Sunless Sea

 PC
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 176 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 116 out of 176
  2. Mixed: 32 out of 176
  3. Negative: 28 out of 176

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  1. miranda7
    Feb 8, 2015
    10
    Been playing games since the 80s, and first game I felt compelled to rate. For sure, it not for everyone, but for me it is stunning, Atmospheric, different, addictive. Love the fact that you are going to die at the start, but that helps your descendants (or rivals) to progress.
  2. Lobuno
    Feb 8, 2015
    6
    You play as the captain of a steamship in a post-retro-fallen-lovecraftian London UK.

    Nice atmospheric game. Correct graphics and sound for and indie release. The storytelling is good, a bit confusing at times because of the language used. The game is mainly that storytelling, and a lot of exploration. It can be slow and boring at times because of the sluggish pace. Overall a nice    You play as the captain of a steamship in a post-retro-fallen-lovecraftian London UK.

    Nice atmospheric game. Correct graphics and sound for and indie release. The storytelling is good, a bit confusing at times because of the language used. The game is mainly that storytelling, and a lot of exploration. It can be slow and boring at times because of the sluggish pace.

    Overall a nice indie game, but it sure doesn't deserve the 10's I've seen on several critic/user reviews.

    In mi opinion it deserves: 6.5    … Expand
  3. LaughingProphet
    Feb 22, 2015
    0
    If you are thinking of buying this game, I have a better idea. Pack some food and get in your car. Spend the price of the game on gas. Drive somewhere you've never been. Get out, look around. Enjoy the day. Have a picnic. When the sun goes down, try to get home without running out of gas. You've just had a better time than playing Sunless Sea. (If you don't have a car, put the money in aIf you are thinking of buying this game, I have a better idea. Pack some food and get in your car. Spend the price of the game on gas. Drive somewhere you've never been. Get out, look around. Enjoy the day. Have a picnic. When the sun goes down, try to get home without running out of gas. You've just had a better time than playing Sunless Sea. (If you don't have a car, put the money in a coffee can marked "Savings for a Car." You will still have a similar experience.)

    This game is truly a waste of time and money. Sunless Sea tries to be a lot of tantalizing things, but does just about all of them poorly. Combat is atrocious, exploration is tedious and unrewarding, movement is inexcusably slow, the "story" seems to be an assemblage of set pieces with no interconnection or apparent coherence.

    My first biggest problem on a game level is a fundamental one. I don't understand why this game calls itself a roguelike, or features permadeath. Since it is supposedly story-driven, if you are expected to frequently die then you just sit through the same story elements every time after every restart. I would opine that the fact that you have the option to turn the roguelike aspect off indicates that it was an early concept that became obsolete during development. I do have more cynical ideas about why it exists, though.

    My next biggest problem is the speed of the game. Your ship is inexcusably slow, even with upgraded engines. Maybe later ships are better, but the price of these ships is so steep I never got a chance to try one (the reward-to-cost balance is an issue of its own). Regardless, to somehow make enough money to buy better ships and equipment, you will waste hours watching your little boat inch its way sluggishly across the pretty but mostly non-interactive environment. A simple fix would have been a fast-forward button, featured in many similar games. I suspect that the choice not to include such a boon, however, was in deference to maintaining the atmospheric quality of the game. I could see the difficulty in progressing as being in deference to the atmosphere of the game. The pointlessness of everything you do as being in deference to the atmosphere.

    These unenjoyable aspects foisted upon the player bring me to the core problem with this game; The creators' artistic vision is allowed to interfere with the player's good time. Every element that would make Sunless Sea a competent game seems to have suffered in favor of story and atmosphere. That could be excused, to a limited extent, if the story were well put together. By the game's nature of exploration and horribly ill-conceived roguelike elements, however, there is little hope for a linear plot. It feels like a series of set pieces strung together ad hoc because it is, out of necessity. If instead of making a game the creators had created a short animated film with a coherent story set in this universe, it might have actually been good. This game is not, and should not exist.

    I was actually excited when I first heard about Sunless Sea. I loved sea-trading games like Port Royale but wished they had better developed worlds, I loved FTL, which some crooked critic compared it to, and sure, steampunk, I'd love to see that done well in a game other than Bioshock for once. Review scores for it were really high. But Sunless Sea is not a game. Every time I tried to give it another chance I quit playing with an unpleasant taste in my mouth, wishing I had my time and money back. Everything in this game is done better elsewhere. The art is pretty, though in no way does it justify a game.    … Expand
  4. Meeleepit
    Sep 3, 2020
    6
    Sunless Sea is not for everyone. This game requires a lot of reading and imagination.

    Starts of very confusing and keeps this pace well above 10 hours of play but afterwards game starts making sense. Game requires a lot of grinding to stay afloat .

    Lore and story of the world is the best part.
  5. Foxman8472
    Feb 17, 2015
    5
    I'm not sure what to make of this game. It's roguelike, but has a lot of grind. It's based on exploration, but resource management makes exploration incredibly costly. It's got trade, but it's poorly implemented. It has combat, but it's minimalist. Resource management is very hard and that limits one's adventurous desires to just strolling around the neighborhood, killing bats underI'm not sure what to make of this game. It's roguelike, but has a lot of grind. It's based on exploration, but resource management makes exploration incredibly costly. It's got trade, but it's poorly implemented. It has combat, but it's minimalist. Resource management is very hard and that limits one's adventurous desires to just strolling around the neighborhood, killing bats under constantly dwindling supplies, dragging to the inevitable loss at the hands of starvation or lack of fuel.

    What are we playing for? The story is a mess. I know that it's an already fleshed out universe from Fallen London, but the text is somewhat cryptic, the design is not the most user friendly, and the tutorial is absent - so it's hard to delve in gameplay-wise, and I need that to happen in order to enjoy the storyline. It's got no info of where to go, what to start with, and you're just thrown in like that. And you die, and you lose (almost) everything, and then you die again.

