Sunless Sea

The gemae manages to create a great solemn atmosphere in an interestingly unique world, and the graphics and gameplay make it feel like you are playing a really good tabletop game

Really interesting rouge-like. The atmosphere is grim (and dank!) and the fragments of stories create a mysterious allure. Combat could be a bit easier or tutorialized a bit better

An oldie but a goodie. Worth a buy.

If so - you're in for a treat as that's where the strenghts of this game lies. It's beautifully and sometimes frighteningly written - writer clearly understands how Lovecraftian game should 'feel'. Graphics are meh - nothing special although they do produce a decent mood. Music is great, atmospheric, wet. Gameplay itself is a painfully slow grind as you swim from port to port to earn an echo (currency) here and there. At first it didn't bother me as I've enjoyed stories and sounds. But progression is so slow that it killed my interest. Also it's a huge misunderstanding that the best tactic in the game is to run away from every threat as even when you 'fight' (press one icon on your screen when it) the losses will be almost always bigger than gains therefore you go bored or you go to start screen to start everything again with blackened map. Shame, I've enjoyed it for a while but only cause I like reading and Lovemakercraft.

Sunless Sea does well at everything that isn't simply "fun". The gameplay is unforgiving tedious and not very rewarding when you're a beginner but the more you get to read, learn and experience in this masterfully crafted world the better it gets. The game punishes your lack of knowledge about it but rewards discovering mechanics and opportunities. Many games will maintain a cookie cutter learning curve that makes sure you can overcome the next incoming obstacle. Here, learning about the game on your own is part of the gameplay which means that just as much as your player character gains experience and levels up, you go through something similar as you, the player. become a better "zee captain" that knows how to traverse the dark waters. This makes Sunless sea one of the most immersive RPG experiences out there. What's even better is that this text heavy game is also one of the best written RPGs out there, comparable to what Interplaay, Black Isle, Obsidian or CDPR produce. Although more esoteric and interestingly abstract in the use of language then the listed studios.