The horror, the horror
Speaking of horror, this game is great at setting the mood to make you really scared of something you know can’t be real. Your ship moves slowly through pitch-black waters, illuminated only by a single light at the front of your ship. Ambient music plays in the background and every empty stretch of sea fills you with terror. As the tension builds, you know it can’t be long before you encounter something truly awful.
And sometimes the horror comes from you. One of the possible scenarios involves you and your crew trapped in black void, with no food supplies left on the ship. You turn to cannibalism and devour your crew, going mad in the process. You can also attack a group of wandering bats and collect their meat for your shops, though this earns you the distrust of a crew dreading your descent into darkness.
Replay
Sunless Sea obviously succeeds when it comes to setting the atmosphere, but it also excels at storytelling. One of the key factors in the value of the game is replayability. How many times do you want to play this game? Do your choices mean anything? How many stories are contained in this single source? The answers in the Sunless Sea seem endless. If you are lucky, you come to a winning end and retire safely, a life of stories and wealth to keep you company. You’re much more likely to die, but if you die after finding a legacy item, the story digs even deeper.
A legacy item is unlocked via a completion challenge. For example, you can successfully send an important person out of Fallen London and bring them back to the surface. After completing this task, you receive a +25 bonus on your hearts, a skill that measures your ability to heal and keep morale up the next time you start a game.
Written stories make the possibilities for various lives here truly endless. Build a colony and create your envoys, become a wealthy merchant or set sail on a mission to retrieve your father’s bones from the depths of the sea.
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