Saltwrack

(Review based on the IFComp 2025 version)

A misunderstood scientist sets out on a dangerous expedition through frozen wastelands to discover the source of the saltsnow apocalypse that happened some 250 years ago, riding a mechanical spider, accompanied only by a mystically gifted oracle and an experienced ice-and-snow-walking pathfinder.

I mean, everything about that setup is screaming “Yes!” to me. And it’s really well-accomplished too. The writing is exciting. A long, slow, and tense build-up to the confrontation with the anomaly. A nightmarish descent into otherworldly darkness. A frantic flight back to civilization, low on time and rations.

The gameplay is unbalanced though, to the point of introducing gaps in the story and wrecking my suspension of disbelief.
From the start, I had a hard time making out what, if any, difference my choices made. I didn’t mind this in the first half, choosing whether to camp by a lake or build a campfire were simply atmosphere-setting options as far as I knew or cared.
Once I got to the Lovecraftian city at the center of the frozen saltlands though, I started to feel that I had no input whatsoever at critical moments. When I found an entrance to a dark tunnel, the available options were [go down] or [don’t go down]. At least let me sit down with my team here and discuss the possibilities. One is a hardened pathfinder who has traveled these icefields on foot for ages, the other is a paranormally sighted psychic. You’d think they might have some input on the “go down or not”-question.
Another moment like this happened when we were fleeing back to safety (?). The party was low on food, it was mentioned in the text that we had rations for a week left. And just like that, the game proceeded to dictate that we were now on half-rations. Meaning that we were sluggish and cold all the time, having trouble thinking as well as moving. Given the consequences of cutting our intake of calories in half, I (the player) would have liked some say in that. Actually, given the choice, I would have probably kept eating full rations and made a heroic dash for it.

Thwarted agency is better than no agency. I wouldn’t have minded if my choices led to a quicker death, or were vetoed by the other team members, or prevented by some external influence. But at several important moments in the story, I was not given the opportunity to make a choice at all.

I have to say that there were plenty of instances where there was indeed a meaningful choice, like whether to wait out a storm (and lose time) or travel through it (and risk freezing). I ulimately died because I wanted to take a faster route and disregarded the danger. So, pretty impactful choice there…

It’s just that the few times where I was not given a choice that I would have expected felt to me, if this were a movie, like the times where I would have screamed at the protagonists for being dumb.

Despite the flaws I pointed out above, the invasive cold atmosphere, the rising tension in the first half, and the ever-looming threat during the second half pulled me into the game-world and had me shivering.

Imbalanced gameplay that undermines some of the impact this story could have had.

But still:
Great premise, wonderful worldbuilding, good writing, promising characters.