Saltmark

How to play Saltmark

Play Saltmark free online. Land a three-unit survey crew on a low-poly hex island, take the high ground, fight the tide for three marks, and hold two of them when the clock runs out.

Click or tap one of your units, then tap a lit hex to move or a raider in reach to strike. Each unit has two orders a turn: move, then strike, or hold early with the Hold button. End turn passes the water to the tide. Keys 1, 2 and 3 select units, Tab cycles, H holds, Space ends the turn, Escape opens the chart table, M mutes, WASD pans, Q and E spin the view, and the wheel or a pinch zooms. A gamepad pans with the left stick, rotates with the shoulder buttons, strikes with X, holds with Y, cycles on the left trigger, ends the turn with A or the right trigger, and opens the chart table with B.

Why players come back to Saltmark

Every chart is a new archipelago with its own ridges, channels and mark positions, and the tide roster changes with the difficulty you pick. Scores come from marks held, raiders cleared, damage dealt, hull left and turns to spare, so a clean, fast win always beats a scrappy one.

Saltmark strategy

Climbing costs an extra step, so a unit one tier above its target strikes for an extra hit and blocks the ground below it. The Skiff is the only hull that crosses open water: send it over a channel to steal a mark the raiders cannot reach, and keep Anchora on the ridge the tide has to walk around. Trade one raider at a time instead of bunching the crew, and hold a mark at the end of your turn to bank it.