Sunless Sea Reviews
Sunless Sea is a brutal roguelike with amazing plots and writing that still hold up years later, but if you're looking to explore the Unterzee, the Switch port is not the way to go.
Do I own the game or does the game own me? I can no longer tell, and truth be told I no longer care.
Sunless Sea is a dark game combining Lovecraft-themed exploration with Victorian Gothic visual novels in exciting (and chilling) ways. The end result isn't perfect, but its sense of terror and wonder makes it a worthy follow-up to Failbetter's Fallen London.
Sunless Sea truly does capture what it must feel like to be a ship's captain on a dark underground ocean - sometimes it feels exciting and wondrous, but usually it feels lethargic and dreary. I should've stayed in London and became a shopkeeper.
Amazing writing and a good sense of discovery makes Sunless Sea's glacial pace and mismatched roguelike elements worth plodding through.
Look, Sunless Sea isn't for everyone. It requires patience, and it requires no small amount of imagination. For those who have those qualities, or are prepared to try and acquire them, I would say that Sunless Sea is an uncommonly rewarding roleplaying game, and an essential one.
Sunless Sea's contemplative pace and reams of text won't appeal to every player, but if you have a little patience, and an appreciation for atmospheric story telling, then it'll be hard to pass this one up.