The title of Dust & Salt came into focus about an hour into the game. I had fought the Horse Lords, a regional power who had been raiding trade caravans out of the local major city, and they were on their knees before me. I had proven my military might over them, and my advisors gave me two possible ways of proceeding. Ragnar told me that I should bind them with the Curse of Dust: they would declare fealty to me, and if they ever betrayed me I would have the right to kill them, destroy their bodies, and distribute their ashes across the land. Naan explained that I should hold them to the Oath of Salt, which entwines our fate in brotherhood and fealty. In either case, the Horse Lords are in a bad spot, and my army becomes much more powerful. Dust & Salt is a power simulator, pure and simple, plopped in the middle of a well-written tale of revenge. It’s my ideal adventure game. I’ve spent the last year or so getting stress out about RPGs. In my long-running Mages & Murderdads show, I have played through the classic isometric RPGs, the Baldur’s Gate games and Planescape: Torment, and come out other side frustrated. I love these stories and the way they are told, but I have negative interest in how they tell those stories. When I reviewed Pillars of Eternity II earlier this year, I lamented that I had to do all that combat in order to experience an interesting story about the clash between commerce, colonialism, and an ancient past. A Narrative Strategy Game That Confronts the Nature of Power
If I were a game designer, then I'd do it more like Mount and Blade. The isomorphic sections for finding people, talking to them, discovery, etc. Then when you go into combat, first or third person with an interface similar to "Dragon Age: Inquisition".
