Rarely do I come a cross a game that I'm that much on the fence about. I haven't played it when it first came out, so consider this a contemporary perspective. You've probaly read about the games unqiue systems, how you don't directly command heroes but rather provide them with everything they need to get stronger, create a seizable economy and set bounties for your troops to get things done. It's charming, has heart and is both fun and addictive. Seeing your heroes level up over time and form parties to raid the evil lairs of the lands can be very rewarding. The games system aren't super deep, but give you enough to work with so it doesn't get stale all to quickly. So far so good. Sadly, the games balancing is severly lacking, with some of the worst mission design I have every seen. Some of the story missions are basically learning by dying challenges, giving you no time to figure out what to do before rushing you with an insurmountable amount of enemies unless you already know exactly what the game had in mind for that mission and execute it percectly. This is neither hard nor challenging, just plainly bad design. Frustratingly enough this goes for random maps too. While being my favorite mode of the game, sometimes the RNG simply screws you over, again overwhelming you with large hordes of enemies within a minute of the game. It's a terribly flawed game in some aspects, but not a bad one. I certainly enjoyed most of my time with it and like to ocassionaly do a few random maps, hoping to get one that's fun to play. If you have some tolerance for frustration and don't mind somewhat outdated UI design, consider giving this one a shot. I hope one day some devs with knowledge about mission design and balancing will do a spiritual successor to this currently dead franchise. Majesty certainly deserves it for it's unique concept and endearing presentation.
The world is interesting and while you won't have any meaningful conversations with its inhabitants trough extensive dialogue trees, the writing on display here is very solid and has both atmosphere and humor. It's just not as life altering genius as some people claim it to be and it doesn't make up for the bad game design plaguing nearly every aspect of Sunless Sea. I tried several times over the course of a few months to enjoy this game, willing to take my time with a cup of nice cup of hot coffee on my side, ready to be sucked in. I wanted to like it since what it tries to achieve with its world and it's story is very much up my lovecraftian alley. Sadly, t always ended up being a frustrating chore that left me boring and annoyed. I don't mind hard games and I don't mind the permadeath setup. What I do mind is unengaging and repetitive gameplay. Death is advertised as part of the experience and you can chose from a list of perks you may carry over on your next play-trough. It states loud and clear that you shouldn't expect to achieve anything on your first try. But then it starts you again on the same map, with the same ship, the same initial quests and the same progression. This works in faster paced and more gameplay oriented rogue-likes, but not in game that expects slow and methodical exploration. You try to manage rapidly depleting and very limited resources, roll the dice on random outcomes for port events and hope to survive long enough to achieve something of value. It's a game that needs either a colossal time investment, or a Wiki always open in the background, hence completely negating the exploration aspect of the game. Even if you manage to get the hang of it and push trough the repetitive start of the game, from what I've read so far you'll only be faced with a never ending grind for upgrades. A noble effort on part of the devs, but the bottom line is that I didn't have any fun and I would rather explore the world in a book.
