shares a lot with Mutazione, the studio previous outing. However, it feels much grander in scope, and that's all down to the change of theme. The narrative here is not on the effect of colonialism on an indigenous tribe anymore but is a tale of communities and rebuilding in a post-capitalist world. Everything follows. A full archipelago to explore, instead of a village. A crew to manage, instead of a single protagonist. Even the visual style is now zoomed out, giving the painterly art style much more room to breathe, to play with shapes and colours, free to be abstract. It's a game that stuck with me all year because of these cohesive design choices as much as for the wonderful cast of characters. It even has an in-theme trick-taking card game, what's not to love?

I really like the story and the writing. There's also a lot of beautiful art in this game. The character designs are great, and the landscapes for each location are very beautiful and evocatively drawn. Overall it's a solid game for fans of visual novel style games and point and click adventure type games. My one drawback in my personal experience for this game is that there are so many things to interact with and click on, and so many conversations to read through that it can sometimes become really overwhelming. I try not to play the game in too long of sessions because otherwise my eyes will just start to get tired of reading and I might find myself just spamming clicks to get through everything. This also comes from the fact though that I like be very thorough in games like this and see everything though, so it might just be a me thing. Overall a solid game, and I could see many people finding this appealing, especially when it comes to the dynamics of your crew and the key decision making that progresses everyone's stories and resolves key conflicts.

Absolute delight of videogame. 11/10

This game is somewhat different from what I usually play. I played this after playing Mutazione so my hopes were pretty high. Gotta say, I wasn't disappointed in the least bit. You play as the lively crew of De Kelpie exploring a world where the seas have submerged almost all habitable land due to humanity's crimes against nature pre-Flood (Saltsea's version of apocalypse). Captain Maja has disappeared so it's up to you to sleuth your way around the archipelago to figure out what happened and where she can be found. The world of Saltsea has its fair share of spirit and science - scientists on Youlouca, story-tellers on Sky-Eye, dreamsailors everywhere, mutated flora and fauna (njars, ventfeeders, pinroot, nightberries); and like our modern world, you have those who stand firm on either school of thought. As the crew traverses the seas chasing down a mysterious ship with indigo sails, you learn the nature of the land with the help of Peeble von Dray who occasionally pops up in dialogue (and is apparently, EVERYWHERE - I'm not sure if we get to meet him. This game needs a replay) as well as keep stickers of every little thing you stumble upon in your travels. The stickers rage from rudder oil to food stalls to feisty little crabs. (Stickers are love, stickers are life. All games should have stickers as collectibles!) Every decision counts. Mend your crew's relationship, chart their character growth, or not. Decide whether to pursue science or spirit, fact or fiction, compassion or judgment. It's all up to you. Watch tensions build and unravel between the crew members and the world. Heck, the game offers so much replayability value it'd be a shame to not try different routes each time and see what you uncover. Also, did I mention the very, very pleasant art style? It scratched the same itch in my mind that games like I Am Dead and TOEM did. My rating? 9.3/10 Love and lost is inevitable on the horizon. You cannot gain some without losing some, even though sometimes two losses come first before the gains do. Now back to achievement and sticker hunting I go.

WOW