Sunless Skies
All aboard the pain train
Piloting a flying train across the sky sounds relaxing. What Sunless Skies actually offers is death, desperation, and a good dose of the bizarre. This is an addictively wild ride as you traverse an array of locations brimming with character and alluring, if too often overwhelming, lore.
Despite a heavy emphasis on text, Sunless Skies nails its steampunk vibe, enhanced by everything from distinctly Victorian turns of phrase to the glittering metals of the environments. Exploration leads to both joy and terror – as you uncover the expansive world map, you stumble upon all kinds of peril. Anything particularly distressing fills your terror bar, as does wandering the open sky too long, and given that you can die of fright when the bar fills, ensuring you have enough fuel, supplies, and shore leave is key.
As you gain experience, you select Facets: components of your captain’s history which alter your stats. These correspond to things like deception and perseverance, so your choices affect how events play out, determining your chances of success at things as diverse as rallying your crew and resisting alcoholism.1 It’s a fun system that lets you build character, as you layer traumas on your lineage of captains and pray the stat boosts help.
Death awaits in many guises, for you and for everyone. It could be in combat with cantankerous fish. Or an event where an angry goddess demands a sacrifice. Or you might run out of supplies and turn to crew soup. The captain’s death is a weirdly enjoyable part of the action, with the legacy mechanic seeing your new character pick up where their unfortunate predecessor left off.2
Sunless Skies is difficult, but rewarding. You just have to persevere. And leave yourself a decent inheritance.