Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition

This game combines the subjects named above in a beautiful game. It's quite a read, though, so not really recommended if you dislike some heavy reading. The game is a strong continuation of a weird yet brilliant world that Failbetter has managed to create over the past years. The stories all make sense (well, in this world at least) in comparison to the previous games. The mechanics are better than in Sunless Sea, mainly the combat and the various interfaces have improved a lot. And the game has brilliant graphics. They really amplify the mood the creators want you to be in for the local stories: a bit creeped out, on your toes, but also tranquility. After having played about a hundred hours, I still can't find something I really dislike. Well, Tacketies. But that doesn't count.

I've started this game probably 10 times by now and I just literally want to smash my keyboard every time I have to start the game all over again after dying and go through the character selection and all the tedious and boring fetching and exploring around the first map. Whenever I get bored at the slow-paced flying (most of the time) I engage in combat, but most of the time the damn Marauders just smash full speed into you and shoot while doing it and force you to retreat to fix your ship or keep on fighting, so you could get some Hull to repair your ship. Most of the time the ships give you stuff you can't keep because you need fuel and supplies to stay afloat and even more often you just die whenever you see a Bull Cantankeri or those weird slimy Marauder ships. So yeah it's definitely not a combat game but a walking simulator with way too intense focus on resource management to give the player even something to do in the relatively empty world. If the endless boxes of text are not for you then you should skip this. I enjoy the story and I would really love to get going with the conflict and head into the world but it's so damn boring and unrewarding at the start. I might try to finish the first missions but with plenty of other stuff to play I'm beginning to doubt that I'll ever finish this game.

I consider my English to be decent. An average game is 99% understandable to me. I've recently played Eliza by Zachtronics, missed a few words here and there, but, again, it was 99% understandable. However, a slightly more sophisticated literature is beyond my capabilities. Sunless Skies falls into that category. I could follow the story, but I'd miss half the game's charm. All the atmosphere, built through descriptive words, would be lost for me. The game is in desperative need of localizition. More than any other narrative-driven game. So, I guess that's a no for me. Also, weird perfomance? The game didn't feel smooth, as if the framerate constantly dipped below 60, even though it didn't.

The game starts slow and difficult, and extremely opaque. Given time it opens up into something complex and beautiful. It does not particularly require nor especially benefit from experience with Sunless Sea to enjoy. Just pick a trait to focus in on. End game equipment requires heavy specialization.

First, for those who haven't played Sunless Sea, this game is about interacting with people places and things beyond the pale through story options. You may ferry goods from place to place in order to earn money, but for most people making money is a means to the end of advancing individual plots. The characters are presented in excellent english, providing quick yet deep insights into how they function. The locations are bizarre and easily differentiable. Note, however that this isn't a fast-paced game. There is combat, and that can get heated at times, but a good amount of your time will be spent traveling between locations. This isn't without danger, or interesting surprises, but it does result in a slower paced experience. In my opinion this also allows you to enjoy the atmosphere created by art and music much more. Second, for those who have played Sunless Sea, this game is bigger, but younger. There are many more places already in existence (as of 12/19/2018) and many more coming. They may not have the same depth of some of the locations in Sunless Sea, but I expect them to as time passes and more content is added. The mystique and curiosity that drove my pursuit of quests in Sunless Sea remains very much in force in Sunless Sky. The one thing I miss the most is the numerous ways in which your captain could acheive a destiny, or die, but I hold no doubt that those will accrue like snow in this game as time passes.