From now until March 4, the Epic Games Store is offering Sunless Sea for free. Featuring the tagline “LOSE YOUR MIND. EAT YOUR CREW. DIE,” it promises to be the sea cruise nobody wants to be on. Released in 2015 by Failbetter Games, it is a gothic horror game set in the Fallen London universe. It was followed by Sunless Skies in 2017. It has garnered positive ratings from Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Destructoid, and other places.
Take to the dark waters
Welcome to the dark and hilarious Victorian-Gothic underworld of Fallen London, where every choice has a consequence, from the style of your hat to the price of your soul. Except this time around, the Unterzee is your oyster.
Choose your ship, name your captain, and leave the bustle of the docks for the wild and lightless depths of the Unterzee. The map changes every time you play, and every officer in your crew has their own story.
Encounter a corsairs’ village in a forest of stalagmites, come face to face with the vicious war trimarans of the New Khanate or the golden agents of the Dawn Machine. Grow strong and wise and rich and feared. With luck and skill you may achieve your ambitions: find your father’s bones, found a pirate princedom or sail beyond the Unterzee into the strangeness at time’s heart.
Sunless Sea allows players to pick their crew as they face off against enemy ships and monsters. Along the way, they can customize their ship for improved combat and navigation. The gameplay is 2D, top-down, and non-linear. The developer cites influences from popular games such as FTL, Don’t Starve, and Strange Adventures in Infinite Space, as well Old Irish tales called immram.