Abzu meets Limbo in brutal underwater adventure Silt

If you've got a fear of the ocean and its watery depths, Spiral Circus' game, Silt, isn't going to soothe your nerves. Quite the opposite, actually. It's an adventure game showcased at this year's PC Gaming Show that shows an underwater world filled with deep-sea goliaths who are ready to eat you alive.

You play as a nameless diver who has travelled into the depths to uncover a long-forgotten mystery that has lay dormant beneath the water's surface— which isn't ominous at all. 

To help you on your quest, you have the spooky ability to possess small sea creatures that can help you solve environmental puzzles and easily traverse through dangerous areas.

From the look of the trailer, Silt's world is pretty brutal and you'll be dying multiple times, usually at the mercy of something with jaws much bigger than you. Its monochrome visuals and savage deaths are very Playdead's Limbo, although Silt's archaeological symbols are more akin to Giant Squid's far more relaxing adventure, Abzu.

Silt is Spiral Circus' first game. The stated aim of the Bristol-based developers is to "bring surreal art to life in games." It looks like Silt will do just that, but we'll have to wait until early 2022 to see.

Rachel Watts

Rachel had been bouncing around different gaming websites as a freelancer and staff writer for three years before settling at PC Gamer back in 2019. She mainly writes reviews, previews, and features, but on rare occasions will switch it up with news and guides. When she's not taking hundreds of screenshots of the latest indie darling, you can find her nurturing her parsnip empire in Stardew Valley and planning an axolotl uprising in Minecraft. She loves 'stop and smell the roses' games—her proudest gaming moment being the one time she kept her virtual potted plants alive for over a year.

Read more
White Knuckle trailer still
Ascend through 'ten thousand meters of concrete and decay' in this horrifying 'first-person roguelite speed-climbing game'
Murky Divers screenshot. A horror lurks just beyond sight in the dark ocean.
Pilot a submarine, clean up evidence, swim for your lives in this latest blend of horror comedy and chaos co-op
New RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's team of protagonists, including Gustave, Lune, and Maelle
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the surreal debut RPG from Sandfall Interactive, is out this April and I can't wait to hang out with my inscrutable balloon comrade
Cralon key art - some kinda red-eyed monster coming in to say hello
Former Piranha Bytes veterans unveil their new dungeon crawler, and it's tripping my Arx Fatalis alarms in all the right ways
Moroi trailer still
Romanian folklore, David Lynch, and heavy metal come together in a dark fantasy hack-and-slash action game 'with an even darker sense of humor'
Close up of Curly post-crash in Mouthwashing, showing his one remaining eye and bandaged body.
Mouthwashing review
Latest in Adventure
Inside
Limbo and Inside studio demands compensation from co-founder Dino Patti for alleged 'unauthorized use of Playdead's trademarks and copyrighted works'
Two characters sitting on a bench talking
Wanderstop review
Zoe showing off in front of Mio
Split Fiction review
Rusty Rabbit chomping a carrot like a cigar
Rusty Rabbit turns Yakuza's Kazuma Kiryu into a fluffy bunny
Pathologic 3 screenshot
Get ready to get weird in Pathologic 3: Quarantine, a free 'prologue chapter' about a young doctor looking for immortality in the world's most miserable town
A young woman's face bathed in light
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1 review
Latest in News
Naoe looking at the wrist blade in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Ubisoft backflips, says Assassin's Creed Shadows will support Steam Deck at launch, but I doubt I'll actually want to play it there
Henry from KCD2 wearing nice outfits
'Diversify your fashion endgame' with this Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 mod that gives Henry fly new gambesons, pourpoints, and caftans
Masked Counter-Terrorist in helmet in forefront with sunglasses and beret-wearing CT in background touching headset
There's hope yet for Classic Offensive after its Steam rejection: The team behind the Counter-Strike 1.6 revival mod is in touch with Valve about its 'concerns'
Recently appointed Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan.
Here comes Intel's new CEO: a semiconductor veteran that won the same prestigious award as Jensen Huang and Lisa Su
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 15: Protestors attend the SAG-AFTRA Video Game Strike Picket on August 15, 2024 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Lila Seeley/Getty Images)
8 months into their strike, videogame voice actors say the industry's latest proposal is 'filled with alarming loopholes that will leave our members vulnerable to AI abuse'
Orithopter shooting down another in Dune
Dune: Awakening confirms air-to-air combat in ornithopters