The Salt Keep by Small Gray Games

A free demo is playable in the browser above.

Set in a high fantasy world with low fantasy stakes, the character-driven story of The Salt Keep follows a struggling merchant named Doyle who stumbles into a life-or-death mystery. During the last legs of a months-long journey as a traveling salesman, Doyle stops in the seemingly deserted village of Cardwyke to meet a friend who has promised to help keep him financially afloat, but what he finds is even more dangerous than the crushing weight of debt. 

Over the course of a single night, Doyle delves into the mystery of what happened to Cardwyke and the Salt Keep, struggles to escape the seemingly unstoppable forces pursuing him, and hopes to find anybody who can free him of his debt. He meets friends and foes along the way: a wounded merchant who has seen better days, a bitter stablehand in search of a plan, and a forlorn apprentice desperate to become an alchemist, among others. Some are helpful, and some need help, but in every case, his choices impact the paths of their lives as much as his own.  

The world of The Salt Keep should be familiar to any fan of fantasy — it has breastplates, and swords, and other fun stuff like that — but is shaped by the vaguely industrial creep of bastard feudalism. Sprawling merchant conglomerates and faceless business structures pull the levers of power as much as dukes and knights.

The world is meant to be both a reflection of traditional fantasy settings (the England-coded sword and sorcery and D&D-style locations we're used to) and an answer to some of their most frustrating tropes. It's not a world of prophesied heroes steeped in Great Man Theory or of grimdark anti-heroes exposing the essential evil of humanity, but of ordinary medieval schlubs trying to survive within alienating and oppressive political systems.

In other words, it's not a world a character like Doyle has any hope or intention of changing. He only means to survive.

The Salt Keep is a fantasy/horror text adventure and RPG: think interactive fiction with mechanics reminiscent of CYOA games or classic gamebooks. The entirety of the action is described through text, and the player navigates and makes choices via button inputs. Through these basic mechanics, you'll be able to:

• Guide Doyle through the village and the towering 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) 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 above includes the prologue and first chapter of seven total chapters (including a prologue and epilogue). It should provide around two hours of gameplay, though it'll vary depending what you choose to do and how thorough you are. 

The full game is novel-length (about 260k words) and offers around 15 hours of gameplay for most players. Any progress you make in  the demo can also be transferred to the full version on any platform if you follow these instructions.  No technical knowledge is required!

If you want to help support development or keep track of updates:

• Follow here for dev blog updates
• Become a patron on Patreon
• Follow on Twitter
• Follow on Tumblr

Please enjoy, and be sure leave ratings and/or reviews on any platform where you purchase it! I'm a solo indie dev, so word of mouth makes a massive difference.

WARNING: The narrative includes all sorts of violence and generally negative emotional states, which can vary based on your individual play-through.