First of all, let me just say that Sunless Sea is not the typical game I play. Nevertheless, as I was impressed by FTL for a while and seeing the generous free weekend offer by Failbetter Games, I decided to sample this popular story driven title. I'll try and keep this review brief, so here's my personal take on Sunless Sea after about 10hrs of on/off-line gameplay on my laptop over the weekend:

Pros:
+ Compelling story, with many secrets to be discovered; persistent storyline even after loss of the captain (next captain inherits some stats)
+ Great atmosphere, with a touch on the creepy side
+ Randomised zee map, except for a few story driven places; adds to its longevity
+ Some very funny quests and the ability to romance your officers with unexpected results

Cons:
- Story becomes convoluted after a while, perhaps due to all the side quests.
- The atmosphere was great at first but after ~5hrs gameplay, due to repetitiveness, I found myself mostly skimming through the choices without bothering to read them at length when making port. To survive you really need fuel and supplies, so the rest seem unimportant when your only goal (short term at least) is to explore as much as possible and get paid by the Admiralty (only reliant source of income).
- The graphics and effects are passable, making Sunless Sea rise just a step above a textual MUD adventure (feels like old school RPG).
- Some obvious balance problems, especially at the start, adding to the difficulty of the game (grinding enemies became necessary for my initial survival). After a few perma-deaths, I finally and only by luck managed to get a big payday, which in turn helped with upgrades, making Sunless Sea considerably more fun. Quests hardly make you any money (echoes) and trading is non-existent when you lack funds and have a tiny 40 spaces hold, shared with your supplies and fuel (read a few excellent guides along the way from workshop to progress faster).
- The darkness of the top-down gothic design adds to the atmosphere but after a while it all starts to look the same, port after port (I would have liked to see some more distinct vibrancy represented by different cultural and color map changes).

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TL;DR: All in all myself and family quite enjoyed Sunless Sea for what it was, a dark survival exploration adventure with a good story. I would definitely recommend it to all fans of the genre, especially at the heavily discounted price currently going on Steam. In addition a big thumbs up to Failbetter Games for providing us with a free weekend to sample their game and wish more developers would follow suit to their example.

First of all, let me just say that [b]Sunless Sea[/b] is not the typical game I play. Nevertheless, as I was impressed by FTL for a while and seeing the generous free weekend offer by Failbetter Games, I decided to sample this popular story driven title. I'll try and keep this review brief, so here's my personal take on Sunless Sea after about 10hrs of on/off-line gameplay on my laptop over the weekend: Pros: + Compelling story, with many secrets to be discovered; persistent storyline even after loss of the captain (next captain inherits some stats) + Great atmosphere, with a touch on the creepy side + Randomised zee map, except for a few story driven places; adds to its longevity + Some very funny quests and the ability to romance your officers with unexpected results Cons: - Story becomes convoluted after a while, perhaps due to all the side quests. - The atmosphere was great at first but after ~5hrs gameplay, due to repetitiveness, I found myself mostly skimming through the choices without bothering to read them at length when making port. To survive you really need fuel and supplies, so the rest seem unimportant when your only goal (short term at least) is to explore as much as possible and get paid by the Admiralty (only reliant source of income). - The graphics and effects are passable, making Sunless Sea rise just a step above a textual MUD adventure (feels like old school RPG). - Some obvious balance problems, especially at the start, adding to the difficulty of the game (grinding enemies became necessary for my initial survival). After a few perma-deaths, I finally and only by luck managed to get a big payday, which in turn helped with upgrades, making Sunless Sea considerably more fun. Quests hardly make you any money (echoes) and trading is non-existent when you lack funds and have a tiny 40 spaces hold, shared with your supplies and fuel (read a few excellent guides along the way from workshop to progress faster). - The darkness of the top-down gothic design adds to the atmosphere but after a while it all starts to look the same, port after port (I would have liked to see some more distinct vibrancy represented by different cultural and color map changes). ----- TL;DR: All in all myself and family quite enjoyed [b]Sunless Sea[/b] for what it was, a dark survival exploration adventure with a good story. I would definitely recommend it to all fans of the genre, especially at the heavily discounted price currently going on Steam. In addition a big thumbs up to [b]Failbetter Games[/b] for providing us with a free weekend to sample their game and wish more developers would follow suit to their example.