Not too long ago, I was looking through the Steam store to see what new games were out when I came across a game called “Silt.” It stood out to me, with an indie look, similar to Play Dead Studio’s 2010 “LIMBO” or 2016 “INSIDE.” Both had unique art styles and interesting but simple gameplay. They were well received by the gaming community. Looking through the store page, I saw it met all these criteria for one of those fun indie games. On top of that, it was a deep-sea game, and I do have a slight phobia of the ocean so I thought it would be fun and exciting to play. Now that I have played it, I would say that it is…, ok. That is all though. 

 First off, some background for the game. In “Silt” you are a deep-sea diver that has the power to possess other sea creatures to avoid being eaten by bigger monsters. Your goal is to reach a machine and of course the goal and ending are ambiguous and open to interpretation as with all these kinds of indie “horror” games. It has a promising game plan, so is it great? Well, it has its ups and downs. For starters, the visuals are amazing and what drew me in the first place. It has a unique style that perfectly fits its mysterious deep-sea vibe, and on top of these visuals is a good ominous soundtrack that immerses the player, which always improves gameplay because you really feel the game. Gameplay wise though, it is a little bit stale. The biggest issue I had with the game was how short it was. I only got about one and a half hours out of it, which would be fine for any normal indie game, except that “Silt” cost a whopping $15 which I found overpriced for such a short game.  

Its gameplay is interesting, but the puzzles are not necessarily the best in the world, which is subtracts from the experience. It also has a ton of bugs. Personally, I found one where I kept getting thrown back and the controls glitched out. This is not too worrying as the game did just release at the start of the month; however, it does show a small lack of polish and testing when developing the game. The last thing I would like to mention is the endgame difficulty curve. It felt rushed and sudden. Instead of building up difficulty overtime it was just kind of thrown at me in the end. Although an annoyance, it is not that much of a big deal, and any average player should be able to get over this difficulty curve in a small amount of time.  

Overall, this game was all right. I think this game would appeal to indie game enthusiasts who want to immerse themselves and explore a cool underwater world. The game certainly has its issues but with a little bit of polish I think it would be worth getting during a sale. It has great graphics, sound design, and gameplay that isn’t top notch but overall, pretty decent.