It’s been a while since Failbetter Games released their unnerving text-heavy RPG, Sunless Sea. Several years in fact, as the sanity dissolving (in-game only… for the most part), cannibalistic affair first saw the light of day back in 2015. On desktop, that is. Wasn’t until just the other day that PlayStation 4 owners finally got to experience the dread and glory that is Sunless Sea, and bundled with the Zubmariner expansion at that. Oh, those poor souls. They have no idea what horrors await beyond – and inside – the fog.
With more than 350,000 words making up a plethora of stories – both above and below the surface – there’s plenty to experience here; provided you can survive long enough that is. If you get hungry, there’s always the option of eating your crew… although do keep an eye on your sanity, if any remains, during that. Other aspects also need to be carefully monitored and managed as you go along, venturing deep into the unknown, battling denizens that would feel right at home in an H.P. Lovecraft creation too. Not for the faint of heart, this journey.
Sunless Sea is a game of discovery, loneliness and frequent death, set in the award-winning Victorian Gothic universe of Fallen London.
Speaking of which, as you can probably tell from the above screenshot, it’s also been one helluva journey to get this beast ported to Sony’s console; UI in particular, ensuring the entire thing played just fine with a gamepad – I mean, bloody things do feature fewer buttons than even the most basic of keyboards after all, so sacrifices had to be made. Or? Surprisingly enough, not really, as detailed in this blog post. A few tweaks, and some new additions/changes to how the game relays information to the player.
I’d still rather fire up the PC version every now and then, but for those who swear by their PlayStation 4, the lack of interface compromises is great news. Until that fateful moment when the Sunless Sea claims its next victim, captain, crew and all…
Sunless Sea: Zubmariner Edition is available on PlayStation 4, carrying an $18.99 price tag.