SUNLESS SEA

You know that feeling when you really, REALLY like something, to the point of it influencing you deeply, only to discover that said thing was created by an abuser, rapist, xenophobe or a similarly horrible person? [b]The Rats In The Walls. Harry Potter. American Gods. Ender's Game. Neverhood[/b]... ...[b]Sunless Sea[/b]. Yeah. And it really hurts all the more when you play [b]Sunless Skies[/b], which A.K. didn't work on, and find that...it's just [i]not as good[/i]. The world and the stories of [b]The Fifth City[/b] (as the series is called) are really one of a kind. I promise you, no other game will give you such an original, idiosyncratic, dreamy experience. The gameplay, of course, will filter out the vast majority. It's slow. It's boring. It's hard. It's horrible. But it's a necessary element to force you to play the game very slowly. And it's also not what you're playing the game for. Pick it up and play it. Get angry at the game. Uninstall it. Try again in six months. Then again. And again. You will catch yourself thinking about London. You've been there before. Maybe in a dream.

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The concept is great, the atmosphere is great. So why the thumbs down? The mechanics of the 'game loop' are somehow both frustrating and boring. Combat is lacking strategy and nets you almost nothing by way of reward for winning, and it is not a way to move from early game to mid game. Exploration, which seems to be the main attraction of the game is ok, but if you want to somehow progress to the mid game, you have to make the same early game loops over and over, because you can't get enough supplies to make it to a mid game location and back. This nonsense with permadeath is for atmosphere only, the 'legacies' aren't really worthwhile rewards for starting over, but at least you aren't likely to die with much, so you haven't lost all that much except the time you spent playing.

优秀的世界观，过瘾的探索，但一切都被这个游戏流程毁了。我不明白为什么要控制玩家前期的金钱获取让开荒这么难，大部分时间都在海上来回跑送东西，但又没法跑商。建议开局改存档把武装小艇弄出来再买一门好炮之后在开始探索，能优化不少体验

go dive~

It's an amazing piece of literature, and a very enjoyable and engaging game.

Kinda long

Overall, a good game held up by strong writing and atmosphere, but the fact that engine upgrades are all increasingly inefficient, with the only speed boost that also equates to an efficiency increase being the dumb speed boost you have to spam a million times until you get RSI or give up and use an auto-clicker is, as a design choice, baffling. 8/10

good vibes

Sunless Sea is an absolute banger, if you like all of the following things: - Obscure Lore | Heavily leaning towards Lovecraftish and (Cosmic) Horror Vibes. - Exploration | You are lost and the sea is vast. - Dying and restarting | accepting death and beginning a new voyage. - Traveling | You'll be steering a ship from one corner of the under-zee to another. A lot. and loses a lot appeal, the more you dislike any of that. Especially the last two ones. It is in incredible well written game, that pulls you in with impeccable world-building and makes you hunger for more. The Vibe the devs manage to create here is truly one of a kind. You will feel triumphant and well equiped for a journey, just to be utterly crushed. And the opposite is true as well; just when you think everything's lost, something unexpected happens, pulling you from the depths. During your travels, you will have to read a lot, since the story is almost entirely presented through text. You make choice on how you want to proceed, occasionally running into skill-checks for a better or worse outcome. And be warned: Dying in this game means (for the most part, if you couldn't leave a legacy for your next captain,) restarting. And yes, that also includes the story-lines. This is probably one of the biggest downsides of the game imo. If you die, you'll have to re-read and gather all the materials again. And not gonna lie: that can be verrrryy annoying. Especially since, rng just sometimes hits you especially hard. However: it gets easier the more/longer you play. Eventually you will have a good ship, enough money, ways to handle terror and monsters etc. I am sure, that this isn't for everyone; in the beginng you have to push through and it can be indeed grindy, but I still would def list it under my Top 10 Games. Because at the bottom (of the zee) lies a engaging adventure, which will grip you, top-notch writing and the desire, to //know everything//.