    Under that hard, unwelcoming shell, there might be some sweet pulp; However, it's this shell that's off-putting. If one does not get a foothold in the world, gain something to push him forward or have any event happen that can get him directly involved. It's not that the game is bad, but it's poorly balanced. If there's a hook, it's hidden too deep and most people won't grab it. Shame, it did a lot of things right...    … Expand
  6. OHIC
    Sep 25, 2017
    10
    One of my favourite games of all time. It's famously harsh and keen to kill you, which is part of the dark humour. It's a humour style that won't work for everyone, but if you recognise and appreciate their references then it'll reward you in spades. Strongly recommend getting the Zubmariner DLC too - it's playable inside the main game story, and gives you many advantages once you'veOne of my favourite games of all time. It's famously harsh and keen to kill you, which is part of the dark humour. It's a humour style that won't work for everyone, but if you recognise and appreciate their references then it'll reward you in spades. Strongly recommend getting the Zubmariner DLC too - it's playable inside the main game story, and gives you many advantages once you've gained the ability to scour the surface, the Unterzee and the sea bed too.

    The game also makes a big deal about playing for permadeath, teasing the idea that it would be detrimental to use Saves and lose your status as a "true" player. I'd advise you to forget that, and use the Save! It's hard enough without completely crushing yourself. Abandon all ideas about finding some cheap stock that's worth a fortune at another port, too; such things are almost totally non-existent, and this isn't Elite. Money will appear as windfalls from unexpected moments in the game's story, as will life-saving food and fuel (although you will also need to buy these!). The game wants you to forget about traditional game ideas and put both feet into being a foolhardy sea captain from a horror story. Be reckless and give yourself to that premise, and the game will pay you back with more (wonderfully well written) stories.    … Expand
  7. zappo
    Mar 2, 2015
    7
    I have spend now around 10hrs playing this game, and I'm ready to write a review. Let's start with a short summary:

    Seldom have I played a game that gives me such mixed messages. Sublime text based story and a truly wonderful world battle with bad game mechanics and pure boredom. And while I wish I could fully advise to buy this game, I feel troubled by some pretty bad design choices.    I have spend now around 10hrs playing this game, and I'm ready to write a review. Let's start with a short summary:

    Seldom have I played a game that gives me such mixed messages. Sublime text based story and a truly wonderful world battle with bad game mechanics and pure boredom. And while I wish I could fully advise to buy this game, I feel troubled by some pretty bad design choices.

    The good:

    This has been said before, the game world and the writing are simply great. The whole world, while really dark makes complete sense. Every port that you explore has new interesting stories to tell.

    The choices you have to make are meaningful, even if you succeed in challenges you often have to deal with negative effects that come sidelong. Like some artifact you get that is worth a lot but raises your Terror levels. The card systems is kind of artificial, but works really good. You always know what you need and what your chances are to succeed in a challenge.

    As a whole the setting is wonderful and you strife to learn more from this world, explorer the secrets of the deep Zea and deal with it's terrors.

    The neutral (People might find this good or bad according to personal taste):

    The game is really hard. Ressource management is brutal, most of your money is spend on fuel and food. Building up something extra takes a long time.

    You will die quite some time, and dying is really punishing in this game. In the beginning you loose everything and you will have to start all over again. If you find this troubling I advise you to turn off permanent death witch is an option. (But default is unforgiving mode, so be careful)
    Also ff you die there is no random content, except the position of islands. So you will have to go through everything you did again.

    Overall the pace of the game is really slow. Most of the time you will stare at your screen seeing your little steamer make it's way through an almost black screen. Of course this adds a lot to the feeling of the game, but if you are after fast paced action, you won't get it in this game.

    The bad

    There are way to little options for ships, equipment etc. After 10 hours I haven't bought a single thing! I have now 2.000 money to spare, which is not bad considering the time I spent and there simply isn't a single thing that would make sense to buy. I repeat that 10 hours in the game and I haven't bough a single upgrade because there is nothing to buy:
    - New gun -> you will avoid fights 90% of the time anyway
    - New engine -> makes you slightly faster but consumes more precious fuel
    - New ship -> WAY more expensive then 2.000 echo

    While we are at it: combat sucks. You will be stuck with a single gun forever because you can't buy another ship, so you have tactical options of 0. Also combat is really dangerous most of the time, so you will avoid it as best as possible.

    Trading also sucks. There simply isn't anything you can trade with the starter ship that has enough margin to cover fuel & food and getting a trading ship is really expensive.

    Also this is a roguelike game, but dying is the worst thing you can do. You will want to avoid dying in any way possible because it's so extremely punishing. The permadeath option makes about as much sense as for Monkey Island.

    The Verdict

    So where does that leave us? Incredible writing vs. crappy gameplay. I the writing good enough to take the pain? I would say yes, but turn of permadeath or you will never explore the wonders of the Zea and only do the same stuff over and over again (remember, the definition of madness...).

    This game has been compared to Faster then Light (FTL) a lot. But let me say this to you straight away: It's NOTHING like that. FTL is a game stripped down to it's core gameplay. With incredibly deep and tactical fights, fast gameplay and a different outcome every time you start new. The combination of ships, weapons, crew members, augmentations etc. are endless in FTL and you get stuff pretty fast. On the other hand the story is spare and you will just get to make a handful of decisions along the way.

    That is about the complete opposite of Sunless Sea. Story driven, slow, very spare random elements, a complete lack of equipment and very flat sometimes really boring gameplay. To break it down for you: In FTL hardly every nothing happens in Sunless Sea you don't do anything at least 60% of the time.

