News for The Salt Keep

The Salt Keep version 1.0.9 has been released and is now available on:
- Mac/PC
- Android
- iOS

This update makes a few small changes:

- Adds better button labeling for screen readers. This fix won't be apparent to visual players, but for those using screen readers, navigation should be clearer on the primary gameplay tabs and on the settings menu. I'm no expert on this topic, but had some direction from this very helpful AppleVis directory review to make changes, so if anybody else has accessibility suggestions, I'm happy to hear them.

- Adds a "No Transitions" setting. At the request of a couple of players, there's now a setting alongside "Fast Transitions" that eliminates the fade transitions altogether. When selected, this setting makes it so you'll hard cut from one "page" to the next. You can move through the game even faster now, so get ready to shatter The Salt Keep Official Global Speedrun* records.

- Fixes "Bigger Text" overflow bug. This is just a straight-forward bug fix. Every once in a while, "Requirement Met" labels would spill over onto a second line and obscure button text when the "Bigger Text" setting was enabled, and this should correct it.

Thanks, everybody! Enjoy!

*This doesn't exist, but I'm sure it will any day now, I'm absolutely positive.

The full version of the Salt Keep is out now! You can purchase it:

- On itch.io
- On iOS
- On Android

- The Game -

The Salt Keep is a character-focused text adventure and RPG (think interactive fiction with mechanics reminiscent of CYOA games or classic gamebooks) set in a high fantasy world where the traditional medieval aesthetics of swords and castles are set against the industrial creep of decaying feudalism. Follow traveling salesman Doyle as he stumbles into the brutal mystery of what happened to the village of Cardwyke, struggles to escape the seemingly unstoppable forces pursuing him, and hopes to find anybody who can free him of his debt. You can:

- Guide Doyle through Cardwyke and the keep that looms above it.
- Collect items and discover their uses.
- Equip gear to improve Doyle's ability scores.
- Succeed or fail at percentage-based challenges.
- Earn experience and level up based on those challenges.
- Talk to and work with NPCs to make progress.
- Uncover secrets and missable areas.
- Risk grievous bodily harm.

Despite the prevalence of choices and risks, there is no chance of death or dead-ends. The story always moves forward. In turn, you'll change the outcome of Doyle's story (as well as those of the NPCs he meets) not just through the things you choose to do, but through the things you fail to do, as well as the things you choose to ignore.

- The Demo -

A demo version is playable in the browser on the main itch.io page if you want to see if the story interests you first. It covers the prologue and first chapter of the game (roughly two hours of play time), so it should give you a good taste of both where the narrative is taking you and how the game plays. If you finish or decide at some point you want to continue into the full version, any progress you made can be transferred regardless of platform by following these instructions.

No technical knowledge needed!

- Thank You! -

I hope everybody enjoys this! If you pick up the full version and you’re into it, be sure to leave a rating and/or review on whichever platform you chose. I’m a solo indie dev and this is, as you probably know, kind of a niche genre, so every bit of word of mouth makes a massive difference.

Have fun, and good luck, everybody! Doyle needs it!