Silt

Things picked up with the ending, but Silt‘s bosses are in sore need of an overhaul. Thankfully, Silt has plenty of stand-out encounters to help erase the memory of those few middling ones. If you’ve the remotest interest in what lies below, this atmospheric aquatic outing is well worth diving into.

Spiral Circus' first game makes a great splash with its atmosphere and art style, but design and story limitations anchor its true potential.

Silt has immaculate undersea monster vibes, but finicky puzzle solutions and ungenerous checkpointing make them hard to properly enjoy.

You know how there are certain games that you just know you have to play about ten seconds into its trailer? That’s how I felt about Silt from Spiral Circus Games when I first saw it. I’m a sucker for any game that can provide an immersive experience in a creepy or tense atmosphere, which is exactly what Silt promised. Now I just had to find out whether or not Silt would make good on its promise or if it would sink into mediocrity.

All barnacles, salty sea life, and rusty, otherworldly machinery, Silt is an underwater odyssey filled with murky mystery and some pretty neat puzzles. In a nutshell, it's sort of like Limbo, but in the ocean.

The impeccable graphics and thought-provoking narrative shine so brightly in this puzzle/adventure title that the game’s defects, like the frustrating lack of direction, stand out in grimy, stark contrast. The moment I began playing, I was under the aquatic world’s monochromatic and disquieting spell. However, the magic was continuously dispelled as I increasingly encountered imbalanced challenges and tedious objectives.

Silt feels reminiscent of iconic puzzle adventures like Limbo and INSIDE, but its lack of originality and story see it fail to be as memorable.

But despite all of this criticism, the visual presentation, moody atmosphere, and interesting, if underutilized, possession mechanic makes SILT quite the experience that can be recommended with some strong caveats attached. But those gorgeous visuals may not be enough to carry this game, and it is only a handful of hours long and has no real replay value. Ultimately it’s probably best to finally say that it would be worth it on sale if you’re looking for a short, interesting little thing to tide you over until something bigger comes along.

Silt is a rather short, basic to control game. The story was intriguing from the start, and if you can look past how bland and unfun it is to play at times it might be worth checking out. For me though a nice art style and possibly interesting story simply isn’t enough to overcome how poor feeling and frustrating I found everything else.