/games/ - Games

>>1468
Bumping for this to be sent to >>>/games/

Also is it just me or does it resemble Bioshock a bit?

>>1468
I played Subless Seas a lot, but I couldn't get invested in the sequel. The annoying tiny text…the inferior map and bland uniform map.

The first is better and the second failed because of drama when the project lead cashed out and they ripped off the employees.

>>1472
I wouldn't say its that much similar to Bioshock (I guess it can remind you a little bit of Infinite when it comes to the workworlds). I'd say the overall aesthetic is Victorian (not fully steam-punk, apart from the trains) mixed with fantastical weird fiction, however there are also pretty stand out areas as well, like the Blue Kingdom, a brutalist alabaster clusterfuck, or a neon-lit neo-Mongol khanate with an artificial moon.

>>1473
While I haven't played the first one, I do think they are pretty different games. Sea was more of a lovecraftian Euro-truck simulator, while Skies seems to have reduced the complexity of the trade mechanics, leaving them far more abstracted and basic, while doing more with the story. I don't get where your criticism of a uniform map is coming from. While each zone shares an overall theme, they are quite strong, and even then, have stand out places within it. The mix of sci-fi, fantastical and Victorian aesthetics blend in really well, and at least for me create a pretty incredible feel for the world. Of course, that is nothing on it's own, however the stories presented only reinforce the dark as well as fantastical feel of it all. Perhaps I am an idiot, but for me it deffinetly is in the top 5 games of last decade, and perhaps even in my personal top 5 as well.

>>1473
>Subless Seas
>Sunless Skies
What are these video-games and why have I never seen these mentioned anywhere else?

>>2784
They are weird-fiction cargo hauling games, though Skies more goes for an explorer theme I guess, with the trade elements being reduced (at least from what I've heard, didn't play Seas) and a far larger focus on the different port stories, companions and a lovecraftian mystery behind the fate of the Suns. I don't know why you haven't heard of them though, I thought at least Seas was sort of popular in a culty style.
Ok, the story is, well, weird, so this might sound legitimately like insane ramblings:
The story between the two games is semi-connected. Basically Seas takes places in an alternate universe where a communist revolution took over Vienna. But more importantly half of London sunk down to a Jules Vern style underground ocean because of bats, and the eternal Anglo obviously decided to conquer this place as well, no matter that it was filled with Lovecraftian horrors and soul eating devils. **Don't pay much attention to the Vienna thing, I believe it was just a small tidbit from the
Then, an unspecified amount of time after the first game later, Victoria opened a waygate into space, somehow or better said in a way that would be a spoiler conquered the Sun that ruled the area of space where the gate lead, took its throne of Hours (the most valuable resource) and constructed a replacement Clockwork Sun. Then, Albion proceeded to expand its imperialist tendrils through another pocket of the cosmos - the Reach. However, a national liberation movement of colonists started a rebellion that is now in a stalemate. At this point, Skies starts.
I tried to cover things as generally as possible, since one of the main joys of the game for me was uncovering its story and slowly making sense of it.

>>2790
Holy fucking shit that is bloody insane.

>>2794
Yes, it kind of is when laid out like that, but the game, at least to me, managed to make a surprising amount of sense, as the setting is surprisingly self-consistent about its insanity.

>>2798
>consistent insanity
Checked and joker-pilled.

>>1473
Do yourself a favour and play Fallen London and Sunless Seas. Skies is missing a lot of the atmosphere and soul that Seas had perfect (with a few exceptions such as the Blue Kingdom).

>while doing more with the story
Strong disagree here, Seas is pretty much purely driven by story and all of its mechanics feed back into enhancing that story. Skies loses a lot by sacrificing the desperation of the gameplay for something easier. Seas was also primarily driven by Alexis Kennedy who is far better at having a thematically consistent and interesting world.

On the political side of things Seas is far less on the nose with its politics and is a better political work for it.

Not that Skies is a bad game, Failbetter are still great at narrative games, its just missing that wonderful atmosphere and feel that Seas had.

>>2790
Vienna didn't have a communist revolution, it is on the cusp of a revolution that will usher in the Liberation of Night which is about the destruction of the laws of physics. Britain never conquers anything in the Neath either, the Masters of the Bazaar are firmly in control of London and the attempt to invade hell fails because they couldn't fight parabolans.

