Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition
SAIL THE STARS. BETRAY YOUR QUEEN. MURDER A SUN. Sunless Skies is a Gothic Horror roleplay game with a focus on exploration and exquisite storytelling.
Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition is a steampunk, lovecraftian and exploration game
developed and published by Failbetter Games.
Released on January 31st 2019 is available in English on Windows, MacOS and Linux.
It has received 3,265 reviews of which 2,765 were positive and 500 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.2 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 22.99€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition through various videos and screenshots.
Requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Windows 7
- Processor: Intel Pentium 2Ghz or AMD equivalent
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: DX9 (shader model 3.0) or DX11 with feature level 9.3 capabilities
- Storage: 4500 MB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
MacOS
- OS: Mac OS X 10.9+
- Processor: Intel Pentium 2Ghz or AMD equivalent
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Storage: 4500 MB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
Linux
- OS: Ubuntu 12.04+, SteamOS+
- Processor: Intel Pentium 2Ghz or AMD equivalent
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Storage: 4500 MB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
Reviews
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Very, very weak recommend. Sunless Seas was able to carry me further and in better spirits. (Two of those spirits were crewmates we ate along the way.) Sunless Skies has some very nice writing, it has some engaging characters, it also really tries my patience with how it sets up story chains or even the basic grind of making money. For whatever reason, I found Sunless Seas managed to intrigue me into exploring the unknown in ways Sunless Skies has never done, although it would be very wrong not to mention there are a lot of improvements to this game over its predecessor.
Read more
The problem with Sunless Skies is that the cosmic horror and purple prose feels ungrounded, and thus not effective. Sunless Seas, while introducing an alien setting, had many grounding elements that the player understands without explanation. The ship, harbors and darkness mechanics are all mundane concepts. It escalates from the known, to the unknown, to the unknowable. Things that players make assumptions about — that humans can walk in the sunlight— are suddenly challenged and fantastical elements of the world are revealed — the people of the underzee are so adjusted to darkness that sunlight is painful and addictive. Discovering the Dawn Machine was genuinely terrifying and shocking. Sunless Skies feels unreal from the very beginning. A train through space is already strange and fantastical, and they try to escalate with every new spectacle. The purple prose becomes so detached from reality that it just becomes words, a pretty but meaningless poem. And that's really sad, because there are some genuinely cool and interesting concepts. The mining of time, the demon bees, everything at the Magdalene's etc. It improves upon Sunless Sea in mechanics, with not one but three different maps and tons of new features. The battle mechanic is a lot more fun than Sunless Sea. But what holds these games together is the writing, and the writing falls short. Still, worth a play-through.
Read more
I feel as though Ive made no progress in the game after 44 hours and without a frame of reference it feels disheartening. Ive explored and gotten used to the Reach, but once I reached Albion i felt like this was the peak that I reached. I found myself in a frustrating loop of dying and trying to build up to Albion all over again. Maybe my play style is inefficient or I just didnt learn how to best make use of all the port encounters along my journey. Hung up my train conductor cap when I found myself not enjoying the game mechanic of traveling the stars with my train. Which really fucking sucks because I love engaging with the games writing and all the cool encounters and characters found in it. I still think it was really fun so please give it a try at least. Also not so hot take here but I think cannibalism is okay after running out of supplies numerous times in my playtime.
