Dust and Salt

Prime Games Bulgaria

About this game

Dust and Salt is a text-based narrative adventure with a pinch of turn-based tactical battles which has you as the main hero leading your troops in a gritty, low-power, medieval fantasy world.

When his father is murdered and his village burned to the ground, a young warrior swears vengeance. He has to choose between force or diplomacy to forge new alliances and subdue his enemies. Will he get rid of the oppressors of this world or become an oppressor himself?

The game consists of a story text, a world map, and a tactical combat layer. On the world map you can choose to travel to different locations. The story text builds around the constant choices you make. Once you engage in battle the game will switch to a tactical map where the actual fighting takes place as turn-based combat. Enjoy the vivid writings by the quill of the author Sycamore Bright.

Features:

* Story is king. Rich, non-linear story that reminds of D&D with a "flair of battle". We’d describe it as a choose-your-own-adventure book that meets an RPG.

* Tactical combats. This is not checkers, this is a grown-up combat simulation. Send your light-armored infantry, the Nameless Wolves, through the woods into the back of the enemy while your armored, hammer-wielding Nameless Bears stall the enemy attack.

* Decisions matter. The narrative branches based on your choices. Your actions define and shape the world you experience.

* Character development. Are your decisions black, white or gray? Will they lead to a better future for the Sin Lands or will you turn into a usurper?

* Memorable personalities. Stand up to the cunning Lords of the Sin Lands in well-written interactive dialogues.

* Art that gives more life to the whole story. Zoom-in on the world map and experience the detail of the artistic work.

* You don’t pick abstract skills. Instead the choices you make at the beginning of the game define what abilities your character will learn.

* Featuring a gorgeous Nordic soundtrack by acclaimed artist Mike Olsen a.k.a. Danheim.

Ratings and reviews

This game has great story and roleplaying elements. Gameplay, on the other hand, is sparse and was frustrating at one point. Silverslope was almost impossible for me. I had a spearman unit, but no option to field him. The game selected a light infantry, heavy infantry, and horse archer each time, putting me in a 3v3 with 3 hits to kill an enemy troop, but only 1 hit to kill mine. I managed to pull through after 20 tries. I almost feel like I missed something. Is there really no troop select????

Well designed storyline that branches out many times... I spent hours playing and replaying to try and get all the achievements and explore all the options... The game can be completed in well under an hour in one run through, but the real experience comes with learning the complete world. Very well made storyline, and one of the best turn based games I've ever played!

Overall, i give the game a 3/5, because most of the choices you make mean in reality nothing, and the game is 80% "choices" 20% battles. Theres only a few choices that matter, and for those that do, its mostly lose life or troops, but literally nothing meaningful. I admit my ignorance in game making, but making a smarter AI would make the battles actually mean something. For about $2 or $3 , the price of a Soda this game is a good 3-4 hours of fun, for its full price its certainly over priced