The Failbetter folks continue to support this amazing and excellent game – I loved it at release, and honestly it’s somehow gotten better since then!
New update today adds some buffs on specific monsters and combat…but then, because fans begged for it, also adds something as beautifully simple as a way to toot the horn of your space locomotive. Because that’s awesome.
And they’ve announced a major new free update and content coming in the early fall.
I like how bemused they seem about the horn, like “we don’t really know why this is so highly requested but here you go!”
Isn’t that something you could do in Sunless Sea? That could explain it.
It is, yes.
Trying to get into this, but there are a few things totally killing my enjoyment of the game. Granted I have not ventured outside of the first map so maybe things get better but…
First of all I did an entire mission set and actually lost points in my captain. That really made me angry as I had no idea that could even happen in the game as points are so precious.
85% of my game is sitting there watching my slow as molasses locomotive move between ports… which happen to be really annoying to get to because there’s gigantic islands in the path which I have to take long circuitous routes around.
Port Winchester is now controlled by the Tacketies and the Stovepipes move their port up to Port Prosper. If I retire this captain I think I read it will stay that way? If so, that really ruins the future captain progression of my game as it makes it extremely laborious to turn in reports and plates.
Will things get better?
If I remember right (I haven’t played in a few months), you can turn in port reports to either faction.
This is correct but you have to turn them into specific places so you can use those individual favors for items you need.
In my awesome rambling essay on Sunless Sea I mentioned that problem and a potential solution that applies to Sunless Skies as well:
Cheat engine has a speedhack option which just multiplies the speed the game runs. No specific script table for this game, just the basic speedhack option. Setting a hotkey for 3x speed and another for 1x speed quickly creates your own fast forward option. The game really, really benefits from this. Exploring the map for the first time is fine -ish. Further travels (and/or future captains) however will have to put up with really slow travel speed after that exploration phase in the base game. Combat being annoying, pointless and easily avoidable the game really cries our for a fast forward mode. My guess is the developers never really played the game themselves normally and never experienced the need for such an option.
The shortcut option is slightly hidden and a bit annoying to set up but it really helps with the poor gameplay pacing of the Sunless games.
They’ve goosed the base speed of the starter locomotive at least once in patches.
Thank you! I’ll have to do this. I love the game, but it really irks me when developers don’t respect the player’s time.
From what I’ve heard the devs say (at least about the first game), it’s more about giving a sense of scale. The thing is, a sense of scale only needs to be imparted once or twice, and moving slowly with nothing happening is just not interesting. It makes for bad game mechanics.
Nice! Another big, free update with loads of new features…
Tom will be streaming this tomorrow, it will be nice to see how the game changed since release.
Oooh! Thanks for the heads-up!
It was just too painfully slow for me in the first version. Exploring slowly, removing fog isn’t bad, because there’s tension not knowing what cool or horrible things might be out there. But grinding back and forth between known destinations to carry yet another load of whatever silly stuff it is gets old really fast.
Just got an email from Failbetter saying that this game will be releasing on PS4, Xbox One and Switch - and evidently if you own on PC, you get a console copy for free? Also, Sunless Seas will also be getting an Xbox and Switch port, think it’s already on PS4 if memory serves.
edit: think I misread that, if you have the PC version, you get upgraded to this new Sovereign edition for free on PC.
http://www.failbettergames.com/sunless-skies-sovereign-edition/?mc_cid=70d7b2ebb3&mc_eid=61bb1e4afe
I picked this up back during the holiday sale, but only got around to firing it up today. Already, it’s got its hooks far deeper in me than Sunless Seas. I loved the writing and mood in that, but the gameplay just didn’t click with the frequent deaths, tedium, and loss of progress. But here, even on the default settings, I got about four hours in before finally dying and even then it felt like my fault entirely.
Oddly, my one complaint so far is that the music isn’t really doing it for me. The art style is so great (and maybe most closely reminds me of Hollow Knight?), but I just wish the audio was similarly engrossing.
Half off on Steam. Still hesitant given the number of other things I have to play, not to mention how hard I bounced off Seas. On the plus side, I could stream to the iPad.
I’m hesitant because almost everything I read about it points out it’s not an actual game, but a book with window dressing and a little ship that takes too long to get anywhere. But Tom liked it enough to rate it higher than genuine games with actual gameplay, so now I’m conflicted.
I tried to get into Seas several times and just couldn’t make myself love it. But Skies is much better. Better UI, better pace, better sense of purpose and geography. It’s really a pretty good game. I never beat it, but I put a couple of dozen enjoyable hours into it.