This is essentially a love letter to the developers, mixed with a single point that is a bit of a pet peeve for me about the game and the world created with it in general.
Seriously, I have passingly seen a video of somebody playing this game on youtube and ran it in the background just as background noise. That was until I’ve heard one line (Or at least part of one):
"…as the sigils burned into her bones flare…"
I have not thought much of the game until then and in general it wasn’t that impressive. "Just yet another indie game" was my thought as I sat down with my game of choice at the time.
However that one line has instantaneously drawn my attention and at that moment I knew I had to buy the game and experience it for myself.
I’ve sank 37 hours into it at present, and have barely departed the Reach, and oh boy was I in for a treat! This game is written fantastically! I have attempted to explore the origin story and to find out about the lore as much as possible and explored the browser game. At present I am even thinking to get the prequel in the hopes of getting more of the amazing writing and uncover more of the lore of this universe.
I really hope that we can get another game set in the same universe with the same level of writing and love poured into it. And to be honest, I am a little sad that there are no books set in this universe. If anything, that would be something that I would’ve really loved!
From the early moments of the game the mystery of this world is breath taking! Learning about the place where the journey of the Orphean began through a couple of lines of contemplation of a character and then a few more from dialogue. This game does wonders to my curiosity. Not to even mention the first mention of hours in this game and how they are used in prisons. I just sat there, jaw dropped for several minutes trying to process everything I’ve learned from a passenger that has simply casually mentioned it in conversation.
There is no end to my would be praise of this game’s writing and story. I simply cannot get enough of it. Every single dialogue box (Except for the ones that start repeating, as this is a game after all) holds something new to discover and learn and stay in awe from.
I implore you to please work on more projects like this. I hope that Sunless Skies was a commercial success for you guys and that you’ll get back into more games. I really cannot wait to see more (I am still trying to finish the current one and there’s a prequel to play through as well! But I am so hungry for more that I simply cannot stop thinking of the little bits of information unveiled every time I sit down to play).
If at all possible - I would love to read about this world in a book… About how it all began and how has London ended up in the sky. I wouldn’t mind paying for several novels that span the transitions from 1 setting to the next.
The reason I would really like a book is because browser games are simply not for me, and I find it difficult to learn anything useful from the browser game which is meant to be the beginning of it all… And that makes me really sad.
A single thing about the game that I would suggest for potentially future projects is - Please allow players to have more than 1 save slot. At present I am playing the game in a way where a friend of mine sits there and listens to me read. She’s not too big on actually playing games because she says she’s not good at it, but she really loves the writing and the story as it unfolds. And my biggest problem there is that I need to wait for her to be around for me to continue playing and exploring this amazing world and story. I cannot simply start a new game, and a new character where I can explore the world on my own, at my pace (Which would probably mean that I would’ve sunken more than 200 hours into it by now if I could) and then jump back to the save where I last left off in our "Joined" playthrough". If you are working on another game project - Please make this a feature!
None the less. I don’t really know why I felt the need to post it here, nor I even know if the devs would ever see this or if this forum is even the right place to write something alone these lines. But genuinely - Thank you.
In a world where most feedback is negative feedback and only comes when people have problems. Yes despite this feedback coming from a place of love (At least a lot of times), as people simply like your art so much that they wish it suited their personal taste a little better (Hell I’ve done the same mentioning the browser game and the save slots). I think it is still important to at times point out the really good feelings something like this gives.
So really, from the bottom of my heart - I really love your creation, and if this text ever does reach the devs of the game, I hope that you’ll understand that I am not alone in this sentiment.
This is a masterpiece that you’ve created here, and I genuinely cannot wait to learn everything there is about this world and the story in the game. Your writing is a breath of fresh air in a stale river of fiction. A spark of brilliance which I wish was a lot more common.
Sincerely, thank you