After a year drifting through the sinister oceans of Early Access, Failbetter’s wonderful Sunless Sea [official site] is released this Friday. Full steam ahead, Mr. Boatswain, full steam ahead. It’s a game of steampunk and Lovecraft, sailing and survival, roleplaying and pint-sized naval combat, wonderful words and terrifying faces. It was one of 2014’s best games as far as Adam and I were concerned, and all being well we’ll be saying the same thing by the end of this year. I looked in on it a couple of weeks ago and all seemed well on course. We shall see, though: a question mark still hangs over the long game. While we all wring hands nervously, let’s enjoy the splendid typography and apocalyptic drum soundtrack of its launch trailer. … [visit site to read more]
Starting an irregular series in which I revisit Early Access games a few months on from when I first tried them. Have they come along much? Does a finished game seem a realistic prospect? >
Bit of a silly one to start this series with, given Sunless Sea hits 1.0 – and thus release status on February 6th, with a major update due around that time, but I’ve been yearning to revisit Sunless Sea’s mesmerisingly-written and impeccably menacing Fallen London for some time, so let’s do this anyway.
In this topsy-turvy world, who knows what constitutes a release date anymore? Me probably, and I think that finishing with your early access period and launching as a finished game ought to be called something else. February 6th isn’t Sunless Sea’s release date, then. February 6th is its Sweet 1.0, or its Rites of Ascension, or its Day That Everyone Starts Complaining That It’s Not Perfect Day.