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Salt 2: Shores of Gold similar games & best alternatives

Salt 2: Shores of Gold

PC (Microsoft Windows) • 2025

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Quick resume

Salt 2 is an open world pirate game focused on exploration, crafting, survival, and RPG elements. Sail an endless sea with your ship as a mobile base. Discover islands full of quests, towns, caves, and secrets. Level up skills, craft powerful gear, hunt, fish, loot, and make your ship your own.

Global score

85/100

Genres

Action, Adventure, Indie, Role-playing (RPG)

Similar games

    Pros

    • Relaxing and immersive sailing and exploration
    • Large procedurally generated world with varied islands and dungeons
    • Meaningful skill progression and crafting systems
    • Ship customization and decoration
    • Stable and polished for an early access game

    Cons

    • No multiplayer or co-op yet
    • Combat is simple and can feel clunky
    • Ocean and world feel somewhat lifeless with limited npc activity
    • Navigation and map system can be unintuitive
    • Some grind and repetitive elements

    Analysis

    A very typical example of its motivational profile. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Fellowship, Cooperation, Leadership, Violence. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Exploration, Relaxation, Cooperation.

    How to use the graph
    Similar games map

    Each dot is a game. They are arranged from the same motivation profile as in the “Motivations” section below. Closer dots usually mean more similar reasons to play (exploration, competition, relaxation, etc.)—not that one game is “better” than another.

    • Larger dot with a light outline: the game you are viewing.
    • Colour: groups of games with comparable motivation patterns (statistical clusters).
    • Hover a dot to see the game name; click to open its page.
    • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom out and see more games.

    Why don’t the axes read like a score? This view uses t-SNE: it only keeps who is close to whom. The scales are not “good to bad” or hours played—they separate groups on the map. Read distance between dots, not the axis numbers.

    Motivations

    • Autonomy
      4

      "Players have freedom to explore vast procedurally generated ocean and islands, choose quests, craft, and customize ships at their own pace."

    • Competence
      3

      "Skill progression through combat, crafting, fishing, and navigation; combat is simple but requires strategy and timing."

    • Competition
      -4

      "Focus is on solo play and personal progression without PvP or ranked modes; multiplayer co-op planned but not yet implemented."

    • Continuation
      4

      "Players report long play sessions and habitual exploration, with many hours invested and ongoing engagement."

    • Cooperation
      -3

      "Currently single-player only with no multiplayer; co-op is highly anticipated but not yet available."

    • Creativity
      3

      "Ship customization and decoration, crafting system with many recipes, and map marking allow creative expression."

    • Domination
      -4

      "No evidence of power over others or competitive dominance; gameplay is cooperative or solo without social hierarchy."

    • Escapism
      4

      "Players describe the game as relaxing, stress-relieving, and a peaceful escape from toxic multiplayer environments."

    • Expectation
      -4

      "Players engage voluntarily out of personal interest and enjoyment; no indication of obligation or pressure."

    • Experimenting
      3

      "Exploration of new islands, experimenting with different weapons, crafting recipes, and navigation techniques."

    • Exploration
      5

      "Core gameplay revolves around discovering new islands, caves, dungeons, and secrets in a large procedurally generated world."

    • Expression
      3

      "Ship decoration and character customization provide avenues for self-expression."

    • Fantasy
      3

      "Pirate-themed fantasy setting with mythical elements like skeletons and sea monsters hinted at."

    • Fellowship
      -3

      "Mostly solo play with limited social interaction; community exists but gameplay is individual-focused."

    • Growth
      4

      "Skill leveling in combat, crafting, fishing, and navigation; players report meaningful progression."

    • Health
      -4

      "Typical sedentary gaming experience with no physical activity or health-related features."

    • Idle
      -3

      "Requires active attention for exploration, combat, and crafting; not designed for background or idle play."

    • Intimacy
      -4

      "Limited social interaction and no evidence of close relationship building; mostly solitary experience."

    • Leadership
      Insufficient data
    • Progression
      4

      "Players accumulate items, upgrades, and better ships; quest and skill progression systems reinforce advancement."

    • Relaxation
      4

      "Game praised for its calming atmosphere, soothing music, and stress-relieving gameplay."

    • Sensation
      3

      "Enjoyable visual and auditory experience with beautiful ocean and island environments."

    • Status
      -3

      "No social status or recognition systems; gameplay is focused on personal achievement."

    • Story
      3

      "Presence of main questline, guild factions, and lore books provide narrative immersion."

    • Strategy
      3

      "Combat and navigation require tactical thinking; players develop strategies for fighting and exploration."

    • Thrill
      2

      "Some suspense in combat and exploration, but overall gameplay is calm and relaxing rather than high tension."

    • Value
      4

      "Players report excellent content and gameplay value for the price, especially given ongoing updates."

    • Violence
      2

      "Combat involves fighting pirates, skeletons, and animals but is not excessively violent or graphic."

    • Survival
      1

      "Basic survival elements like hunger and resource gathering exist but are forgiving and not highly punishing."

    Where to buy

    Come talk about it on Discord!

    Last update: 29/04/2026