Why was Sunless Skies made a standalone game?

I know this question comes far, far too late, but I was excited for Sunless Skies when I thought it was going to be a DLC for Sunless Sea, and I kind of lost interest when I found out it was going to be it’s own game.

Were their technical issues or did the storylines just not fit together right? something along those lines? Is there any chance it’s an &quotexpansalone&quot and it will in fact integrate with Sunless Sea?

I also welcome any attempts to help me overcome my Apathy and tell me why I should get it anyway!

Well, it’s years past Sunless Sea, for one thing, and London is no longer in the Neath. So, from a storyline perspective it would be impossible to attach to Sunless Sea.

For another, Sunless Skies is as large as (if not larger than) Sunless Sea. You’re exploring the High Wilderness, not just this muckabout little lake hidden in the earth. In terms of content and scope, we are beyond what we’ve seen before.

Third, Sunless Skies is, as far as I can see, a significant iteration in terms of both gameplay and graphics. I wasn’t involved in the beta or early access, but from what I’ve seen in videos, it is, in terms of sheer beauty, an order (or two) of magnitude beyond Sunless Sea. You can’t improve the base system while still using the old one.

Finally, to take a shot at Apathy: If you’ve ever been interested in the mysteries of Sunless Sea and Fallen London (e.g. the Correspondence), Sunless Skies is promising significant new additions to our knowledge.
edited by Siankan on 1/27/2019

It’s too different. Radical changes in combate, new economy and leveling system…

Also the fact that Sunless Sea + Zubmariner is already very complete in content.

Why should the difference between DLC and a new game cause you to loose hype over it? If the game was released as a massive DLC, it would probably be the same price, unless, of course, as a DLC it would be smaller, and therefor have less content than a full game. If you saw the game and got exited for it, why would the exact details of it’s release, despite not changing any of its content, the stuff that makes the work in question a thing to be desired, as opposed to the exact state of how the content is packaged, affect how much you want the content. It’s like saying that book 2 is worse than book 1 because it is the sequel to that book, as opposed to being within a new version of book 1, where both stories are within one cover. Nothing would be any different. I don’t mean to say that you are illogical in any unrelated context, but I don’t see how something is labeled, instead of the content within it, should make you view it in a different light.

[quote=Siankan]For another, Sunless Skies is as large as (if not larger than) Sunless Sea.[/quote][color=#C2B280]I recently ran a word count, and Sunless Skies contains more words than Sunless Sea and Zubmariner combined, by around 60%.

We may have gotten a little carried away, there…[/color]

Oh no, words! The thing FL players hate so much!

GIMME!

That is a lot of words. The three existing regions are pretty big, and I haven’t seen all of the stories to their conclusion. I bet that the Blue Kingdom and the new ambition(s?) are going to add in lot of text to the rest of the game, too.

And time for release! I wish you enjoyment, despite the fact that I’m not part of Failbetter.

Though, for me, right now, it’s before 6:45 in the morning, so my time zone probably won’t get it as quickly. Or maybe we get it all day? …

[quote=Sir Wensleydale of Hardwick]Though, for me, right now, it’s before 6:45 in the morning, so my time zone probably won’t get it as quickly. Or maybe we get it all day? …[/quote]Release isn’t different by timezone. Sunless Skies is scheduled to be released at 1800 GMT today. That means from your perspective, it should be out around noon.

Okay. Thanks for that. Not entirely familiar with time zones outside of the US.

To be fair, when opening the gate into the High Wilderness, there are tidbits in Sunless Skies that implied many boats, lands and the buildings attached to them got sucked into and beyond the Avid Horizon portal, leaving them damaged and abandoned in Skies. Given that, going back to earth just doesn’t seem like a good option since most of the stuffs in Sunless Sea would have been ruined anyway because of the gate opening, plus London is in space now.