Recent reviews by FourIsTheNumber

Sunless Sea is a game with an amazing sountrack, beautiful art design, and some of the best writing that has ever graced video games. That being said, it's not for everyone. The pacing can be rather slow at the early to midgame, and there are some rather odd balance issues. Combat is relatively weak but works well enough. Going into this game, you should be going in mainly for the, again, absolutely phenomenal story and the incredible world that Failbetter has managed to create. Those buying this game out of a "roguelike" perception or those looking for a fast-paced, action-filled game, I would encourage to look elsewhere.

To expand on the roguelike comment, Sunless Sea is hard. Very hard. Unless you do one of two things: learn through experience (once you know general locations and where you can buy fuel/supplies or the optimal ways to finish important storylines, like the last curator, the game becomes much easier) or using the wiki to accomplish the same goal. I highly recommend the former (and that's not to be elitist - I'm a wiki addict and it made the game much easier for me) for at least a few runs, consulting the wiki if you truly need help.

All in all, I strongly recommend Sunless Sea for its fantastic writing, incredibly varied environments, and beautiful soundtrack, but not quite for its gameplay.