SUNLESS SEA

This game is basically a narrative sandbox story generator. Rather than focusing on a long continuous narrative, your journey is built up by all these little self contained story arcs, that you can come across every time you make dock. It's a wonderfully weird setting, that plays around with a lot of interesting ideas and stories. Whether it's negotiating a truce between nations of warring rodents, or full on cosmic horror, the writing of this game is impeccable, and has no problem selling you on even the most out there concept. Where the game falls a bit short, is the actual exploration part of it. It's a gorgeously drawn world, and incredibly atmospheric, and exploring the world rewards you with more narrative content to engage with. The actual traversal and combat just isn't all that interesting on its own. The resource drain it incurs can lead you to making decisions out of desparation, which again, feeds into the whole narrative sandbox element. It is a very open ended game, to the point where it can be a bit obtuse, but it's well worth putting in the effort to figure it out. It does put you into the permadeath mode by default. I would recommend switching that off, there's really no drawback to it, unless you really enjoy replaying the same stories over again.

Честно говоря, потраченного времени жаль Пятикратно переваренный кал

A game with truly immaculate vibes. Never before have I felt so transported so suddenly into a world that is both intensely real and unfathomably alien. Though minimal in complex mechanics and skill based gameplay, it offers up an incredibly deep and fascinating world to explore. Its horror is matched by its mystery and beauty, and beckons you in like a disembodied hand emerging from the darkness. As you explore the Unterzee, your perspective of the world and what you witness are told from journal entries on a lower portion of the screen. You'll be told stories from this little page that will provide levity as well as chill you to your core. You'll be told of impossible constructs, aberrations, monstrous creatures and fates far, FAR worse than death. It will also describe beauty that borders on ethereal. Grand crystal structures and seaside cities of light, the quiet of the Neath and vast jungle islands. All these things you see are so strange and alien that they function as a form of currency, to be given to the powers that be of your choosing as insight in exchange for reward. Secrets and horrors and your standardized port reports all come together to both prove your mettle and earn your keep. The game further rewards knowledge more than skill by making the means of progress incredibly unclear to the lay person. I understand why a lot of people fall off after a few hours, I really do. You're told very little from the start, and you're expected to learn a whole world before you feel truly safe traversing it. But it pays to get out there and see the unknown. You learn about things like combining your stories to create information of real value, establishing reputation with powerful people, what goods sell well at what ports, where to find cheap fuel. While you seek to solve complicated quests that feel way more like riddles most of the time, you pick up bits and pieces of a nigh incomprehensible world and use it to survive another day. Your zailors might be ripped from the deck by unseen tendrils in the dark, or you'll perhaps have to eat a few of them. You might be scarred or cursed, robbed or driven mad. But as you learn the treacheries of the Zee, you'll grow wiser and, as such, stronger and more capable of fulfilling your ultimate goal. There are many ways to win, and many times more opportunities to lose. But every victory feels earned, and every square explored feels like one step closer to quantifying the unquantifiable. Futile, but deeply human.

Как же я люблю эту странную, местами устаревшую, местами кривенькую, но невероятно увлекающую игру. Это невероятный опыт иммерсивности, погружения, который надолго остается в памяти. В бессолнечное море хочется возвращаться снова и снова. Более конструктивно: - саундтреки это огромная часть атмосферы, они здесь невероятные, дошел до той стадии, когда слушаю на работе - текстуальность. Мне кажется в первую очередб именно работа с текстом, а не лор, как таковой, являются главным достоинством игры. Недосказанности, акцент на некоторых словах и образах, черт, да даже капс во фразе ЕСТЬ ЛИ МОРЕ ГДЕ ЕЩЕ МЕНЬШЕ СОЛНЦА? или E SUN THE SUN THE SUN THE SUN TH - создают постоянную интригу. Хочется проходить по историям, хочется погружаться в море слов - экономика. это приятное дополнение, к сожалению мир не такой наполненный событиями, врагами или другими кораблями, основной интерес в этой плоскости обеспечить пропитанием себя и команду с помощью торговли пока распутываешь очередной клубок рассказов - геймплей. Тут снова немного грустно, многих фишек которые появились в бессолнечных небесах здесь не хватает, что делает значительную часть игрового опыта наблюдением за оченб маленьким кораблем среди бесконечной морской поверхности, что конечно тоже по затягивает, ситуацию спасает прекрасный ост и воображение, ну и конечно увлечение историей.

i love this game. dont play it unless you're an extremely patient freak

I am horrible at navigation. I have been lost at sea for so many times. 10 out of 10

Beautifully written, this game has a fever-dream charm that never gets old for me. In no other game is the experience of calamity made so delightful.