Read more
BUY ON SALE This review is to express some of my grievances towards this game whilst also warning people who haven't played this game about some things to look out for. In short - this game is fun and I definitely recommend it if you are into visual novel/story type games. I honestly do not recommend buying this game at its full price tag. I encourage you to buy it on sale. Before completing my play through, I previously refunded this game 2 times. The third time I bought it, I finally sat down to play it to completion. If you are going into this game thinking it will be an exploration-sandbox game, you are wrong. That was my mistake the first 2 times. I'd say this game is 80-90% reading. That isn't to say it's a bad thing, just be aware of the experience you are getting. The story is very captivating and it is told well. The sound and visuals also make the story much more immersive. The characters are all unique and provide a breath of fresh air from the main storyline with their own questlines. While having a main story to follow I don't feel as though the game is forcing me to stick to a certain path as it is decently broad in the choices/things I want to do in world. Now, because I love this game so much, I want to talk about some aspects which frustrated me and may frustrate you. 1. The Gameplay: As I said before, this game's enjoyment factor is mostly reading. But is flying around on your locomotive fun? Well, no. I like the steampunk feel of your ship and the novelty of flying at the start is great, but when you need to fly around selling cargo or picking up quest items constantly, this loop gets really, really boring. The story is what saves this game. Even with the engine upgrades, journeys still feel like a chore (although upgrades certainly help a lot). Accumulating a lot of money also takes way too long. Flying from station to station completing prospects comprised a good portion of my playtime. Don't get me wrong though, I still like the idea of flying around (it just gets repetitive) - more so than the pure reading of Fallen London , where the Sunless games' idea came from. Some other reviewers have also complained about the combat. To me the combat wasn't amazing, but it was OK . However, a common complaint is that it's too difficult to fight or outrun enemies. I did not find it as difficult as some people were saying it was. I think they're just exaggerating. If you keep getting killed or chased down, then you don't have good enough gear equipped - but I understand that equipping good gear may be difficult with my next point. 2. Levelling up and Stat points: There are 4 main stats in this game. Iron, hearts, veils, and mirrors. Every time you level up, you pick a new facet which increases two of those stats by 5-3 points. However, the max player level is 20 (so 20 facets total). This means that stats are a bit scarce and you must choose wisely. The problem with this is that facets are little snippets of your character's backstory, so instead of crafting my character's story the way I want to, I'm instead picking the most optimal stat paths. This is all to be able to equip better gear, which is annoying and diminishes the role-playing aspect. You can still increase your stats by trading EXP points after hitting level 20, but that process is also long and annoying. I also noticed some inequality in the importance of some stats. I tried focusing on veils to be stealthy the first time I played. I then noticed that most of the time, many stat check events required your iron, hearts, or mirrors - making my veils stat kind of useless. The game also uses PERMANENT STAT LOSSES , which is absolutely bullshit. There are some events (sometimes not even events with possibilities of failure) that will just yoink a point from one of your stats. Because of how scarce stat points are, this is extremely annoying if you're trying to equip some endgame gear. I can understand the purpose of having real meaningful consequences, but this is just not fun. 3. Saving: All saving is automatic whenever you dock at a port - no manual saving or loading older saves. I guess it's convenient, but I really don't like it, I'd prefer just manual saving. I believe manual saving allows me to experience all choices and possibilities. Call it save scumming, but I want to see all dialogue options without having to play the game a second time - which I absolutely have no energy nor will to do so. This game is great once, not twice. 4. RNG: I can understand the purpose of RNG in this kind of game that tries to depict consequences and also be more dynamic (not sure if that's the term I'm looking for). However, even though at times the RNG aspect can be fun, I would lying if I said it didn't irritate me when my crew and captain someway, somewhere, somehow, fucked up a 92% chance of success event. Of course I know why they stuffed up - it was that 8%, but fuck. 5. Special currency/resources: The game has some special resources you can acquire that will help you complete certain goals - things such as moments of inspiration or cryptic benefactors .I think this is a really cool idea, but sometimes I found it limiting. Although it feels really cool to call upon some cryptic benefactor or the crown to help solve an issue, the special resources are scarce but vital for progressing in some areas. I can understand the reasoning behind making them scarce, otherwise the game would be trivial at certain points - but this limitation made me skip out on a large portion of the Blue Kingdom zone because of how often you need to burn those resources there. Takes a bit too much time to gather them. 6. Romance: Yes this game has romance (not much). I found it kind of unnecessary and weird, especially the options on who you can be intimate with. I mean, it's funny to think about, but not my cup of tea. This is just a minor complaint - definitely not worth worrying about, but it was such a strange experience, I wanted to mention it. 7. Runs bad: I don't have a very beefy PC, but even so, with a system requirement of 4GB, this game sometimes start chugging (low frame-rate and freezing) when it really shouldn't. Watching a YouTube review made me think this wasn't just a 'me' thing. 