Saltsea Chronicles

Saltsea Chronicles is a story-driven adventure about Captain Maja’s misfit crew, who must heist their impounded ship and mount a rescue. You guide the crew across Saltsea, a post-flood world of islands built on the ruins of the old world, exploring communities, investigating a conspiracy and deciding where to go and who to bring along.

The post-flood world

The islands hold strange and varied communities shaped by life after the Flood. The world was betrayed by the so-called Hoarders, and its people barely remember the time before the disaster. They have rebuilt on pre-flood ruins, with new talents and technologies taking the place of the old. As you explore, you uncover different pathways through the islands and meet locals in conversations that can be brief or in-depth, at different times of day.

Guide the crew

You lead the entire crew through the story, investigating the mystery of your captain’s disappearance, uncovering secrets and creating or resolving tensions. You also meet people who may ask to join the crew. In each chapter, you choose an island to visit and which crew members to send on the expedition; these decisions unlock different content, shape relationships and create opportunities to deal with conflicts within the crew.

A fast navigation system lets you move between islands as you explore. Crew tensions appear as Issues, small relationship quests that you can track and resolve, or sometimes leave unresolved.

Follow the mystery

You investigate whether the captain was kidnapped or left of her own free will. Murl’s Log helps you keep track of the mystery, while the Almanac collects records of your encounters as stickers. Different playthroughs lead to different islands and characters, with dramatic consequences for the crew. You can replay from any chapter and branch your save file to meet new crew members, explore other communities and follow alternative paths through the story.

Island activities

You can play Spoils, a trick-taking card game with local communities. Some islands have their own house rules.

Art and music

The game uses a print-inspired art style based on risograph techniques, with bespoke animation and a storybook look for its fantasy-tinged world. Its original soundtrack and soundscape, by Eli Rainsberry, is shaped by the places and characters.