Salt & Thunder

Turn alongside. Fire the broadside. Bring your fortune home.

Captain the Wayfarer through the Sapphire Reach in a compact pirate adventure about cannon angles, precious cargo, and the trip back to port. Recover a drowned atlas, protect a merchant under fire, and earn your audience with Admiral Vane.

Single-player • Windows & macOS • Six voyages • Banked ship progression

Make every broadside count

Your guns fire across the ship, perpendicular to the bow. Turn into position, loose a port or starboard volley, and maneuver while that side reloads. Red warning lines reveal an enemy’s coming shot. Round shot breaks hulls; limited chain shot slows hostile sails for four seconds.

Staged live battle: chain shot, independent gun reloads, and the enemy’s firing line. Click gameplay images for the full frame.

Fast raiders, tougher brigs, and Vane’s flagship each demand room to maneuver. The Blue Heron needs a different kind of seamanship: stay close enough to escort it, and keep enemy guns off its hull.

Take what the sea gives back

A fatal hit sends a ship through a brief crash, fire, and sinking sequence. Its treasure surfaces as the hull disappears. Slow beside the wreck and press F to salvage—but keep an eye on the horizon.

Staged live sinking capture, using a weakened brig to catch the fatal-hit sequence.

Treasure, mission cargo, repair timber, and chain crates share your hold. A heavier haul slows you slightly; rich cargo draws hunters. Spend timber to repair, jettison cargo to make room, or turn for home while your luck holds.

Chart a course through the Reach

Leave the safe anchorage of Saltwind Haven, skirt Lantern Cay, and sail toward the guns of Blackwake Keep. Open the parchment chart with Tab and click open water to plot a course around the shoals.

N engages helm assistance along your plotted course. Steering takes control back immediately. Cannons, repairs, salvage, and docking stay in your hands. The chart keeps the voyage running; Escape pauses it.

A fortune begins at the dock

Choose a commission, refit your ship, and cast off. Recover three chart fragments, sink three pirates, or escort the Blue Heron. Bank all three original commissions to unlock The Blackwake: defeat Admiral Vane, then return to port to claim victory.

Banked gold buys three ranks each of hull, guns, and hold. Every departure includes fresh repair timber and chain crates. A lost ship costs its carried cargo and unpaid reward; your banked gold and upgrades remain safe, and a replacement sloop is ready.

Staged live battle against Admiral Vane near Blackwake. The actual simulation controls the ships and cannon fire.

Answer the Admiralty’s call

Bank one original commission to open two optional, repeatable expeditions. In Lantern’s last light, decode three signal buoys, sink a marked brig, and recover its lighthouse lens. In The long way home, guard a longer convoy through two ambushes and bring its sealed dispatch back.

Open L for a paused voyage journal with your current stage and optional honors. Return seaworthy, conserve repair timber, and protect the merchant or bring extra salvage to earn up to 310 bonus gold. Your best honors stay in the captain ledger.

Interface captures use an isolated captain ledger; expedition access was earned through the game’s normal commission and banking rules.

Your first departure

Choose The drowned atlas, then press Enter. Follow the gold waypoint, slow beside each fragment, and press F. Bring all three back to the green Saltwind anchorage, brake, and press F to bank your reward.

• W / S throttle and brake; A / D turn. Arrow keys also steer.
• Q / E port / starboard guns; Space both sides; C round / chain shot.
• F salvage, signal, or dock; R repair; J jettison cargo.
• Tab live chart; N helm assistance; L paused journal; Escape pause.
• 1–4 original voyages; V expedition board; 5–6 expeditions; H / G / B harbor upgrades.
• M music toggle. Menus also accept mouse clicks.

Banked progress saves automatically. An unfinished voyage is not saved: closing the game returns you to port with your last banked progress. These are compact arcade voyages in one authored archipelago.

Painted nautical artwork, brass-and-leather instruments, and three original music themes accompany the voyage. Download the desktop build below and cast off.