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Sunless Sea update goes 'steel' with major combat changes
Sunless Sea's "Steel" update is now live for all players, and brings a major change to the game's combat. The roguelike seafaring RPG previously featured turn-based combat, deemed "tiresome" in our time with the Early Access game in July. As demonstrated in a video provided by Failbetter Games after the break, the Steel update brings combat out of the game's menus and into the same top-down overworld in which players pilot their ship. The new real-time combat system still relies on players charging weapons and keeping enemies within range, though the latter is now represented by a red arc that circles their ship. Failbetter also "made some changes to the way the map is laid out in terms of balance and variety" and recommends that players start the game over with a new captain and chart to get the most out of the Steel update. The update entered a beta phase late last month. Sunless Sea is available through Steam Early Access and DRM-free on the developer's site for $18.99. [Image: Failbetter Games]
Sunless Sea Emerald update adds new regions to sail, fear
A few patches of the Unterzee's oceanic void Contributing Editor Mike Suszek approached in our Early Access Sunless Sea review have been properly charted – as in, developer Failbetter Games has actually implemented those areas into the build available via Steam in this week's Emerald update. Players can now explore the Sea of Autumns, the Salt Lions and the Iron Republic, but casting off on a new venture no longer involves a sense of direction earned from previous discoveries. A press release states that Sunless Sea's map now changes "every time you play," so just because you've become acquainted with certain territories doesn't mean their locations will be familiar. The Emerald update improves the sense of direction used by zee-bats and allows players to name their ship. It also boosts Sunless Sea's script beyond 100,000 words, but we'd use far fewer to describe Sunless Sea's unsettling brand of sea life: "gross," "what the hell is that" and "creepy enough to dine at Red Lobster in hopes of consuming its ancestors and preventing its existence" all come to mind. [Image: Failbetter Games]
Joystiq Weekly: Doom reboot, Microsoft's layoffs, Sunless Sea and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. We're happy to hear that Doom is still brewing in the depths of iD Software, but if we're getting spoiled with updates to classics, we wonder if we could get anything else revived if we stir up enough demand. Remember how awesome Bubsy was? What about taking another crack at Altered Beast? What's that, you say? "No and your picks are garbage"? Well then. Lucky for you, this edition of the Joystiq Weekly carries no news of reboots for either series. It does offer a recap of the week's biggest non-fictional stories though, from Microsoft's plans to dismiss 18,000 workers to the latest fighters to take up arms in Super Smash Bros. There are also reviews for the stealth-focused Light and a spooky, exploration-driven journey on a boat called Sunless Sea, plus a WildStar postcard that digs into the MMO's PvP modes. It's all arranged neat and orderly-like for you after the break!
Early Access Review: Sunless Sea
This is an Early Access Review, in which we hope to help you decide whether or not it's worth jumping into a game before it's officially complete. When describing Sunless Sea, you might refer to its text-heavy visual novel elements, or its myriad of RPG-like, story-building choices. It's a top-down seafaring game with simple visuals, in which players set sail across a massive sea deep below the earth's surface. Alongside the straightforward sailing, the battle, dialogue and decision systems are governed by plain menus and text. It's a basic approach that complements the mythical atmosphere, leaving the bulk of Sunless Sea's vivid concepts up to the imagination of the player. The project is far from complete, as over half of the sea's map is empty. There's another kind of emptiness in Sunless Sea, though, as even the accessible regions feel endlessly dark at times. This other emptiness, the pervasive, creeping fear of the unknown as you sail mysterious waters, is what makes Sunless Sea stand out, even at this early stage of development.
Eat your crew to stay afloat in Sunless Sea, now on Steam
Failbetter Games' dark, top-down nautical exploration and survival game Sunless Sea is now available on Steam Early Access. To celebrate its arrival, the developer is discounting the game by 10 percent ($17.09) until Tuesday, July 8. Sunless Sea, which first arrived in alpha form in mid-June on the Humble store, has players exploring an underground ocean in which every decision made impacts a "non-linear, choice-heavy, personalized experience." In order to survive, captains will need to fight large creatures and make tough decisions, such as eating their dead. The game is set in the same universe as one of the developer's previous game, Fallen London, and draws influences from games like FTL: Faster Than Light, Sid Meier's Pirates and Don't Starve. Sunless Sea earned £100,803 ($161,769) on Kickstarter in October 2013, and uses Failbetter's own narrative-focused StoryNexus engine (which it also used for Fallen London). Random House put the engine to use in April 2013 with the free-to-play Black Crown. [Image: Failbetter Games]
Crowdfund Bookie: Inafune's mighty $3.8 million haul
The Crowdfund Bookie crunches data from select successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns that ended during the week and produces pretty charts for you to look at. The power of Keiji Inafune's name couldn't be more evident than in this highly-profitable week in crowdfunding, which covers the Kickstarter projects for Mighty No. 9, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, Sunless Sea, DCS WWII: Europe 1944, Neverending Nightmares, Penguemic, Mysterious Cities of Gold, Hot Tin Roof: The Cat That Wore A Fedora, Data Hacker: Corruption and Neo-Victorian Skirmish Squad. Mighty No. 9, the action platformer project from the Mega Man creator earned the most money this week ($3,845,170) and had the highest number of backers (67,226). LearnDistrict Inc's educational game Penguemic: Word Domination had the highest average pledge per person of the group ($160.81). Head past the break to see the week's results and our set of fancy charts.
