# Sunless Sea



## tommers (Jul 6, 2014)

It's a top down exploration game set in a world where victorian London is on the shores of a vast underground sea. 

You are a lowly steamboat captain and must set out to explore,  running errands for the admiralty or local crime lords and fighting horrific sea beasts and pirate scum. 

It's not the quickest game in the world but I like the atmosphere and art and the impression that there is loads of stuff out there to see and experience.  Combat is turn based,  which is a bit of a shame as it really reminds me of "pirates!" and I think that would have been good. 

It's currently early access but they are basically adding story content and plan to release in September.   It's working as a game right now.


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## Cid (Jul 14, 2014)

It really needs an auto-resolve for battles.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 14, 2014)

I've been playing Fallen London since it started - well, like a lot of people I suspect, I stopped a couple of years ago when there just weren't any updates coming, and came back recently to find that there was way more content, and played for a while only to be put off by the absurd level of grind that you have to do to get ahead. Which is a shame, as the theme and world and content is very easily the best out of any game ever.

I didn't go for Sunless Sea when they announced it because it sounded like some sort of RTS with a bit of Fallen London flavour, but these latest updates make it sound less like that.


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## tommers (Jul 15, 2014)

It's a bit dull at the moment tbh. Trading doesn't really exist so you can only work for the admiralty or the local criminals doing the same things over and over and making any money is really hard.   I managed to upgrade a cannon in between deaths and that was about it. 

Hopefully they'll sort it out before release cos there's a great game in there somewhere.


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## Cid (Jul 16, 2014)

Far, far too grindy early on. To me grinding should be 'ah, I've got a bit further in the story, but need to work on <x> a bit to safely progress'. I end up grinding the Venderbight run because you can safely net 150 echoes or so and reduce terror. My experience may have been skewed by being one-shotted by an iceberg thing though. Scared of encountering new enemies.


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## Cid (Jul 16, 2014)

I do like the terror mechanic though, carefully island hopping, plunging into the darkness desperately hoping to see the distant glimmer of a light buoy etc.


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## tommers (Feb 6, 2015)

Released today.   I played a bit more this morning.  Combat is real time now and there's more stuff, map is bigger etc.  I'm not sure the update has gone through yet as there was still some stuff showing as coming later.


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## tommers (Feb 6, 2015)

Releases at 5.30pm.


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## Cid (Feb 6, 2015)

Trading worthwhile now?


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## tommers (Feb 6, 2015)

Cid said:


> Trading worthwhile now?


No idea.   I was playing the last "early access" version and it said stories and exploration would make more money than trading but things might have improved.   I'll have a look tonight


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## yield (Feb 13, 2015)

> LOSE YOUR MIND. EAT YOUR CREW. DIE.


  

Got 10/10 at eurogamer. I'll get this when I get paid


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## Tankus (Feb 13, 2015)

graphics look a bit 10 years ago .......how does this compare to anno 2070 ?


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## tommers (Feb 13, 2015)

yield said:


> Got 10/10 at eurogamer. I'll get this when I get paid



I've been playing it recently.  It's definitely grown on me.  The first few attempts are frustrating cos you don't know where anything is so you get missions to go to so and so and buy something but you end up heading off in a vague direction and getting eaten by something or going mad or running out of fuel and money.

Once you start actually being able to make some cash then it all becomes much more interesting.

It's a roguelike at heart.  I've just bought a townhouse and written out a will and I have a small child who calls me Dad.  I'm telling him stories about my adventures whenever I come home so that he eventually follows me to sea and that all gives me more options when I die so that my next captain doesn't start right at the beginning.

The world is interesting and there are lots of quests and stories to get through.  Combat can be a bit frustrating, especially at the start when you're too weak to fight and too slow to run, but you just have to be pretty cautious when you're exploring.


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## tommers (Feb 13, 2015)

Tankus said:


> graphics look a bit 10 years ago .......how does this compare to anno 2070 ?



It's completely different.  There's no city building or anything like that.


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## Buddy Bradley (Mar 8, 2015)

Just got this - kind of enjoying it, mostly when I run out of fuel and food and have to limp home by sacrificing a couple of zailors  - but I can see it getting a bit samey. Does it escalate at all in difficulty/tension/difficulty/interestingness?


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## tommers (Mar 8, 2015)

The game is all about stories and exploration.  The distances get longer and the enemies are harder but difficulty doesn't really increase as the real trick is knowing where you're going.

I guess it depends on whether you enjoy the stories.  I liked them.  There are some pretty odd places out there.

I found I enjoyed it a lot more once I'd been playing for a little while.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 17, 2015)

Sunk a few hours into it.  I like the idea but it feels  a bit shallow and when you die  it  seems to reset most stuf f which means  you end up having to repeat a lot.  after  getting quite far  with one captain only  to die  i just  don't feel  like starting again.


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## tommers (Oct 11, 2016)

There's an expansion come out today called "zubmariner". Free if you bought it during early access. Adds more stuff to the base game as well. 

And the main game is 66% off on Steam at the moment.


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## tommers (Feb 1, 2017)

Kickstarter up for the sequel "Sunless Skies".