    Would buy again? Yes, but a very close one.    … Expand
  8. mbolme
    Feb 4, 2016
    9
    I love this game. I had not realized how accustomed I was to steamrolling most games. Choices in most games didn't really matter, because you made a save, and choose. If the choices turns out badly, you just restore. Shall I fight this monster? Save and give it a try. Well, fair warning - this game is hard, and if you die, you start over. (It's not quite that bad, because you can build upI love this game. I had not realized how accustomed I was to steamrolling most games. Choices in most games didn't really matter, because you made a save, and choose. If the choices turns out badly, you just restore. Shall I fight this monster? Save and give it a try. Well, fair warning - this game is hard, and if you die, you start over. (It's not quite that bad, because you can build up some items that pass onto your son (or daughter.)

    What does it offer? Tense gameplay where every choice matters. Great atmosphere and incredible writing. You get to sail your own ship. I now have a Phorcyd-class Corvette ("Small, swift and formidable, like a very angry vole.") equipped with a Cotterell & Hathersage 'Reproach' deck cannon, and I hold my own very well. I'd like to get a Caminus Yards Helltrasher deck cannon, but cash is short (it always is). Right now I need to go get a demoness and bring her back to London, the admiral wants me to stop by a certain port that is mostly on the way, and one of my officer thinks he can make me a better engine. I wonder how my little nation of rats and guinea pigs is doing?

    If you're very good and careful, you thrive. Did I say I love this game? :P    … Expand
  9. Azuth
    Jun 9, 2015
    5
    Interesting idea, wonderfully written stories with a lot of choices to be made and a world that initially seems interesting to travel in. The problem is that after a while (and a couple of captain deaths) the game starts to feel really repetitive and slow. You more or less repeat the things you did with the last captain hopping to progress a bit more. Trade is also limited and upgrades fewInteresting idea, wonderfully written stories with a lot of choices to be made and a world that initially seems interesting to travel in. The problem is that after a while (and a couple of captain deaths) the game starts to feel really repetitive and slow. You more or less repeat the things you did with the last captain hopping to progress a bit more. Trade is also limited and upgrades few and far apart. All in all this is better appreciated as a piece of art rather than a game.… Expand
  10. historymaking
    Dec 18, 2016
    10
    One of the best games I have played in a long time. The text is immersive. I actually feel like I'm part of the story. I find this to be a rare thing in games, you're so often ramrodded towards a central narrative even in games that proclaim themselves to be openended and open world. In sunless sea there are a million little pieces of story, all well written, all tailor made, but freeOne of the best games I have played in a long time. The text is immersive. I actually feel like I'm part of the story. I find this to be a rare thing in games, you're so often ramrodded towards a central narrative even in games that proclaim themselves to be openended and open world. In sunless sea there are a million little pieces of story, all well written, all tailor made, but free to combine themselves into new and exciting things all of the time. I find myself anxiously wondering if I'll make it to the next port before my food and fuel run out, wondering what I could have done to stop that house from burning down, and generally lost inside the game. This doesnt happen. I dont get lost inside games. Somehow I am.… Expand
  11. Skarwind
    Jun 17, 2015
    8
    Sunless Sea is a masterpiece of writing and atmosphere. What it lacks in flashy gameplay and graphics are more than made up for in attention to detail with every description, event, and triumph that your ship and crew encounter along the way.

    This game is not for everyone, however. For those who do not enjoy a good book or moments of silence, this game is not for you. Sunless Sea has    Sunless Sea is a masterpiece of writing and atmosphere. What it lacks in flashy gameplay and graphics are more than made up for in attention to detail with every description, event, and triumph that your ship and crew encounter along the way.

    This game is not for everyone, however. For those who do not enjoy a good book or moments of silence, this game is not for you. Sunless Sea has more in common with a text based role playing game more than it does with a rogue like.

    The stories are interesting and will keep you wondering what happens next but are short enough to not warrant several hours of constant reading. The combat is simple enough and will not win any awards but is still fun at times. The music is fantastic and sets the mood and tone of the game very well and can be a joy in itself to hear.

    Overall the game is decent and worth the price of a movie ticket and bag of popcorn. There are periodic updates that add new content and bug fixes and new stories are added as well. Also take the time to look up how Failbettergames handles their stories. Some may enjoy the way it is handled and some may not. Best to do some homework before you spend your hard earned money.    … Expand
  12. Logyck
    Apr 4, 2015
    9
    Sunless Sea is a triumph of imagination and flair, though technically it is a bit of a mess.

    Long story short, you play as various sea captains on their voyages around the 'Unterzee': a strange underground ocean full of eldritch horrors and and other strangeness, both human and non-human. Let's get the simple stuff out of the way first: the writing is perhaps the greatest collection    Sunless Sea is a triumph of imagination and flair, though technically it is a bit of a mess.

    Long story short, you play as various sea captains on their voyages around the 'Unterzee': a strange underground ocean full of eldritch horrors and and other strangeness, both human and non-human.

    Let's get the simple stuff out of the way first: the writing is perhaps the greatest collection of prose in a video game this year or last year, and perhaps ever. It reads like Charles Dickens making 'come hither' eyes to HP Lovecraft, and one of the greatest joys this game has to offer is simply the joy of text, and of drinking in all the wonderful things that these game designers had to say about their world.

    The graphic design is also exceptional. The player is confronted with stylish renditions of ships, islands and many things much more wacky and wonderful than those first examples. Many things seem to just have half a toe dipped into the uncanny valley: several of the human characters have exaggerated features, and the player themselves can only choose a silhouette, rather than a portrait, and whilst everything is presented more or less on a two dimensional plane, the artists have obviously worked hard to bring just a hint of the third dimension into their game. Ships rock slightly back and forth on the water, and the Lifebergs (towering masses of living ice) rock menacingly to and fro as they chase you down.

