Sunless Sea
| Sunless Sea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Failbetter Games |
| Engine | Unity |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, OS X |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Roguelike |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Distribution | Download |
Sunless Sea is a roguelike video game developed by Failbetter Games. The game was released on 6 February 2015, for Windows and OS X following a successful Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund the project.
Gameplay
Sunless Sea is a roguelike spin-off of Fallen London that takes place in the same universe and around the same time period. The player takes on the role of an Unterzee steamship captain, the background and ambitions of whom are customizable. The player can "win" by achieving their ambition, such as becoming Fallen London's most celebrated explorer or amassing enough wealth to retire, by discovering new locations, trading goods across the Unterzee, and completing "storylet" quests. Character death is permanent, but subsequent characters can inherit some of their predecessor's possessions depending on their relationship (shipmate, offspring, rival). In addition, islands shift around after character death, randomizing the Unterzee's layout.
Development
On 3 September 2013, Failbetter Games launched a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund Sunless Sea with a funding goal of £60,000. The project was successfully funded, receiving around £100,000 from over 4000 backers.[1] On 13 May 2014, the studio launched a Greenlight campaign to release the game on Steam. The game was approved 15 days later.[2] On 17 June, the game was soft launched on the developer's website, a Steam early access build was later released on 1 July. The game officially launched on 6 February 2015.[3]
Reception
Sunless Sea received mostly positive reviews from professional critics on launch. Aggregate review websites Metacritic and GameRankings assigned scores of 83/100 and 84% respectively.[4][5]
The game won Rock, Paper, Shotgun's award for best game writing of 2014.[6]
As of 25 February 2015, the game has sold 100,000 copies.[3]
References
- ↑ Myers, Adam (24 March 2015). "Sunless Sea Sales and Funding Deep Dive, Part I: Kickstarter". Gamasutra. UBM plc. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
- ↑ Myers, Adam (25 March 2015). "Sunless Sea Sales and Funding Deep Dive, Part II: Greenlight". Gamasutra. UBM plc. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Myers, Adam (27 March 2015). "Sunless Sea Sales and Funding Deep Dive, Part III: Early Access and Final Release". Gamasutra. UBM plc. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
- ↑ "Sunless Sea for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
- ↑ "Sunless Sea for PC". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
- ↑ "The Bestest Best Words Of 2014: Sunless Sea". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2015.