Failbetter Games has released their first major update to Sunless Skies after its initial launch in January. By popular demand, there are changes in the Skies with the Wayfarer update!
The most major updates come to the region of Albion, which has been made smaller but now has more sky events and a reworked art style. The Gods of the Sky are also available, both in Albion and elsewhere, to mess around with your Captains and offer more events and more unenviable choices. Do you want their attention? Their wrath? Careful what you wish for.
Got too many officers clogging up your cabin? The Wayfarer update has a solution. Known as Officer Secondments, some of your Officers can be dropped off at different ports to set up shop, or more than likely, set up mischief. So, if you’ve had enough of the Fatalistic Signalman and don’t need him on board, tell him to sling his hook at port.
Several spectacles can now be interacted with, rather than simply marveled at to reduce Terror. The War of Fossils, The Grave of the Silent Saint, The Rotting Celestial Behemoth, Skyhenge, The Avid Horizon, and The Horologion have all received this upgrade, with Failbetter including that if these are liked, more spectacles may be upgraded in the future.
Sky battles can now result in critical damage to your ship, which can be repaired at the central ports located in each region, however, there may be unintended side-effects until you can reach port. Speaking of ports, the ports in the Blue Kingdom will now no longer sell Supplies for your crew, but simply Petrichor – the food of the dead.
The last major part of the Wayfarer update is that there have been tweaks made to the game balancing. Terror will go up slightly faster and be reduced slightly less at ports, there is less crew to pick up at hub ports. The update stresses that this is not necessarily a permanent change, nor the last change to survival mechanics and that further details and kinks will be worked out based on feedback and their own observations.
Quick Thoughts
Having played through a quick slice of this update, I’m intrigued. It doesn’t fix all of the problems that I have with Sunless Skies, but I think that the survival mechanic tweaks should help. I’m in two minds about Albion – I was one of the few players that actually enjoyed having more open skies to explore – but I can’t deny that the update is easier on my fuel consumption. Maps of Albion are completely erased if you’re continuing a previous game, which is irksome, but you do get the experience all over again for exploring and discovering new ports and landmarks. I just hope that everything stays more or less where I left it. I had a trade route going!The spectacles and officer secondments are what really piques my interest. While it’s great to have multiple officers on board so you can progress through multiple stories at once, after you’re done with them and you’re only equipping one, it’s basically just dead weight. Spectacles I’m excited for, simply for the reason that they aren’t homesteads or mining/assaying spots to interact with. Hopefully, they’ll break up the monotony of some empty areas, and I would love to be able to interact with more of them.
As for the Petrichor, I would like to quote my very wise college literature professor, who said that “If magical beings offer you a cookie, just say NO!” Dead, in this game, seems close enough to magical beings to qualify.
