Silt review - "Conquer the darkness by possessing its denizens!"

• A haunting ocean filled with danger and intrigue
• Swim to explore and possess creatures for new powers and perspective
• Encounter monstrous Goliaths and use your wits to steal their eyes

A fear of the unknown is perfectly rational because absolutely anything could be hiding in it. It could be as harmless as a baby chick or as horrifying as an undulating mass of ravenous flesh that wants nothing more than to devour your mind. But that's neither here nor there since the closest the average person will get to the vast unknown is the deep blue sea. We still haven't seen everything the watery depths have to offer, and many testimonies have explained why we're too eager to head back down there. With such fear in the wet dark, Spiral Circus was inspired to create Silt. Now that this horrifying 2D swimming lesson is on mobile, we can see just how severely it tests our bravery.

What is Silt?

To put it simply, silt is a dark, sedimentary material found moving at the bottom of bodies of water, such as rivers. Now, if we're talking about Silt, that's a different story. An opening panel of text clues us in on the situation: Deep water is filled with giant monsters called 'Goliaths'. These Goliaths possess an incredible amount of power contained within their eyes that can be extracted. Said power can then be fed into a mysterious machine that will activate and reveal our ultimate fate. Well, not our fate, but the fate of a nameless diver who has a seemingly endless amount of oxygen, light, and the ability to possess certain creatures. Well, hopefully such a creepy character will fit in well in the dark, underwater world.

Bathing in Silt

When Silt was first released, it got a lot of praise for its pacing, creepy visuals, and generally haunting atmosphere. Well, you'll be happy to learn that all that has translated very well to the mobile stage. Despite both the environments and animated models being coated in greys, blacks, and whites, the details come through clearly. The more levels you swim through, the more it feels like you're swimming through surreal paintings that only become more mysterious the more you explore them. But of course, the nature of a good mystery isn't it?

What adds to the mystery is the seemingly unexplained circumstances surrounding the diver and their abilities. You're told you can possess creatures, and when circumstances are this bleak, we'll accept anything that we're given. Possession is the core mechanic that allows you to do everything from solving puzzles to breaking through obstacles to defending yourself against other non-possessed creatures. The ability does a great job of seeming limitless while having very defined limitations from its range to its physicality to what each possessed creature can actually do. A big chunk of the fun comes from discovering new creatures and swimming around as you figure out their whole deal.

Another part of the enjoyment (and the challenge) is how the diver moves and interacts with their surroundings. Despite having such incredible power, the diver is extremely vulnerable, as most enemies can take them out with a single strike. As a result, you're encouraged to take your time, observe, and watch how the creatures and environmental elements react to your presence. Since you're in water, you don't have many options in terms of escape, save for slowly turning and quickly trying to swim away. It makes even the empty parts of the levels feel harrowing since you never know what kind of new or old dangers could be waiting for you up ahead. Thankfully, you can also drag the screen to get a better view, but that knowledge comes at a cost.

The grime of Silt

Even though the controls and mechanics have translated quite well to the mobile platform, Silt still has some issues that can be more noticeable with touch controls. The most noticeable is the response time. Even though that's just a part of being underwater, the fact that there will be situations that you won't reasonably be able to respond to until it's already too late makes them seem cheap or unfair. It doesn't help that many of the enemies are faster than you, so if they catch you in a bad position (or trying to right yourself with a series of slow somersaults), you may as well resign yourself to a reset.

Speaking of which, some of the puzzles can be a bit vague when it comes to showing you all the pieces. It's common practice to go in and sacrifice the diver a few times just to get a better look at everything before you actually start messing around. And even when you figure out the solution, you may need to do some pretty precise swimming to carry out the solution. With certain pieces you have to move and interact with, it can feel like you're trying to thread a needle… except the thread is a very angry eel.

Scooping up the Silt

Silt is a 2D underwater horror experience about a diver collecting power from several giant creatures hiding in the depths. The overall atmosphere and visuals are haunting and lovely, with cool mechanics used creatively, and each area is a puzzling encounter. The unfortunate matter is that sometimes the puzzles can be too puzzling, and scenarios can demand impossible reaction times from you, but no one said exploring the deep, dark depths of the terrifying ocean would be easy. Much like real silt, you'll have to prepare to uncover a whole mix of things, and then decide what to do once you discover their true nature.