Sunless Skies - the sequel to Sunless Sea


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## mrs quoad (Apr 19, 2017)

tommers said:


> lI've just bought a townhouse and written out a will and I have a small child who calls me Dad.


This came out on iPad a week or three back. 

I got it earlier this week, and it has totally ruined my home life. I'm a bit surprised it went down well on PC, tbh - it's superbly geared for tablet playing, with 75% attention on the screen. 

I - foolishly - got my first offspring to call me Mum, which closes off the inheritance options of being a dad. 

I will also be gutted when this captain dies! I've had one go, previously. This one has a full crew, has explored 40% of the map, and has about 3,000 echoes in the bank - looking to upgrade to a new ship soon. Iron rating of about 80, too, which is giving me some decent battles.


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## mrs quoad (Apr 21, 2017)

I've certainly put in a good 10-15 hours this week. My last voyage was epic - all for corners of the map, and my first discovery of that place in the very bottom right. Only to fucking chance it and get booted right back to Irem. 

Lots of story events unfolding, needing lots of items. Can't say I'm on top of even 10% of them ATM :lol: and some will take fucking ages. 

Struggling a bit to clear vast profits - breaking even, plus a fraction. And only really recently grasped that there are people other than the admiral to work with. 

I also have a very good iron rating, which is making it a bit too easy for me to ignore other stats. 

A really interesting game, imo. Incredibly well suited to tablets.


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## tommers (Apr 24, 2017)

mrs quoad said:


> I've certainly put in a good 10-15 hours this week. My last voyage was epic - all for corners of the map, and my first discovery of that place in the very bottom right. Only to fucking chance it and get booted right back to Irem.
> 
> Lots of story events unfolding, needing lots of items. Can't say I'm on top of even 10% of them ATM :lol: and some will take fucking ages.
> 
> ...



Yeah, it's good isn't it?  I'm not sure that the "game"elements work as well as the stories.  I just liked diving into it and seeing what happened, not worrying too much about getting the next gun or whatever.  I have a feeling that you could play it for years and never complete everything.

Very interested in what they'll do with Skies.


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## mrs quoad (Apr 27, 2017)

I am close to having the £13000 I need for my second ship upgrade. After probably 30 hours of play :lol:

And then I'll want a comfortable cushion on top of that, so that I can actually put stuff in its hold. 

By the end of the weekend, I'd be disappointed if I hadn't upgraded. Currently going on monster hunting trips to the deep SE, picking up sunlight from Aestival, watchful thingies from Khan's Shadow, bit of conversion through Polyphemus or whatever, then home. Clearing £1k on a good run.


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## mrs quoad (May 1, 2017)

Cleared €5,000 profit on my first big run in the new ship. Trip to the surface, lots of coffee dealing, plenty of sunlight trading, then off to the Far East, trading scintillack for thingies (outlandish artefacts?) and selling sapphires (from a kill?!) at the Cheloniate. Then trading and upgrading watchful / wakeful idols through Poryphreme and Khan's Shadow. 

Stupidly high Khanate suspicion which is, unfortunately, stopping me from buying the pornography that the venturer wants.

Next goals: robust intelligence networks, element of dawn, fulgent impeller. And to work a bit more on my officers' storylines.

Still only on my second captain (!) no longer sure if I want this one to carry on (and on) or if it's time for a fresh breath of air / character background.


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## tommers (May 1, 2017)

You need a notepad.


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## mrs quoad (May 6, 2017)

tommers said:


> You need a notepad.


I needed the fulgent impeller!

Which I've just got. 

Time for bed!


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## mrs quoad (May 7, 2017)

tommers said:


> You need a notepad.


This is also true, Tbf. I've forgotten what I'm doing, and what is left to do. Poissonier to Fathomking. Darkdrop coffee to khanate, for favours, and romantic literature, for one of my officers.

Errrrrr.... port Cecil might still have something going. Docile blemmigans. 

Must be other things! I should probably have killed myself with the venturer's quest, thereby winning a bonus to pages FOREVER. 

(But I wimped out. Fulgent impeller and all that.)


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## tommers (Sep 1, 2017)

There is a Kickstarter up for something called "Cultist Simulator" which is a game by the guy who set up Failbetter and designed Sunless Sea and Fallen London. Might be of interest.

CULTIST SIMULATOR: BEHOLD OUR END


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## tommers (Jan 31, 2019)

Skies is out today.  Been playing it the last couple of evenings.  It's very good, better than Seas I think.

Made my laptop overheat though so have to limit it to an hour at a time.


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## Buddy Bradley (Feb 1, 2019)

The comments I've seen have been that Skies is easier and less opaque than Seas, and that's not necessarily a good thing since people liked not really knowing what they were doing and dying in horrible ways.


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## tommers (Feb 8, 2019)

Buddy Bradley said:


> The comments I've seen have been that Skies is easier and less opaque than Seas, and that's not necessarily a good thing since people liked not really knowing what they were doing and dying in horrible ways.



Yes, both of those things are correct.  It actually keeps track of what you're supposed to be doing.  Personally I quite like that.

And it is more forgiving, but I have only been in the first area.


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