    The sound design is also absolutely excellent: the ambient sound of the water is actually incredibly relaxing just on its own, whilst the various melodies that play as you sail are all memorable and evocative in their own ways. The only criticism I could make is the somewhat counter-intuitive recycling of sound effects for various different monsters, something I think could be easily fixed.

    However, substance-wise and on a technical level, the game sometimes disappoints. It's intensely resource-focused, to the extent that it sometimes hampers the ability of the player to explore as the designers probably intended. Certain resources are valued the same as others, but are much, much harder to obtain, giving the game somewhat of an imbalanced feel. The UI is a bit of a mess, with some story objectives revealed through officers, some in the journal, and some through items in the hold, and without the ability to annotate the map, it becomes difficult to keep track of everything you're supposed to be doing. The action of the combat is often dull and uninspired, with little practical variety in weapons or abilities, and occasionally the game veers dangerously into the territory of 'grind'-something that really shows that the people making it have only previously made a commercially successful browser game, where grind is essentially gospel.

    Despite this, I wholeheartedly recommend Sunless Sea to any friend I talk to, because to cut a long story short, the mild lows are not enough to distract from the wonderful highs. By focusing on their strengths, Failbetter Games have created an experience that, for better or worse, simply should not be missed.    … Expand
  13. RagingPoet
    Jan 6, 2018
    8
    Game feels a lot like Space Ranges in the underground sea. It has better atmosphere and story, but much smaller scale text quests. Plot and writing are superb. Gameplay is very repetitive and gets old quickly.
  14. Sjalka
    Feb 10, 2015
    7
    Sunless Sea offers an open world with an abundance to explore and interact with. It has a beautifully drawn 2d top-down world and I instantly felt the victorian steam punk alternative world.

    However the game can easily overwhelm a newcomer with its many plots, sidequests and stories and items - along with a punishing difficulty (at first) that literally leaves you dead in the water    Sunless Sea offers an open world with an abundance to explore and interact with. It has a beautifully drawn 2d top-down world and I instantly felt the victorian steam punk alternative world.

    However the game can easily overwhelm a newcomer with its many plots, sidequests and stories and items - along with a punishing difficulty (at first) that literally leaves you dead in the water quickly.

    Once you become a bit secure and can deal with your most basic needs, the game turns into quite a grind - but usually offers more depths to it.

    Combat and crew management could have been much nicer - as i never really related to my crew.... at all much.

    All in all, the game with well worth it - and i can only recommend it.    … Expand
  15. Skulb
    Mar 6, 2015
    8
    This is a highly unusual game to say the least. If you can imagine a sort of mutation of Lovecraft, Ports of Call, Rogue Legacy and FTL with undead tourists and sea monsters then you`re getting there. But then it isn`t really like any of those at all either, but something quite particular indeed. Half the time I couldn`t even tell if I was having fun or was being shanghaied into some sortThis is a highly unusual game to say the least. If you can imagine a sort of mutation of Lovecraft, Ports of Call, Rogue Legacy and FTL with undead tourists and sea monsters then you`re getting there. But then it isn`t really like any of those at all either, but something quite particular indeed. Half the time I couldn`t even tell if I was having fun or was being shanghaied into some sort of sociology experiment quite frankly. Crossing the sea takes positively forever, and chances are you`re not making it across even if you`re patient enough to try. So in short the best description I can give of Sunless Sea is that it is a verbose, story generating, nautical legacy rogue-like set in a faux, subterranean 19th century Britain with undeads, pirates, talking rodents, giant crabs, jellyfish, mechanical sharks and other sea dwelling terrors. It could hardly be any weirder if it tried.
    Meanwhile there`s a curious mixture of gloom, literacy and nonsensical absurdism in this game I am unsure if I have seen anywhere before. It`s not exactly funny, not exactly tragic and not exactly dramatic. It just is, like a weird alternative reality full of slightly unsettling things of all kinds. But something is very likely to take a hold of you while playing Sunless Sea whether you like it or not, and whatever it is.
    Mostly it`s desperation and sheer panic of course, as hours of meticulous progress threaten to go down the drain unless you can somehow limp and cannibalize your way back to the relative safety of Fallen London. But on the occasions when you do make it back, preferably with some haul to make the whole thing feel worth it, there`s a potent sense of relief I haven`t experienced too often in video games. There is a distinct visual style as well, and the sound is excellent in every way, as you chug your way nervously around a subterranean ocean called The Unterzee. But it`s the panicked moments when you know you`re gonna be lost at sea, again, which drive you up the wall and right on to starting all over again with the next poor sap you`re gonna drown in an act of overstretch, stupidity, hubris or accident, in the form of your heir. Ideally each drowned sap, erm I mean captain, will build on the fortune of his predecessor until some conclusion to the game can be reached. I have not reached that far yet, but it is an interesting concept and it is well executed in Sunless Sea.
    I would score it higher if it wasn`t for the sense I am getting that the story part of the game crashes a bit with the rogue-like genre. Replayability is all good and well. But who wants to read the same text over and over again? I ended up clicking through most of it because of this, which is a shame because it`s well written stuff. Just not the tenth time. Or the twentieth. And similarly, random events have a bad habit of not seeming very random. Once I got the same one five times in a row within about three minutes. I didn`t want it and dismissed it only to get it again twenty seconds later until I thought it was a bug of some sort. Secondly it seems a bit grindy. This isn`t necessarily a bad thing of course, and at least the game rewards the lost art of patience. But I am having a hell of a time getting any development of my ship going at all, which is sort of a big deal in a nautical rogue-like. The upgrades are expensive, not to mention upgrading the hull, and the one cannon upgrade I did manage to buy was not inherited by my heir as advertized, which felt like the game cheating quite frankly. And the game is hard enough without cheating the player.
    Other than these slight niggles, most of which have more to do with the irrepressible creativity of the designers than any actual flaws with the game, I can`t find a thing to criticize about it.

