The Salt Traders is a worldbuilding, storytelling rpg about a society where traders trek into the desert to gather salt for their cities. You play by scattering some dice to draw a map, and by interpreting the prompts the game gives you.
The PDF is 12 pages, and it's well organized and easy to read. The game's tone is a little poetic, and some of the rules explanations lean into this, but there weren't any points where I felt lost, and if you're comfortable with games like The Quiet Year, you should be perfectly at home here.
Mechanics-wise, once you've built your map, you take on the roles of traders traveling through it. The GMing role is shared, and you all describe your environment and make choices about how the world around you looks. And honestly, this is kind of the core of the game. It's about taking turns to narrate interesting sites, or events that help you connect to the characters.
There are Rites, which are sort of like Moves that trigger under certain circumstances, and that ask you to GM the story in certain ways. It doesn't feel intrusive, and the Rites flow naturally into each other.
The game ends once you've crossed the map, and it does so in an open-ended fashion. You can easily pick up the same characters and play more The Salt Traders with them later if you wish.
Overall, I think if you like atmospheric narrative games, or if you've ever played the board game Tokaido and wondered what it would be like without points, this is for you. Salt Traders is not a game about action and crunch, but it's immersive and chill and great if you've got a casual gathering of friends, some snacks, and tea.