Sunless Skies

Sunless Skies is a narrative exploration and survival game in which you captain a steam locomotive through space as the Victorian Empire expands into the stars. You lead a crew, trade and explore, fight celestial dangers, and try to keep your captain and locomotive alive in the High Wilderness. The Sovereign Edition includes new officers, enemies, engines, stories and mascots, a reworked region, Full Steam mode for long journeys and desperate escapes, a horn and quality-of-life improvements.

The High Wilderness

The Victorian Empire has built a new sun, and the Empress rules from the Throne of Hours, which gives her control over time. Beyond the Empire, the High Wilderness holds shattered celestial ruins, stellar jungles and industrial sprawl. Its living stars, the Judgements, are vast intelligences that govern all things, but something is snuffing them out one by one.

You can support the Empire, join the rebels seeking to end London's rule, or chart a course between them. Your captain trades, explores, fights and survives in a world where the balance of power may depend on their choices. The game takes place in the Fallen London Universe, but tells a new story that does not require playing Sunless Sea first.

Shape your captain

Before becoming a skyfarer, choose your captain's past: they might have been an urchin, a priest or a revolutionary. As they advance, choose further facets of their history, such as being the Black Sheep of the family or having a Lost Love. These choices shape the captain's story as they travel.

Captains often die, but each leaves a mark on the world and an inheritance for those who follow. You can build a lineage of captains, with each taking over after the last dies, or reload your most recent captain and continue.

Explore and trade

Explore four regions: the celestial wilderness, an impossible industrial empire, a pagan midnight expanse and the domain of the dead. The game has over 800,000 words of intertwining stories, presented with hand-drawn 2D art.

Trade through a story-rich system to earn a fortune, or risk it all by smuggling. You can also barter for barrels of time, smuggle souls and stop for cricket and tea.

Maintain your locomotive

Your locomotive is your main defence against the dangers of the Heavens. Maintain and upgrade it with equipment and weapons such as the Pneumatic Mining Array and rapid-fire Brassraven. You can learn to craft weapons such as the Wrath of Heaven from defeated enemies, or buy a different locomotive, including the capacity-focused Pellinore-class Trader and the sleek Medea-class Destroyer.

Fight and survive

Combat takes place in real time against rival locomotives, from pirates to experimental Imperial warships, as well as monsters such as the Undeparted and swarms of irate Chorister-bees. Each foe has its own behaviour, and you can play factions against one another. Full Steam mode lets you evade trouble or chase down your quarry.

You also manage your crew's morale and your captain's nightmares, balancing fuel and supplies against the desire to explore, pursue knowledge or seize riches. Starvation, mutiny, terror and nightmares threaten your journey, and you can battle them or give in to them.

Recruit officers

Recruit upgradeable officers, each with a quest of their own. They include a repentant devil, an incognito princess, an entire brigade of rats and your own Aunt. You can also collect pets such as the Inadvisably Big Dog, Useless Cat and Perfect Pangolin.