Failbetter Games has today released Steel, the much-vaunted combat update to Sunless Sea, a Kickstarter-funded game set in the world of Fallen London.
“We heard loud and clear from our Early Access players that the old combat system was ‘okay’, but what we wanted was ‘great’,” says Failbetter CEO Alexis Kennedy. “So we completely re-tooled it and have had a hugely positive reaction.”
Sunless Sea was successfully funded through Kickstarter and has been in Early Access on Steam and via Humble Bundle since June 2014. Steel brings intuitive, immersive combat in real-time.
“We’ve worked hard to make ourselves accountable to Early Access players,” says Kennedy. “We genuinely listen and make changes. The latest update brings more tension, more immersion, and rather more explosions. It’s perilous, it’s fun.”
Also in this update are ten gorgeous new islands to visit, with story content for each in progress. Smaller, frequent content additions are happening regularly until the game is completed in early December.
Set in the same universe as the award-winning browser adventure Fallen London, Sunless Sea puts the player at the helm of a steamship on a vast underground ocean.
“We’ve combined the the sense of danger you get from a roguelike games such as Don’t Starve and FTL with the rich storytelling engine we’ve perfected in Fallen London,” says Kennedy, “so while the unexplored areas of the map will shuffle every time you play, there will always be deep and choice-filled stories to discover.”
What is Fallen London?
The year is 1889. Three decades ago, London was stolen by bats. Dragged deep into the earth by the entity known as the Echo Bazaar. It lies now in the Neath, a cavern of impossible size, on the shores of the Unterzee, a giant saltwater lake. The sun is gone. The tumbling white clouds are gone. There will never be another strawberry. But Londoners can get used to anything. And it’s quiet down here, with the devils and the darkness and Rubbery Men and the mushroom wine. Peaceful.
Well, it was until you arrived.
Whether sleuth, spy, seducer or trader in souls, Fallen London lets players be whoever they want to be whilst finding their way through a vast and complex storyworld, rich with secrets and scandals alike. With uniquely narrative-driven gameplay, Fallen London blurs the line between text adventures and social gaming, enabling the player to make difficult choices with real consequences.