    Highly recommended if you have the patience to read my review of it. Especially if you like things difficult and slow paced and you enjoy reading.    … Expand
  16. jukevox
    Jun 8, 2019
    8
    The music and writing in this rogue-like is amazing and set the vibe immediately. The slightly quirky combat system is a little awkward but the world building and storytelling more than make up for this,
  17. k47nip
    Oct 31, 2016
    10
    This is a unique game.There is discovery and adventure. I love the little vignettes which tell the story. It is like an interactive picture book for adults. My only complaint is that it is too small.
  18. Masterhummel
    Feb 9, 2015
    9
    Sunless Sea has the disadvantages of a very average and monotonous combat system as well as a noticable grind factor, especially when playing the game for the first time.

    The thing is, the game raises the bar so much with the great hand-crafted lovecraftian inspired world and atmosphere that it hardly matters. Even the grind didn't trouble me all that much with the constant flow of new    Sunless Sea has the disadvantages of a very average and monotonous combat system as well as a noticable grind factor, especially when playing the game for the first time.

    The thing is, the game raises the bar so much with the great hand-crafted lovecraftian inspired world and atmosphere that it hardly matters. Even the grind didn't trouble me all that much with the constant flow of new stories and people you discover.    … Expand
  19. MikeLane
    Feb 11, 2015
    9
    Sunless Sea is an interesting little gem. It has its issues (combat that needs to be more engaging/tactical, perhaps a bit of tweaking to the economy and an increase in the variety of upgrades for your ship) but the story, writing, atmosphere and setting is top-notch. If you are a twitch gamer, this is not for you. It is slow, but that slowness fits, somehow. Also, you will have to enjoySunless Sea is an interesting little gem. It has its issues (combat that needs to be more engaging/tactical, perhaps a bit of tweaking to the economy and an increase in the variety of upgrades for your ship) but the story, writing, atmosphere and setting is top-notch. If you are a twitch gamer, this is not for you. It is slow, but that slowness fits, somehow. Also, you will have to enjoy reading, and have a vocabulary that includes "tenebrous" or possibly "cyclopean". There's a swirl of Lovecraft here, with a dusting of Poe, but the cake underneath is its own recipe.
    You largely build your own narrative from the many, many stories you stumble across, which makes for unique possibilities. If Failbetter continues to add stories, the world will remain living and will gain a depth rarely offered.
    And do be warned: You will bury captains at sea. Often, at the outset, and whenever you foolishly think you are "ready" for what's out there. You're not.    … Expand
  20. weregamer
    Feb 11, 2015
    9
    Sunless Sea is perhaps the best "literate" game on the PC since Planescape: Torment. There is a light-handedness to the dark humor that keeps it from feeling silly or breaking the fourth wall.

    It is also among the most truly "roguelike" of the recent spate of games claiming that category; the game will kill you brutally the first few times you play, and you will meet many a death before    Sunless Sea is perhaps the best "literate" game on the PC since Planescape: Torment. There is a light-handedness to the dark humor that keeps it from feeling silly or breaking the fourth wall.

    It is also among the most truly "roguelike" of the recent spate of games claiming that category; the game will kill you brutally the first few times you play, and you will meet many a death before you win, but each time you play you will learn more about how to succeed.

    Unlike the original Rogue, your character doesn't start over at exactly the zero point each time; each new incarnation can choose one set of things to inherit from its predecessor, and after you've achieved significant success you can write a will and stock a mansion with sellable curios to give your next character a further leg up.

    This last is perhaps the most brilliant thing, in a game design sense, about Sunless Sea. Permadeath is so painful that ameliorating it just this much, and adding the additional story elements of inheritance, makes all the difference between depression and eagerness to try again. That said, you can decide at any time to start saving and loading, implicitly removing permadeath. This will only affect your ability to gain the achievement for winning with permadeath turned on.

    I hesitate to give this game an unqualified 10 primarily because of annoyances about not living up to the UI flexibility expectations for a PC game, and secondarily because it will not be many players' cup of tea.

    The biggest of these annoyances is the complete lack of control over the text display in a game that's all about reading text. I run the game at my monitor's full resolution all the text is unreadably small; reducing the resolution makes the text readable but makes the log window (which is admittedly not the most important thing on the screen) too small to see much in.

    Overall, if you like games that reward paying attention to the text rather than scrolling past it in a hurry, this is probably your game of the year.    … Expand
  21. Zhorge
    Apr 28, 2015
    9
    The downsides of Sunless Sea are that this game has a steep learning curve, some grind and a lot of resource management that can't be ignored. In short, it hasn't been dumbed down to a modern console-port CRPG and has some old-school elements that require attention to detail (in story and action) and putting in some effort in resource management. It's also not a combat-orientedThe downsides of Sunless Sea are that this game has a steep learning curve, some grind and a lot of resource management that can't be ignored. In short, it hasn't been dumbed down to a modern console-port CRPG and has some old-school elements that require attention to detail (in story and action) and putting in some effort in resource management. It's also not a combat-oriented CRPG/adventure so the combat system is simple compared to the button-mashing-special-attack fests of the modern games in the genres. But I consider that a feature, not a bug.

    You have a small variety of choices in your 'win game' goal. My current 'win game' goal is to find my father's bones and bury them. There are three others.

    The stories and characters are interesting and will engage the serious, and many of the casual, CRPG players. The game has various port challenges with multiple outcomes (RNG or choice) possible. You can make mistakes and they are fatal at times (my first Captain was murdered by his own crew!).

