Silt (video game)

The player begins their exploration of the two-dimensional, black-and-white oceanic environment chained up for unknown reasons.^[3] From the start, they will encounter different types of fish with varying abilities which can be used to traverse levels of increasing difficulty, including piranhas which can bite through restraints, or hammerhead sharks who can smash obstacles preventing progression.^[4] Continued exploration eventually leads to uncovering more and more eerie mysteries in the ocean depths.^[5]

Development

Silt is the debut game for developer Spiral Circus.^[6] The inspiration for both the art style and the oppressive, isolating atmosphere of the game came from one half of Silt’s development team, Tom Mead's own watercolour paintings of characters in vast, empty abysses. This is also the origin of the game's title.^[6] The team attended Stugan Summer Camp, a non-profit accelerator program for game developers,^[7] after which they were able to produce their first demo.^[6]

The game was announced at the PC Gaming Show at E3 2021.^[4][8] It is the first title published by Fireshine Games since their rebrand from Sold Out.^[9][10]

Reception

Pre-release

The demo received favourable reviews from several publications, including Eurogamer's Christian Donlan, who compared its haunting yet minimalistic, monochromatic art style to the caricatures of Ronald Searle.^[19] Before launch, others also noted the occasional difficulty in distinguishing between background objects and key interactive pieces of the environment.^[3]

Several outlets such as Polygon, Rock Paper Shotgun, and Screen Rant featured Silt on their lists of 2022's most anticipated horror and indie games.^{[20][21][22][23]}

Post-release

Silt received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.^{[15][16][17][18]}