It’s a beautiful day on the open sea, with wind filling the sail and the possibility of endless adventure in every direction. Islands dot the oceans waiting for discovery and exploration, maybe turning up caves, pirate camps or even a friendly settlement. Each new island adds another point of interest to the formerly-empty map, forming a chain of places you’ve seen before and will probably never return to again. The ocean waves under the bright blue sky promise a world filled with treasure for any adventurer daring enough to sail after it, and the next new island just might be one with even better loot. So it’s onward into the uncharted seas as one quest makes way for the next and pirates and skeletons rise up to be cut down by the strength of your blade.
The original Salt was an open-world sailing adventure with no plot or direction except for what the player wanted, and Salt 2 is more of the same except bigger, prettier and with a better distribution of points of interest on its islands. You start washed up on an island after a shipwreck with nothing but the help of a stranger who made sure you survived and then departed, leaving behind a note and some basic equipment. A common sword is enough to begin the adventure with, while the map, compass and sextant will be constant companions to help you make your way in the world. The island has enough resources to construct a simple small raft, but first there’s a cave to explore filled with more resources than may readily make sense at the start.
While there’s a world of adventure on the open seas, Salt 2 leans into the survival aspect of its expedition so there’s always going to be resources to collect. Wood, metal and stone, and various types of food are lying around for the ocean-going hunter/gatherer, with harvesting them not only getting a few more resources but also leveling up the associated skill. Each ability, whether it be harvesting, crafting or combat levels up separately from the others, and the overall character level provides its own bonuses. While it may take a while to be able to create some of the fancier items, just getting out into the world and seeing what it provides will see each skill improve until it’s good enough to work with the next tier of materials.
At the start it’s probably a good idea to follow the introductory quest lines, seeing as they pay off with the raft and then your first small sailing ship. After that the ocean is yours, although by then there are probably a few new quests hanging out in the log. It’s mostly fetch-quests, whether that be to find a number of a specific type of resource or to take out some enemies, but there are also progression quests for guilds and other not-quite-plot related adventures. It’s worth noting that the progression quests also hold my only major complaint about the current state of the game, in that once you’ve found the item you’ve been sent after there’s no marker on where to return it to. It’s a big ocean holding endless islands and the Track Quest option needs to be a little more helpful. The quests are mostly there to provide a little structure to the journey, though, and while nice to have they’re also optional. If you just want to sail around from island to island seeing what the next one holds, that’s a perfectly valid method of seafaring as well.
Salt 2 is a low-key adventure that lets you take it at your own speed, which is exactly the kind of open-world expedition that can see the hours melt away. Combat is relatively simple, death about 99% consequence-free, and the main draw comes from each new island having something new to discover. Caves range from small and straightforward to ornate, and even in the minor ones there’s a chance a pirate captain will drop a key to a treasure chest with new loot and crafting recipes. A lot of the things I’d comment about wanting (weather, slightly more of a story to follow or ignore depending on mood) are in the works and hopefully the problem with the quests will be addressed as well. It’s a beautiful, inviting ocean with the sun sparkling off the waves calling out for brave explorers, and every new island is its own little adventure on the way to seafaring mastery.
