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[My Name is Immaterial]

But how is the game itself?

[forsaken1111]

Hard to tell from a pre-alpha... many features and areas aren't in or aren't completed.

[nenjin]

So it's early access or are they literally selling the pre-alpha? Sunless Sea didn't go up on Steam until it was reasonably playable.

[ZeroGravitas]

To the contrary, their post says that this should be a complete vertical slice of the game. Most features and gameplay is in, it's just that only 1 of the 4 game areas is in.

[nenjin]

Maybe they've got more skills than during SS but it changed A LOT between pre-alpha and near release. Whole systems reworked.

And it's a Failbetter game so the content is literally 90% of the game.

Wasn't planning on getting in early, it seriously spoiled Sunless Sea for me. So I was going to wait either way.

[lordcooper]

https://www.failbettergames.com/sunless-skies/sunless-skies-faq/

I'd suggest holding off unless you're a huge fan of their work.  What is there is mostly good, but it isn't a game yet.

[Harry Baldman]

To the contrary, their post says that this should be a complete vertical slice of the game. Most features and gameplay is in, it's just that only 1 of the 4 game areas is in.

That's pretty much what it looked like as I played through it, there's about a dozen ports included within a single region and while it's very incomplete, I gotta say that the basic bits do play pretty well. I'd say Terror gain is a bit too quick and I'm also unused to needing a bit of finesse to not smash into everything with my space train, but it's a solid baseline. The art has improved tremendously, the music is still great and what I've seen of the stories is really quite promising.

Wouldn't advise buying it at this juncture unless you like paying for a demo, of course, but as someone who got it for backing and deeply enjoyed Sunless Sea, I'm quite happy with it.

[xaritscin]

there's a lot of stuff going on in The Reach. interesting how its just Early Access but there's already a lot of intriguing characters and places.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

the Silent Saint for example, its just a place but it seems obvious that The Bazaar must look like that thing once awoken

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Carillon is a very weird sanatorium, i dont get why are devils in the high wilderness, specially fixing souls, but i guess its still part of their business

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

cant stop feeling a bit sad about Mr. Pennies after looking at some of his dialogue. i wonder if its related to the masters, but i doubt something happened to the Neath during the exodus.
 even then, if Victoria took control of the Sol System as it seems to be implied by some player comments, then i dont see why the masters would keep working on the Neath instead of retaking flight
in the high wilderness. it seems so strange.

[Innsmothe]

deleted,responded to an early post without realising it.

[ChairmanPoo]

I have to say: Iīm playing Sunless Skies and I find it much more accesible than Sunless Sea. I never managed to truly get into the latter. In the former, Iīm hooked. Tuned fuel and supply consumption to "thrifty" to make it just slightly challenging without crippling my ability to explore (you couldnīt do this in Sunless Sea without tweaking around with inis, and it discouraged exploration too much for me). And the world seems more alive, with you finding wrecks, marauders, etc... in previously explored areas. There are also wonders and horrors, which provide extra oomph on the exploration &lovecraftyness feeling. I find myself embarking into exploratory expeditions, and sometimes I find myself wondering if that particular one will end like Franklinīs.

I kind of wish Sunless Sea had the accesibilty, QoL, and extra features of Sunless Skies, though. I found SSīs atmosphere gloomier.

[Great Order]

I prefer Sunless Sea's lore and writing myself, but the mechanics of Skies are a significant improvement.

The main issue I have with both games is how slow they are. At least Skies gives you full steam now. Haven't tried with the Sovereign update, but I gather there's a new engine you can get that has an even faster full steam mode.

[nenjin]

I actually really liked the pace of Sunless Sea. It's the perfect lazy Sunday afternoon game. Yeah, once you're about 50% of the way through the game, steaming across the known world with nothing new to encounter is a bit of a drag. But the first half it's got the right balance to me. But I'm definitely a stop and smell the roses kind of gamer.