8. Supply/Fuel consumption: I played this game with the fuel/supply consumption set to the lowest level difficulty. I wanted to fully experience the story without having to manage dwindling supplies. And after seeing how much fuel my ship can burn through using the higher tier engines while on the LOWEST consumption difficulty setting, I can't even imagine what it would be like to play the game with that setting on normal difficulty. Might just be me since a lot of Failbetter Games fans' opinions seem more accustomed to the harder difficulty from Sunless Sea. 9. The ending: I really liked the ending (the ending I chose to pursue), but I found it kind of underwhelming in terms of the visual aspect. I know this game is all reading, but I wish there was some kind of final area to explore or a cool cutscene to tie up this cool story. Anyway, That's all the grievances I had with Sunless Skies. I'm sure there are some things I'm forgetting, but those above were my main issues. All in all This game is fun but flawed .Yknow, I'm recommending this game, but now I don't know if I can recommend in good faith when thinking about the problems I dealt with and the time I wasted. I also played this game on merciful mode instead of legacy - I think if you're looking to have have a good story experience with no worries, you should play on merciful.I guess I'm recommending it based on my personal experience of fun to annoyance ratio. A great story experience but oh so many problems I would say to BUY IT ON SALE ONLY
Read more
A good successor to Sunless Sea, but, if you're new to the game's world, I highly recommend starting with Sunless Sea, as that game does a much better job explaining the basic lore of the world, its history, characters, commodities etc. Sunless Skies skipped a lot of that.
Read more
Similar games
View all
SUNLESS SEA
LOSE YOUR MIND. EAT YOUR CREW. DIE. Take the helm of your steamship and set sail for the unknown! Sunless Sea is a game of discovery, loneliness and frequent death, set in the award-winning Victorian Gothic universe of Fallen London.
A House of Many Doors
Explore the House, a parasite dimension that steals from other worlds, in a train that scuttles on mechanical legs.
Mars: War Logs
An Intense Cyberpunk Rpg On the Red Planet! Mars War Logs takes you to Mars, nearly a century after the cataclysm that threw the planet and its colonists into chaos. Water has become the most precious resource on the arid red planet, with a few companies fighting a perpetual war for its control.
Vambrace: Cold Soul
Vambrace: Cold Soul is a story-driven roguelite set amidst a frozen landscape. Plan expeditions, then journey to the cursed city surface with your party. Wield unique powers, avoid traps, brave strange encounters, and survive deadly combat in this gothic fantasy adventure!
Boris and the Dark Survival
A lone wolf struggles to survive the inky abyss of Joey Drew Studios in this top-down survival horror.
Out There: Ω Edition
Out There is an award-winning space exploration game blending roguelike, resource management and interactive fiction.
Gestalt: Steam & Cinder
Inspired by 16 and 32-bit classics, Gestalt: Steam & Cinder fuses tight 2D platforming and exhilarating combat with an engrossing, twist-laden narrative in a stunningly handcrafted steampunk world.
The Land of Pain
The Land of Pain is a Lovecraftian horror adventure. After something strange appears in the woods, you'll have to learn how to survive as you fend off a dark and disturbing evil. Flee from an unrelenting enemy, solve puzzles, and unravel the ancient mystery that's befallen this land.
They Breathe
They Breathe is a short journey into the depths of a forest filled with water. As you swim deeper, it's up to you to figure out the rules of an insidious ecosystem where nothing is as it first seems, and where everyone is after the same precious resource – oxygen!
DREDGE
DREDGE is a single-player fishing adventure with a sinister undercurrent. Sell your catch, upgrade your boat, and dredge the depths for long-buried secrets. Explore a mysterious archipelago and discover why some things are best left forgotten.
Lone Survivor: The Director's Cut
In this original and adult psychological survival horror, the masked protagonist must escape from a city ravaged by disease, by any means necessary.
Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates
| Steam data | 18 November 2024 08:20 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 19 January 2025 13:35 |
| Steam price | 22 January 2025 20:42 |
| Steam reviews | 22 January 2025 12:04 |
Online players
42
Developer
Failbetter Games
Publisher
Failbetter Games
Release
31 Jan 2019
Platforms