Even more spite week! Sunless Sea is an indie game that I’m really enjoying, so I’m going to chatter about it today.
Sunless Sea is a spin off of Fallen London, which is what you would get if you made an entire game out of weird and morbid flavour text. To quote the main Fallen London page:
One city. A thousand choices. Discover a dark and hilarious Gothic underworld where all your actions have consequences. And did we mention it’s free? Welcome. Delicious friend.
In Fallen London you explore a strange and unsettling version of London which has been stolen and hidden underground by mysterious creatures known as the Masters. It’s kind of steampunk, kink of urban fantasy, and entirely engaging.
Sunless Sea allows you to explore beyond Fallen London’s shores. If you’ve ever wanted to visit the Tomb Colonies, or Polythreme, or the New Khanate, this is the game for you. Even if you’ve never played Fallen London or couldn’t get into it, you might still like Sunless Sea if you enjoy exploration, sea monsters, or the possibility of losing your mind and eating your crew. No seriously, the tag line for the game is “LOSE YOUR MIND. EAT YOUR CREW.” What’s not cool about that?
Sunless Sea is slower paced than other games, and the permadeath default irritates the shit out of me (if you’re not into permadeath, remember to save whenever you make port), but it’s also utterly unlike any mainstream game you’ve played. The price on Steam is not fantastic right now, but put it on your wishlist and give it a shot.
I haven’t really been reading blogs as much as I used to, but this was an amusing post to scroll across as an avid Fallen London player. I maybe a month ago ran into another Fallen London player out in the wild, and Fallen London being niche as it is, I was surprised. Of all the potential common interests between bloggers I read and myself, I wasn’t expecting Fallen London to be one.
Love that game. Amazing quirky stories. But what really gets me is the amazing atmosphere.
What comes to my head when I think of Sunless Sea are those moments when you are returning from a long trip across the Unterzee, having lost half your crew and your boat so damaged your rat engineer is barely able to keep it from sinking… and then… you hear the first notes of that tune that always welcomes you to Fallen London and you get that feeling of relief from being back home.