It has been days since you last saw the lights of port. The only thing that breaks the silence is the comforting chug of your engine, but doesn’t it sound just a little off since you stopped to investigate that abandoned homestead. Your scout bat has come up empty the last three times you sent her out and the rations are at critical levels. Just then, the chug of the engine sputters and dies. You feel a coldness inside to rival that of the sky and look to your crew as strange thoughts layout a buffet of terrors in crimson and brass.
Welcome to the Sunless Skies, a game by the good people at Failbetter Games. Sunless Skies shares much with the previous game Sunless Seas, but it takes you to a place just as strange as Fallen London. You play a line of Captains, each one the heir of the previous, exploring the sunless skies in hopes of fulfilling your aspirations and proving yourself against the dark terrors of the realm.
The strong points of the game are the absolutely enchanting atmosphere. Failbetter Games knows how to create a world with incredible depth and Sunless Skies is no exception. The music and sound effects complement the lovecraftian mood that permeates the game.
A fair warning, the game is difficult and the squamous nightmares of the Sunless Skies can overwhelm you at the worst possible time leaving you to have to start all over with only a fraction of your resources and experience. Even on its most forgiving settings Sunless Skies can be hard to adapt to and sometimes that next port of call is just a little too far off.
If you are a fan of in depth stories, mercantile games, and lovecraftian steampunk at its finest, I would highly recommend you take off for The Sunless Skies.
Victorian, Gothic and Steampunk Magazine 