>>2822
Oh man, thanks a lot for posting that, saw it about a week ago and it reminded me to go back and play through Cultist Simulator now that it is updated.
In all honesty I am pretty torn on the game. On the one hand I really love it, but on the other - it can be really freaking annoying at times. Since I can't get the cracked version with DLC's to work, I completed only the definitive one by doing Power victory into Apostle Aestuant victory, but even that took way too long, and this is coming from a player that already cracked the bullshit that the game throws at you. Even then, it was still stressful at times, knowing I could loose many hours of progress because I skipped paint day.
The Apostle Aestuant victory at time feels like it is taking the piss in all honesty. Having really unclear instructions is kind of cool I guess, but the decision to put one of the conditions for victory on a timed card that you can only get 2-3 times max while also needing another timed card with a lifetime so small that you can only get it after the one which is limited in quantity is pretty fucking sadistic game design. Also I'd argue they screwed up with the rival Long. At best he was annoying and quite literally works like a gnat bite - it gets worse the more you scratch it. I decided to ignore them, which is sad, as I was interested in what would happen if I got to kill them, but I didn't dare risk the run.
Not to mention how grindy it is, especially if you die and have to restart your entire follower, book and spell collection. At least I am a WoW player AND I played CitK where I had to flip all of the Third World red on many occasions, so at least I have some resilience built up for this type of shit, but I can really see how it would be a massive turn-off. It made me rage quit a few times back when the game was fresh, as deaths were more common for a newbie.
However, positives outweigh the annoyances. The story is phenomenal in my opinion. Best part is that it makes you feel like you yourself become an expert on all of this esoteric knowledge - you realize what Names, Longs and Hours actually are, you start to understand the rivalries between them, synonymous names and so on. The only other time I felt something similar was in Sunless Skies when you slowly start to understand how the setting works, and when I was really into Star Wars bootlegs, slowly starting to perfectly understand not only what the garbled gibberish words mean, but also how they came to be translated that way.
Anyway, its not only the presentation of the story, but the setting it self that is fascinating, with an interesting take on the Pantheon trope and a good use of the 1930's historic moment as a backdrop to the games events, which seems to only be stronger in the Exile DLC, that I sadly can't play. The writing is, well, good, solid, no complaints. Actually, this might be somewhat of a non sequitur, but the romance writing is great, even though the innuendos and descriptions never even cross softcore, and has, let's just say, proven to be great material for me.
Also, while I ragged on the gameplay before, it is really great in certain aspects. It is cool to discover things for the first time, and even though I would consider myself a "veteran", it is still managing to surprise me at times with things I can do. Also, the reward loop of gathering lore and being rewarded by getting to read occult scraps from it to expand your own knowledge of the setting is really good, though doesn't quite work in repeated playthroughs.
I guess one shame is that there are quite a few wasted things. For instance certain principles, as I just couldn't find a use for them, I don't think I have ever used Edge or Winter ever, and Knock I only used for one or two spells and nothing more. Same goes for Heart and Moth, but I know these are needed for the Dancer DLC. Perhaps this criticism is misplaced and the Priest and Medium use the other three, but as it stands baseline, it is sad that there are no real uses for these lore aspects. Also some rites for spells are downright useless as they sacrifice things you'd never want to give away. Would be interesting if certain spells required certain rites as well.
In conclusion, a very good game with some nagging flaws. Would recommend to all who liked Sunless series, like esoteric fiction or like challenging puzzle games.

How does this compare to something like Disco Elysium or SubNautica?

>>3167
Its an Alexis Kennedy game so the bafflingly frustrating gameplay is intentional and you can find blogposts about how he deliberately made the gameplay irritating on purpose for narrative reasons which I feel missed the mark in this one (although I maintain the very slow pace of Sunless Sea was a major asset to the game that Skies lost). I get that he wanted to make it feel like you're a cultist in Lovecraftian fiction trying to piece together forbidden lore to figure out how to commune with your chosen god but for the most part it makes you start playing large chunks of the game on autopilot and losing the atmosphere while driving many people to just looking up how to achieve things.
I have enjoyed the large amount of time I have spent with it but the signature AK frustration doesn't help this one.

>I guess one shame is that there are quite a few wasted things. For instance certain principles, as I just couldn't find a use for them, I don't think I have ever used Edge or Winter ever
All of the principles are really useful, edge, winter and knock are probably the 3 most useful because they are all key components in late game summons including the incredibly useful Maid In the Mirror which can solo most of the expeditions in the game and is required for one of the apostle ascensions.

>>3898
Similar to Disco Elysium in that they are effectively books with RPG mechanics. Different to it in that its also a weirdly punishing roguelike with grind.

>>1468
>Sunless Skies
heh, more like Punless Pies!

>>4367
…absolutely awful

Anyone here tried 'Lawless Lands'? It's a recently released Dark Fantasy RPG made by an Indie developer. Really fits mobile well if they could do it.

Takes place in a pandemic ridden setting, full version released late last month.

"Plunge into the Lawless Lands of Crossia, a once great kingdom where chaos slowly consumes more and more of the country. The cities have plummeted into poverty and crime, and the surrounding countryside is littered with famine and death. The army is close to collapse from an ever-lasting war and cannot stop the spread of the disorder. Hope is almost nonexistent, restoring order is believed to be futile, and panic lingers everywhere. Take on the role of a champion who rises from the ashes to end the suffering."