Alexis Kennedy, co-founder of Failbetter and writer and designer on Fallen London, Sunless Sea and Cultist Simulator, has been accused of being an abuser and “well-known predator” by several prominent women in the games industry, including an allegation from a former colleague at Failbetter. The allegations came as part of a recent wave of similar stories shared on Twitter, among them allegations made against composer Jeremy Soule and developer Alec Holowka. Kennedy has denied the allegations on Twitter and via a statement given to RPS, while Failbetter say they “believe and stand with everyone who has come forward.”

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Bizarre, beautiful and brilliant sky-train simulator Sunless Skies is a stonking game, and a notable improvement over its nautical (but nice) predecessor, but nothing is perfect. Today, Failbetter rolled out the first major update for the game, overhauling Albion, home of space-London and the second hub area of the game. The Wayfarer update also gives officers more options for work outside of your train, adds dangerous new consequences for taking damage in battle and toughens up the survival aspects of the game. The sky is slightly less vast, but more terrifying now.

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Sunless Skies, the cosmic horror, spacefaring roguelite, splits my brain like a log beneath an axe.

On the one hand, a certain ennui – I have seen all this before, I have made these long, fraught voyages before, many times, in its fine predecessor Sunless Sea.

On the other, late at night my thoughts drift, unbidden, back to its dark places, its lonely ports and clockwork suns and frozen voids. Places that left impressions, places that told me unsettling stories and implied many more stories still.

I don’t want to do it all over again. I don’t want anything except to do it all again.

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2018 has been strange as hell, I think we can all agree on this. And yet, some bits of news can be even more baffling than others, the definitive proof we are living in the weirdest timeline. Our world may be literally burning, everything is a mess, and The Brexit still looms upon us. But thanks to popular hits like Del Toro s Shape Of Water and the adorable anime The Ancient Magus Bride, lusting over a fictional monster on main is now deemed socially acceptable.

On Twitter, at least.

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We ve been battered by wave after wave of survival romps since Minecraft popularised the genre, with its deadly nights and groaning zombies, almost a decade ago. In its wake, we’ve been introduced to a cavalcade of punishing, persistent environments intent on putting us in an early grave.

The masochistic impulse to put ourselves through the wringer for entertainment has spread to RPGs, management games, cosmic sandboxes and more than a few horror games, so even if you don t fancy punching rocks and trees while wandering around in the wilderness, you might still find a survival game to tickle your fancy. (more…)

Here’s something to make your weekend just that little bit stranger, so long as you own Failbetter’s deliciously compelling Sunless Sea. Tales Of The Grave-Garden is a fan-made expansion, adding a little more of everything to the game. More ships to sail, more weapons with which to make other ships stop> sailing, and a goodly chunk of new stories to follow. They’re adeptly written and all fit nicely within the overarching Fallen London setting. The mod is the work of one ‘Enneagon’, and was released earlier this week.

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Failbetter Games have launched a shiny redesign of Fallen London, the browser-based alt-history Victoriana horror RPG which spawned Sunless Sea then Sunless Skies. Failbetter last updated the site’s look in 2009, when I’m not sure computers even had came in colour? Now it looks fancier and it works better on different screen sizes too, so I suppose you can fill your pocket telephone with horrors and oddities. (more…)

Maybe my perception of time is getting a bit wonky in my old age, but didn’t we just finish Spring Sale season a week or two ago? No matter – cheap games are always in style. GOG’s summer sale opens with a giveaway of Goldhawk Interactive’s solid X-Com tribute Xenonauts. GOG also asked us to pick a few favourites from the sale, so check out our list on GOG. (more…)

Sit down at the boiling pot, stranger. Let me tell you a tale. A sordid tale, full of fascinating lands and captivating characters. A story of wonder and flame, strangeness and warmth. Would you like to hear it? Great. Just play this rubbish cover shooter for a half hour. I ll start the introduction when you hit the first checkpoint.

Welcome to the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show. This week we re discussing some great stories that come packaged with terrible games. (more…)

Following a difficult year, Sunless Sea and Fallen London devs Failbetter have battened down the hatches and scaled back some of their plans, including laying off several members of staff and delaying Sunless Skies. Part of the problem is early access sales of the encounter-unspeakable-cosmic-horrors-then-eat-your-crew space survive-o-exploration RPG sequel have been lower than expected. The small English studio assure that they will finish Sunless Skies but they want to be sure they’ll be safe to fund another game beyond that, so they’ve made a few cautious cuts. (more…)