Sunless Skies Encourages Exploration with the Exploration Update

Published: February 5, 2018 9:52 AM /

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sunless skies exploration

Sunless Skies, the latest release from Failbetter Games and the semi-sequel to Sunless Sea, released its latest update on January 31st entitled Exploration.

Incorporating much of the work from the recent sprints Tektite and Vega, Exploration is an update true to its name. It allows the gathering of items from wreckage around the map and the discovery of Spectacles, which can include anything from harvesting honey to mining sky rocks for hours.

The Pitchkirk has also been introduced by Old Tom's Well. Think you've been aggrieved? Well, come on down! If you can prove it, your captain may be allowed to complete the Rite of Wrongs which can modify their skills. As with anything in the Fallen London universe – Buyer Beware ought to be slapped on the side of the well.

The remaining updates mainly deal with adding to the atmosphere of the game. Terror has new musical cues and some new visual effects to go along with it. At the same time, the headlights and foglights have been tweaked so it's easier to tell which parts of the scenery you can crash into and will also aid in targeting during combat.

The next update for Sunless Skies is scheduled for the end of February and will be focused on movement and combat. After that, the next update is the long-awaited ALBION adding a whole new region to the game!


Quick Take

After taking this update for a spin, it's another step in the right direction though it's still apparent there's a lot left to do before Sunless Skies is ready for release. The terror factor musical shift in particular definitely ramps up the overall spookiness of the game, and I'm personally a big fan of any musical additions to any game. Collecting from wrecks is fun. It's not going to save you from starvation, but it's a nice bonus if you're struggling financially. Spectacles also just help to break up the monotony of the outer areas of the Reach, it's a nice change of pace to find something that isn't a giant hunk of space rock which helps the pacing of the game.

My favorite part of this update is the changes made to the headlights which have stopped me from crashing into half the scenery as I'm personally not great with the artificial depth of vision on screens. Admittedly, I did still crash into a few things, but it's a vast and much welcome improvement. Docking, while not strictly needed, is a much more streamlined process now that it's automatic, instead of worrying about positioning yourself absolutely properly in the dock. However, it did lead to my accidentally parallel parking my giant space train at one point, though perhaps that says more about my train driving skills than it does about the docking.

How does the Exploration update affect your time in the Reach? Are you enjoying the little changes or just waiting for Albion? Let us know in the comments below!

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


Courtney
| Former Staff Writer

Courtney Ehrenholfer is an aspiring novelist and screenwriter, and current journalist who greatly enjoys video games, especially those of the point and… More about Courtney

More Info About This Game
Learn more about Sunless Skies
Game Page Sunless Skies
Developer
Failbetter Games
Publisher
Failbetter Games
Release Date
May 1, 2018 (Calendar)
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