Sunless Skies just landed on Steam Early Access

Leave those landlubbers and sea dogs behind

Failbetter Games’ sequel to Sunless Sea launches today on Steam Early Access and GOG Games in Development. Sunless Skies is a top-down RPG with a literary twist — think FTL with more story. It takes place ten years after Sunless Sea, and Queen Victoria has moved the British Empire to the skies.

You play as the captain of a locomotive in said skies, or a space pirate on a train. Fight space beasts and other pesty locomotives as you travel to distant ports, where you’ll uncover stories, pick up passengers, and deal in cargo. You’ll also contend with Failbetter’s unique Terror, Hunger, and Heat mechanics, which affect your journey across the heavens. And apparently you can murder a sun?! That’s enough to make me intrigued.

Failbetter cites its immense success with Early Access as crucial to the development of Sunless Sea, and they’re looking forward to opening up feedback again with Sunless Skies. 900 players have already alpha tested it in preparation for the Early Access release, fresh off the heels of its successful Kickstarter campaign. To see exactly what the developers have in store for the coming months, they’ve provided a handy post detailing what to expect. 

“We’re excited to open the heavens to the first major wave of explorers. Player feedback is crucial to us, and we’ll be watching, learning, and amending our own course accordingly. Because there’s much more to come,” says Narrative Director Chris Gardiner. “As Early Access progresses we’ll be adding more regions, more ports, more discoveries, more stories, more secrets, more nightmares, and more unwise decisions that sensible captains will avoid at all costs.”

Get in your locomotive and sail the Sunless Skies today on Steam or GOG. It’s on sale for 10% off its original price of $24.99 during its first week of release. In celebration of the launch, the mobile version of Sunless Sea is also on sale for iPad for $6.99 through September 3.