What do you do with the chained divers in Silt?

As you explore the world of Silt and encounter the terrifying creatures of the deep, you’ll also come across a few chained divers out of the way in corners of certain areas. These look like extra lives or something else important, but the game never clarifies what you should do with them. During our first playthrough, we actively avoided them to our detriment. This guide explains what you do with the chained divers, so you don’t make the same mistake we did.

Possess the chained divers to free them

These chained divers are collectibles in Silt. They form part of the game’s story and are strewn around the world to find as part of the lore that you’ll slowly begin to understand as you get closer to the game’s conclusion. You must free all the chained divers so that they can join you at the end of the game, but to do that, you need to possess them.

Swim over to the chained diver and hold the possession button, “B” on the Nintendo Switch, and you’ll see the glowing tendrils connect the protagonist diver and the chained diver you’ve discovered. After a short while, the chained diver will become the dominant character, with the protagonist diver you’ve been swimming around as this whole time having been absorbed by it.

Spoilers ahead for the end of the game

At the time of writing, we’re unsure how many chained divers there are to collect. However, once you’ve finished the story, your save file will be converted to display the total number of chained divers you collected, showing that there is some major significance to them. The game’s final moments, following the final soul transfer, see all the divers emerge from the depths and swim to freedom and, presumably, the surface. This indicates that you’ve cleared the way and have made the waters safe for everyone else to pass through.