Saltsea Chronicles builds a world of island communities on PS5 Oct 12

blog.playstation.com:

Hello! Or, as I’d say when I’m out and about in my island home, hi-aye. I’m Harry Josephine Giles, one of the writers for Saltsea Chronicles, coming out on October 12 on PS5. It is a story-driven adventure game where you guide a crew as they explore a flooded world of strange and surprising islands and meet the many people who call that island world home. 

We’re excited to share a new look at gameplay in Saltsea Chronicles. Check out the new trailer below.

So, zooming out from the fantastical world of Saltsea, what are islands really like? 

A view of the island of Hoy from the West Mainland of Orkney. In the foreground are green fields, fences, and a cluster of farm buildings. In the distance are two high brown hills. Between is a narrow stretch of calm blue sea.

Orkney is an archipelago of 70 islands off the North coast of Scotland. It’s low-lying, very green, windswept, and my home. Some islands have a few hundred people, one a few thousand, and others just one resident. We live on farming, inshore fishing, and tourism. 

Coming from the islands makes me long for more stories about island life written from our perspective. Working on Saltsea Chronicles, I was eager to write islands that felt like a home to me: places that were full and real, lived in. 

An island needs to support its people. If you rely on food that comes by boat, you’re in trouble when the boat cannot come, and there’ll always be times when the sea is too risky for boats to cross. That means making what you can grow, gather, and fish central to your life. Different islands have different soils, different ecosystems, and different access to fishing grounds. In Saltsea Chronicles, you’ll see a little of how each community has made the best of its