Failbetter are revamping their gothic space-train RPG Sunless Skies next month with the Sovereign Edition, coming to PC as a free update. They promise better performance and loads of balance tweaks, as well as improved character progression, new interfaces, and a reworked starvation system that’ll give you “various new and probably inadvisable choices about what to eat.” Yum. All this and more will arrive on May 19th.
“This is a greatly enhanced edition of Sunless Skies, containing all additions and improvements we’ve made to the game since launch as well as many more completely new ones,” the devs say.
Some of the bigger changes include the reworked Starvation mechanics, which will let players find “a range of increasingly dubious gastronomic options available to them as desperation grows.” Character progression will have a new interface, you’ll be able to choose from a wider range of facets (characteristics you choose that define your Captain’s past), as well as continue improving your stats past the level 20 cap.
On top of that, there’ll be new facets, trading opportunities and an “exotic” new engine “which may be of particular interest to experienced players”. Improvements have been made to the chart, the UI has been overhauled to provide better support for controllers, and so much more.
The developers also note that if you haven’t played the game in a little while, you might come across some weirdness playing the Sovereign Edition. If you have an old save file from before their Wayfarer update, they say your chart will forget what areas you’ve already visited and will plop you near New Winchester regardless of where you previously left off. You won’t lose any progress beyond that, though they recommend loading up your save in the current version of the game before May 19th to fix it.
“If you have never before visited a Sunless place, take to the Skies immediately,” wrote Alec in his Sunless Skies review. It’s safe to say he liked it, though at this point maybe wait to take advantage of the big free update.
The Sovereign Edition lands on May 19th, and will be the game’s first foray onto consoles, hitting PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
“There is a small caveat to the release date,” Failbetter add. “It might yet go back a little bit if we run into too many snags with console submission, but we think that’s unlikely.”