Sunless Skies


Sunless Skies is a role-playing video game developed by Failbetter Games, described as a 'Gothic Horror roleplay game.' The game is a sequel to 2015's Sunless Sea.

Gameplay

Sunless Skies is an exploration and narrative focused role-playing video game. The game is played from a top-down perspective.

Synopsis

Sunless Skies is set in the same Victorian era-inspired world as Fallen London and Sunless Sea. The game is set ten years after the events of Sunless Sea. The player assumes the role of the captain of an interplanetary locomotive.

Development

The game was announced at the 2016 EGX expo. In February 2017, the studio launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to raise funds for the game's development. Failbetter estimated the total cost of the game's development to be £330,000. They set a funding goal of only £100,000 - explaining the discrepancy by committing to using profits from their existing projects to close the gap. In the event, the project raised £377,000.
The game was developed on the Unity game engine and Failbetter's own narrative platform StoryNexus.
Failbetter CEO Paul Arendt noted that they didn't want a sequel to just be Sunless Sea 2 with bigger ships. Taking the Victorian setting into space appealed to them. The development team cited the science fiction and planetary romance works of authors C. S. Lewis, H. G. Wells, and Leigh Brackett as influences along with Art Nouveau and the 1999 game .

Release

The game was scheduled to be released in early access in May 2017 with a full release in May 2018, for Linux, macOS, Windows-based personal computers. It was initially delayed to September 2018, then to January 2019. It received a Metacritic score of 87, indicating 'generally favourable reviews'

Accolades

While in development, the game was nominated for "Writing or Narrative Design" at the 2018 Develop Awards. After release, it was nominated for "Best Narrative", "Best Original IP", and "Game of the Year" at the Develop:Star Awards; for the "Creativity Award", "Best Game by a Small Studio", and "Best Role Playing Game" at The Independent Game Developers' Association Awards; for "Best Storytelling", "Best Indie Game", and "PC Game of the Year" at the Golden Joystick Awards; for the Off Broadway Award for Best Indie Game at the New York Game Awards, and for "Game, Franchise Role Playing" at the NAVGTR Awards.