Sunless Sea

Sunless Sea is a strange game. Arguably, the game's makers intended it that way. The game is, above all, more an atmosphere than a game. The developers clearly put more emphasis on setting than on almost anything else, giving us a world that borrows heavily from Lovecraft and steampunk; a pseudo-Victoriana rich in dark corners and ineffable mysteries. The game devs did a good job of being sort of light about it, from the very introduction, where we're matter-of-factly informed that bats and stolen London and taken it underground. But the setting is surprisingly superficial, which is especially problematic considering that the gameplay model involves playing through the early game over, and over, and over. Which brings us to the gameplay which is, frankly, bad. At first blush the game looks like it's going to be a "trader" type game where you take goods from one port to the next, buying low and selling high, but that doesn't really work due to the limited number of ports, the low price differentials, and the distances involved and the cost of fuel and supplies, and the game itself even points that out. The game thus ends up being more of an adventure/exploration game, but the repetitive nature of the game (as you die and start again as your old captain's heir, an inherent part of the game) makes this inappropriate, as by your nth run-through, you'll have seen it all. And combat is boring and terrible. Add into that the too-slow movement of your ship (intentional, according to the devs, put in in order to build atmosphere), and the fact that the interesting story moments are broadly interspersed between long stretches of boring, repetitive travel between distant waypoints, and you get a game that seems interesting and deep on first glance but ends up being boring and a time sink, not unlike a poorly-made MMO.

First I'd like to say that I do like this game, but there are several glaring problems. 1. Heavy grind. You will laterally spend hours collecting echoes (the games currency) just to purchase a new spotlight. 2. Clunky combat. Fighting other ships is actually okay, but the sea monsters just bum rush you from behind outside of your fire arch. You'll have to retreat constantly to hopefully turn around and wait for your cannons to lock on and it will just rush out of shot and hit you. 3. Fast consumption. Fuel and food deplete faster than you can restock them. Turning in reports to the Admiral is your main source of income for cash and fuel, but you will use more than you receive so you always end with a net loss. 4. Super slow and weak ship. Your starter ship is total garbage, low health, weak forward facing cannon, no rear cannon, and a slow engine. 5. Epic yet empty map. Plenty of map to explore but not much to find in it. 6. Extremely expensive. From ships to cargo everything in this game is designed to bankrupt your captain. 7. A legacy of loss. All good rouge likes have some sort of death mechanic where your previous run gives you a small starter bonus for the next one, but this is locked behind a unnecessary home upgrade. All early deaths are costly and any bonus you receive is to small to really help your progress. 8. Useless crewmembers. From first mates to cooks every main crew member ads very little to your ship. Instead they serve as in house stat trainers, just another pointless step in the level grind. In summary it has potential but needs mods to shine. Still better than some of the worse rogue likes out there. Cough cough (Darkest Dungeon) cough cough.

It can be a very slow burn, and playing the unforgiving mode is a punishment due to the early game being slow and repetitive on subsequent playthroughs. The combat is serviceable at best, but the game is mainly about exploration and interacting with the denizens of a strange world. It's phenomenal in that regard, so definitely check it out if you're willing to treat it more like an adventure game than a roguelike.

I don't know what it is about naval exploration/combat games but I always end up enoying them more than I expect. Something about the age of sail is inherently interesting to me I guess. Moreso than the idea of space exploration for some reason. The premise of Sunless Sea is that you are a sea captain in an odd alternate reality where London is transported underground to a surreall vaguely steampunk fantasy setting, with a large underground sea to explore. The game has a reputation for being very trial and error oriented, but I had about 5 and a half hours of gameplay before I experienced my first death. Granted that death was surprising and seemed somewhat unfair, so that fits within the reputation of the game world. The game is interesting in that it is very barebones when it comes to gameplay but there is an absurd amount of quality writing and storytelling in here that really makes the experience. Sail around the Unterzee, discover new places and things, and become a capable captain in this bizarre interpretation of the age of sail/steam. I love the concept and the setting. There is very little to interact with in terms of gameplay but there is quite a lot of depth in terms of story interactions here. I didn't really get into the DLC content that much but this game is definitely meant for the story mindedplayer over anything else and I think that's wonderful. I talked to other players who didn't enjoy this game that much and so I was wonderfully surprised when I eneded up enjoying it immensely and plan on continuing to play it in the future.

Spooky and weird and surprisingly funny. The learning curve is steep and there's a lot to read, but your efforts are rewarded. A game I keep coming back through the years.