Sunless Skies - All the majesty of Sunless Sea has taken to the heavens for a new life among the clouds. As an avid Sunless Sea fan and player, I put off starting Sunless Skies out of concern that this new installment would keep me from my seafaring adventures, and I was absolutely right.
I purchased Sunless Skies after acquiring the Skyfarer TTRPG in a games bundle. I wanted to be able to share Failbetter’s creation with my new D&D friends in the format they loved and frequented, but quickly realized I knew nothing about Sunless Skies and would be unable to create the sort of experience I aspired to. Thus, my adventure began.
Coming from Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies feels much more straight-forward. the majority of the map is unavailable until the player acquires certain items, and return to the default map - The Reach - can be even more difficult without proper preparation. The number of ports initially available are much fewer than in Sunless Sea, and choosing sides in the ongoing war can quickly make for much fewer auto-aggroing units as you make your way across the sky, making the experience of travel feel much less eventful than in Sunless Sea.
Do not be fooled by this. Sunless Skies is equally rich in stories and lore as its predecessors. Between the strange creatures that populate the different maps, the mysterious phenomenon that shift locations, the false suns and rage-induced sun sickness, and a thousand other mysteries, there is no shortage of missions to complete or puzzles to piece together.
For my first Captain’s win condition I chose the Song of the Sky, which is similar in nature to the Song of the Zee in name only. I would travel the heavens, collecting stories and completing feats of great strength or cunning, which would then be translated into cantos and published for public consumption, each canto more difficult to write than the last.
This is not the only win condition, however. Players may also aspire to great wealth and a multitude of other goals, some of which are only discovered after your journey has already begun, a mechanic Sunless Sea players will be familiar with.
Once additional maps are unlocked and accessed, Sunless Skies is quite a bit larger than Sunless Sea, both in terms of places of interest and in the variety of quests, alliances, and memberships players may acquire. Honestly, the sense of discovery I loved about Sunless Sea is a never-ending barrage in Sunless Skies. I can’t go so far as to say Sunless Skies is “better” than Sunless Sea, but the game is quite an impressive sequel that is a stand-alone adventure for players new to the franchise and experience that rewards players for their time in Sunless Sea.
I highly recommend Sunless Skies to new players and Failbetter veterans alike; it’s a memorable and unique adventure you won’t soon be able to put down.