    You control the plot pace and are not forced down a linear path. You have stats to upgrade, ships to purchase and upgrade, crew to hire and upgrade, a world map that is reshuffled with every new captain. Combat can be avoided, or taken on.

    In the UnderZee you are rewarded, or punished, for your choices and your impatience, or patience. And when something bad happens to you, it's always because of what you did. Or failed to do. No deus ex machina garbage to hamper (or lift) you.    … Expand
  22. DragonDai
    Feb 11, 2015
    10
    Okay, so, disclaimer: This game features a LOT of written text. Reading said text is 1/2 to 3/4ths of the gameplay. If you don't enjoy reading, this game isn't for you. Also, you can die in this game, and death can be a HUGE setback in progress (because while there are ways to mitigate it a little bit, death is permanent...time to start over). If those things don't bother you (or they areOkay, so, disclaimer: This game features a LOT of written text. Reading said text is 1/2 to 3/4ths of the gameplay. If you don't enjoy reading, this game isn't for you. Also, you can die in this game, and death can be a HUGE setback in progress (because while there are ways to mitigate it a little bit, death is permanent...time to start over). If those things don't bother you (or they are good qualities in a game, in your opinion), read on. Otherwise, this game isn't for you. Sorry.

    Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, I just want to say, this game is insanely good. It's compelling in a way I haven't experienced for a long time. It's like sitting down with one of the most interesting, complex, well written books you'll ever find, and then getting to make all the decisions, fight in all the epic battles, etc etc etc.

    You'll meet piRats and soul stealing monkeys and vicious scoundrels and squid men and zee beasts and cannibals and immortals and tiger people and face thieves and strange men from strange places where everything happens in the future tense. You'll fight on the sea, on the land, over treasure and power and the lives of your self and your crew. You'll find romance, long lost artifacts, gateways to other worlds, horrors man was not meant to know, and more adventure than you can shake a stick at. All this and more, coming at you in wonderfully written, beautifully presented prose that will sweep you away into a world at the border of insanity.

    In terms of gameplay, it's a slower paced (which fits the world well), real time combat (although not twitch based combat), some random generation (so you're worlds different every time, to a degree), permadeath, stat driven rpg about exploration and investigation into a world of bizarre horrors, insanity, dark humor, and surprisingly human motivations.

    At the end of the day, if you enjoy a good story, want a game where your decisions and choices actually do matter (like, a lot), if you are the type of person who can fall in love with an imaginary world, if you like the idea of exploring into the black unknown, or if you just always wanted to be a zee captain, this is a game you won't regret purchasing. Remember, no one is born a zee captain, but anyone can be one, with the right motivation and a not-so-healthy dose of optimism. Come, zail the zee, it is calling your name.    … Expand
  23. mbcu
    Apr 5, 2015
    5
    First of all ignore all those big scores from "critics". If you think that a publication naming itself "Eurogamer" would be biased toward European games then you're right.
    This game is first and foremost is incoherent. Is it an action game ? No, combat sucks. Is it a trading game ? No, trading is so pointless there's even a loading message advising you against it. So given a ship and    First of all ignore all those big scores from "critics". If you think that a publication naming itself "Eurogamer" would be biased toward European games then you're right.
    This game is first and foremost is incoherent. Is it an action game ? No, combat sucks. Is it a trading game ? No, trading is so pointless there's even a loading message advising you against it. So given a ship and crew when you start the game, what should you do ? I can't tell because I don't know. All you can do is set sail, reach an island which hopefully gives you a little resource to allow you to repeat the process next time. In this game money is so scarce you'd even have to sell the introduction manual. A few ways there are to make money are available only in online forums. Even so these all require unreasonable amount of time for grinding and save skumming. It really doesn't help either that the ship moves very very very slowly. You will spend most of the time watching your little ship struggling painfully to get to the edge of monitor.
    Playing this game is like coming to a party when everyone is about to leave. Try as you want, you just can't get into the crowd. This game is derived from Internet game called Fallen London with rules and lore no one but fans know. Indeed it has interesting premise, about exploration and Cthulhu-like atmosphere. But with poor presentation and incoherent gameplay, I am not going to spend another hour finding out. Neither should you.    … Expand
  24. juanval
    Feb 10, 2015
    9
    Beautiful game that combines naval exploration, arcade combat, roguelique elements like FTL and lots of histories. Is lovely to sail with a small boat through the dark sea, full of perils, sea monsters, islands, histories, etc.

    - I like the detail of each isle/ archipielago. I reccomend to you to play this game with the lights out in your room in order to appreciate better the darkness.    Beautiful game that combines naval exploration, arcade combat, roguelique elements like FTL and lots of histories. Is lovely to sail with a small boat through the dark sea, full of perils, sea monsters, islands, histories, etc.

    - I like the detail of each isle/ archipielago. I reccomend to you to play this game with the lights out in your room in order to appreciate better the darkness.
    - I like the music, very frightening and suffocating.
    - I've enjoyed the histories told in the diferent isles, and the different people you meet through your travels.

    - The only problem I've experienced is that you need a high english level to enjoy the adventures. I have a mid level and I'm constantly using a translator in my mobile to understand the meaning of lots of sentences.
    - Combat is basic but I liked it. Sometimes AI for enemies is not smart.
    - This is a game with lots of histories to read. If you don't like reading texts in games, this is not your game.

    Another gem from kickstarter ;D    … Expand
  25. hankerchiff
    Feb 8, 2015
    10
    Sunless Sea is a naval survival and exploration game. It heavily relies on text and text-based portions when your ship docks in a port.

    Has probably the best writing in any game currently in existence. The 'story' may seem confusing, but that's because you're supposed to make your own. Excellent, top-down graphics. The game is set in a giant cave, and you can definitely tell that    Sunless Sea is a naval survival and exploration game. It heavily relies on text and text-based portions when your ship docks in a port.

