In Saltsea Chronicles, community is a salve for the post-post-apocalypse

polygon.com:

Throughout historical periods of exploration, naturalists assembled cabinets of curiosities. These explorers amassed an amalgamation of biological artifacts — like shells, preserved bugs, and stuffed birds — along with other items or sketches from their travels, and placed them in wooden cabinets.

The propensity to collect, perhaps at the cost to the original inhabitants of a certain land, has long dominated video games. Heroes like Link from The Legend of Zelda or trainers in Pokémon help themselves to the spoils of the land in pursuit of a singular goal. Saltsea Chronicles, a new narrative adventure from the makers of Mutazione, takes a radically different approach. Instead of plundering lands and people, the player directs a collective of people who carefully approach each island’s unique culture. This crew doesn’t hoard any resources, but instead fills out an almanac of stickers to memorialize the journey. It’s a small touch, but it’s a defining example of the type of intentionality brought to Saltsea Chronicles. It makes for an incredibly thoughtful and ambitious narrative experience, even if the game jumps a little hurriedly between characters and the unique social questions their experiences prompt.

Saltsea Chronicles opens with five friends nestled around a fire. I click through dialog options where I’m given the choice to hear a story about the “past” or the “future.” I click the latter, and I’m regaled with an illustrated legend that speaks of a world where “hoarders” took too much and gave too little. These hoarders built glittering skyscrapers that made the seas jealous and rise as a result. Now, all that’s left is a smattering of islands in a body of water called Saltsea. The group buzzes with anticipation