Sunless Skies to get Early Access at the end of this month

Failbetter Games have a roadmap for their follow-up to Sunless Sea and it has been aiming for a summer early-access release for a while now.Just like it’s predecessor, Sunless Skies went to Kickstarter, successfully and then moved to Early Access.

The Lovecraftian Fallen London Universe was a dark world hidden beneath the Earth’s crust. With Sunless Skies you will be flying high, interacting at ports, trading, fighting, and, if you’ve played the previous game you already know this – dying. Alot. Well, in the beginning at least.

The game will be available on Steam’s Early Access and GOG Games in Development from August 30. You will be able to play one of the regions of the game – the Reach. As the developer says, “The Reach is a verdant, sunless frontier. London pioneers—spearheaded by the avaricious Windward Company—establish far-flung colonies and plunder the riches of the region’s ruins and wild gardens. But many colonists crave independence from the Empire, and the Reach is rife with conflict. Will you be one of the lucky few who strikes it rich? Or one of the masses broken amidst the green wastes?” Other parts of the game will be slowly added, along with a “broad skeleton” of gameplay related things.

Why early-access? The developer says that, with their previous experience, they will be able to collect crucial data to improve the game as much as possible, keeping it “delicious, delightful, and dangerous”. Judging by their previous work, it should very much be the case, as Sunless Sea was almost universally praised.

Another nice move on behalf of the developers is that there will be a discount for the duration of this early-access period, bringing the price of the game down to $24.99/£18.99 in the first week.

What more can you ask from a top-down, high-flying, story-telling RPG that will come out on PC, Mac, and Linux?