    Has probably the best writing in any game currently in existence. The 'story' may seem confusing, but that's because you're supposed to make your own.

    Excellent, top-down graphics. The game is set in a giant cave, and you can definitely tell that from the (beautiful) artwork. Gameplay and sailing is intuitive.

    This game is a bit slow-paced, although the game is only 'grind-y' if you are actually trying to grind stuff. This game isn't meant to be played that way: it's meant to be a game where you sail out into the big black and hope it pays off.

    This is a game about risk. About exploration. About the zee.    … Expand
  26. Docteur
    Feb 14, 2015
    10
    Excellent story, and even if the gameplay is slow-paced and based on simple travels, the atmosphere is here. I enjoy the calm game a lot more than I maybe should, but every hour spent is fantastic.
  27. BSim500
    Mar 26, 2015
    5
    This is a difficult game to review. On one level it has a certain charm, graphics, atmosphere, ambient sounds, etc, are fine. It's very different and hugely creative. On another, it degenerates into a cross-between "rogue" like gameplay and the mother of all grind-fests. You can trade, but it often isn't worth it since most trades rarely cover the cost of fuel or supplies of the journey.This is a difficult game to review. On one level it has a certain charm, graphics, atmosphere, ambient sounds, etc, are fine. It's very different and hugely creative. On another, it degenerates into a cross-between "rogue" like gameplay and the mother of all grind-fests. You can trade, but it often isn't worth it since most trades rarely cover the cost of fuel or supplies of the journey. There's combat, but that isn't worth it either since it costs more to repair your ship than you get back. You can upgrade your ship, but that isn't worth it either as you end up far worse off in terms of increasing fuel costs relative to static quest rewards. Ship movement is painfully slow. As others have said, "story" seems to consist of 200x sidequests with no real main quest "glue". Game has a lot of potential, but also has seriously unbalanced resource management & mechanics in general.

    I think this is really one of those games where either the "feel" of the game will "click" with you, or it simply won't, and for me it didn't.    … Expand
  28. cakrit
    Apr 13, 2015
    4
    I tried hard to ignore the terrible deficiencies of this game, in hope that they were somehow there by design. I mean, who in their right mind would force you to slowly repeat every painstakingly slow move you made, after dying? It has to be part of the experience and the uniqueness of the game, right? Well, if it is, kudos to the people patient enough to do the same things over and over,I tried hard to ignore the terrible deficiencies of this game, in hope that they were somehow there by design. I mean, who in their right mind would force you to slowly repeat every painstakingly slow move you made, after dying? It has to be part of the experience and the uniqueness of the game, right? Well, if it is, kudos to the people patient enough to do the same things over and over, "discover" the exact same places again and go through the same sequence of events, until they find the one with the highest chances of keeping them alive. It would have been quite a different game if there was some kind of randomization each time you started with a different captain but nooo... Practically everything remains the same and you have the extremely tedious task of doing everything all over again. How hard would it have been to move a few islands around, randomize a few rewards and add a fast forward button? I will give it a few more tries just because the atmosphere and stories are indeed cool, but someone needs to accept that it just isn't a fun game as it stands.… Expand
  29. Joseph4th
    May 25, 2015
    2
    So much potential wasted. The game feels very slow, unbalanced and lacking strong direction.

    If you do decide to play the game, turn on the feature that allows you to save the game when ever you want, "Merciful Mode." Don't let the game fool you into playing "Unforgiving Mode" where it has one autosave and you have to start over when you die. The story, the haphazard collection of    So much potential wasted. The game feels very slow, unbalanced and lacking strong direction.

    If you do decide to play the game, turn on the feature that allows you to save the game when ever you want, "Merciful Mode." Don't let the game fool you into playing "Unforgiving Mode" where it has one autosave and you have to start over when you die. The story, the haphazard collection of pieces that it is, has a lot of atmosphere... the first time you meander through it, but it wears thin on subsequent readings.

    Combat is very simple and not very good. Trading from port to port isn't financially sound. Overall I'll just say the game is balanced heavily against the player in all aspects: combat, economy, exploration, etc. to the point where it can almost be said to be punitive where it should be encouraging.

    Some slightly more experienced design balance, a central storyline and better pacing and this would be a great game.    … Expand
  30. Werewolfguy173
    Mar 25, 2016
    2
    Combat is repetitive and there is no strategy or action involved just click when the guns are ready and hope that your enemy is destroyed before you are.
    Making money is almost impossible as simply maintaining your ship is hard enough let alone making a profit out of the mostly luck based "story" events.
    The characters have mostly good back-stories but you won't know them unless you    Combat is repetitive and there is no strategy or action involved just click when the guns are ready and hope that your enemy is destroyed before you are.
    Making money is almost impossible as simply maintaining your ship is hard enough let alone making a profit out of the mostly luck based "story" events.
    The characters have mostly good back-stories but you won't know them unless you manage to get them to open up, which means inviting them to dine with you by spending some of your supplies (which are expensive to buy just like fuel) and possible a rare item which you will need to use in some kind of quest later on and then going of to some obscure island to complete part one of their story makes learning the stories of your officers a chore.
    The speed at which the game is played is the slowest imaginable. You can buy different engines if you somehow manage to turn in a profit but even then the change in speed is barely noticeable. The increased fuel consumption on the other hand is more than noticeable.
    The music is one of the few redeeming qualities of this game but there is only so much good music and eye candy can do before the ludicrously slow speed, repetitive combat and the repetition of playing the early game again and again because of the permadeath feature make any sane player turn the game off. Although permadeath can be turned off it doesn't help much as you will mostly die because you failed a skill check (you start of pretty much useless with the exception of one skill of your choosing at which you are the least useless) after an unfortunate turn of events and this can't be medicated by way of save scumming (not to mention that save scumming should not be essential in order to progress).
    In the end this game has a great setting and nothing else.    … Expand
  31. darkhunt333
    Feb 8, 2019
    2
    When this game first came out I'd recommend it. But through nerfs and the release of the zubmariner dlc, this game is not balanced in the slightest. This game is for massochist that enjoy no progression or losing everything on chance. All the guides on making money no longer apply to this game. "But the game isn't bout makin money" ok you haven't played through the game with all theWhen this game first came out I'd recommend it. But through nerfs and the release of the zubmariner dlc, this game is not balanced in the slightest. This game is for massochist that enjoy no progression or losing everything on chance. All the guides on making money no longer apply to this game. "But the game isn't bout makin money" ok you haven't played through the game with all the patches and rebalancing.

    The story and time I spent with the game was incredible when it came out. Now it's a gutted husk due to unrelenting grinding and even with all meta data at hand; is a masochists wet dream now.    … Expand
  32. notwist
    Jun 7, 2021
    3
    There's a balance between making a game challenging, and simply making it punishing. If you're into Dark Souls, maybe this will be your cup of tea because dying over and over again and losing all progress is your thing -- but the problem is that if the game already takes tens of hours to grind up to the next tier of boat even if you're in "forgiving mode" with save-scumming because you'reThere's a balance between making a game challenging, and simply making it punishing. If you're into Dark Souls, maybe this will be your cup of tea because dying over and over again and losing all progress is your thing -- but the problem is that if the game already takes tens of hours to grind up to the next tier of boat even if you're in "forgiving mode" with save-scumming because you're still constantly bleeding money left and right, it doesn't even pass as a difficult game, just an incredibly grindy one.… Expand
  33. nickdos
    Feb 12, 2015
    2
    Waste of time, no fun. I don't see the whole exploration thing when the writing is very enigmatic and vague and you cannot make out a thing. Combat is lame, money making impossible, you cannot even sustain your ship to explore.
  34. fredhorrigan
    Feb 16, 2015
    0
    Mediocre flash-tier game that only got high marks because one of the people working on it has a bunch of connections with gaming journos.

    While this game might seem interesting for the first couple hours, the feeling that quickly sets in isn't terror, but the reality that the game is extremely shallow (geddit?) and far too restrictive when it comes to making progress, forcing the player    Mediocre flash-tier game that only got high marks because one of the people working on it has a bunch of connections with gaming journos.

    While this game might seem interesting for the first couple hours, the feeling that quickly sets in isn't terror, but the reality that the game is extremely shallow (geddit?) and far too restrictive when it comes to making progress, forcing the player to grind for a very long time if they want to stop using the starter boat.    … Expand
  35. fasfdsaf
    Sep 9, 2019
    10
    Every time Failbetter makes another game within this universe, I find myself completely drawn in.
  36. DonBoykone
    Mar 1, 2015
    10
    After spending more then 150 hours in this game I can confidently say: "It's a masterpiece"
    This game is a well-balanced story driven RPG with rogue-like elements, real-time battles and a ton of well-written text. Truely, I never seen such huge amounts of text in games for a long time.
    Th most similar game for Sunless Sea would be Vangers. It's only thin piece of steel between you and    After spending more then 150 hours in this game I can confidently say: "It's a masterpiece"
    This game is a well-balanced story driven RPG with rogue-like elements, real-time battles and a ton of well-written text. Truely, I never seen such huge amounts of text in games for a long time.
    Th most similar game for Sunless Sea would be Vangers. It's only thin piece of steel between you and unforgiven world.    … Expand
  37. Captain_Chaos
    Jun 22, 2016
    4
    Made it about an hour north from London. Almost starved before I could buy some food. Sunk by a living ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ iceberg. I was told upfront that my first captain would likely die, and quickly. Doesn't mean I have to like it. Music, art and writing are excellent from what I've seen, but it could be a lot more forgiving. Even for a roguelike.
  38. Wrathzo
    Mar 22, 2022
    6
    Sunless Sea is a survival/exploration role-playing video game with roguelike elements developed by Failbetter Games. The game takes place in the universe of Failbetter's browser adventure game Fallen London, in which Victorian-era London has been moved beneath the earth's surface to the edge of the Unterzee, a vast underground ocean.
  39. HydrophobikFish
    Jun 9, 2023
    9
    The writing in this game is top notch and when combined with the atmosphere, you have one of the best lovecraftian RPGs out there. it can be obtuse and weird getting through quests, internet may be required, but its fun all along the way.

Awards & Rankings

47
#47 Best PC Game of 2015
74
#74 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 38 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 38
  3. Negative: 0 out of 38
  1. RPGamer
    May 13, 2015
    80
    Sunless Sea is a unique experience that few fans of careful planning and literary cannibalism should ignore. Proponents of Fallen London's dark sensibilities and chilling, lore-rich writing will more than forgive its few mechanical trespasses; however, even less patient gamers may want to peek in to experience the sights and sounds of the zee.
    Read full review
  2. Pelit (Finland)
    May 13, 2015
    85
    Real history can be a bit boring, so that's probably why Sunless Sea is set in an alternate world of 19th century where the city of London was transported underground by bats. The player is a steamship captain who must explore the vast underground sea, battle monsters and solve different types of quests. The writing and the atmosphere in the game is excellent, which is why I was really drawn into the events that were happening. It's a shame that the combat mechanics are oversimplified and simply not fun. The game is also too difficult for beginners. [May 2015]
  3. Games Master UK
    May 6, 2015
    69
    Unforgiving and tough, but the exploration of an unusual world can be fascinating. [May 2015, p.63]
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