SUNLESS SEA: ZUBMARINER EDITION

The truly unusual Sunless Sea title is targeted at a narrow audience of players, but they still try to reach this narrower group on a different PC platform. British developers have said that after a year they will try to remind the community and the world has come to the title of Sunless Sea: Zubmariner Edition, based on PS4. Sony's console base is massive and contains tens of millions of players, still fewer potential customers, especially if consoles are used to the rather diametrically different type of games Failbetter Games is trying to come by. Anyway, we are not here to evaluate this decision, but the game as such.

Whatever the situation around the game, it's not easy to evaluate the same thing for the third time. As a reviewer, I keep it in my hands for the first time, but it is still the same game we had here last year. But if you missed the original review, or you simply did not get to the game and want to fix it, it's worth it all over again. Sunless Sea: Zubmariner is set in an alternate past in which London dipped into a dark period of mischief, danger and ubiquitous steamships, or submarines and strange mutated monsters. In such a depressing environment, of course, you can not have a simple one and the game is trying to remind you on every occasion.

Sunless Sea is not an ordinary adventure game, but it really does an adventure that combines the exploration of the environment, the constant fight for survival bound to RPG elements and, of course, a story that is completely presented in text form. It can be said that it is basically an interactive novel in which the authors prepare a great deal of the essentials for your imagination, which you must always use in the narrative story. The game starts at your private steamer at the port of your home town of Fallen London. From the very beginning, he does not care for you and includes a good piece of text that you just have to read. Indeed, every single thing with you plays only through the text, from the introductory tutorial, through the initial settings, to individual trips not only on the sea but also on the surrounding islands.

If you are not a similar type of habit of playing, in Sunless Sea you would not only have been, but also remained lost. In addition, the tutorial here is very brief, and you can only learn the very basic information about the basic principles of the game. What is your role as discovery, shopping, crew, or fights? For the vast majority of things, you only come across a stark test by playing, exploring, and constantly sweeping to the bottom full of mistakes. The fact that the authors really care about the environment makes it all the more difficult for you to do it, but it is only just fine. You must always think that the environment around you lives on board, you have a crew that needs something to eat and the boat also does not blow for a nice smile but just for quality fuel.

After the first trips to the breadth of the sea and the gradual tapping not only the environment, but also the principles of the game, you will become more attentive, and you will adapt to what you actually do. Even if you look at the map, the environment does not have to be so extensive, the opposite is true. With the progressive and cautious advance you get the most, you can best resist traps in the form of armed pirate ships or the aforementioned dangerous marine monsters. When you get to the right wave and your unexpected situation is constantly diving to the bottom, you begin to appreciate the game environment. Therefore, it is best to save the game at regular intervals if you do not want to rely on automatic positioning. Winter, fog, less interesting islands, or majestic buildings, will simply get you. However, such a prepared environment is only a matter of your imagination, which must work every time you visit the island.

When docking at a port, you can go around the island, but not physically, but only textually. Your game briefly, but very accurately describes the possibilities you have, the risks or the benefits of each of the available routes. Not everything can, of course, predict, so you may not just surprise you with the considerable loss of your raw materials, but also death. In difficult situations, he can push you to the wall and suggest unpleasant decisions that can save your crew. The problem is that not all at first glance can be pleased if you do the tenth, twentieth or thirty-one once. The game as such is very time consuming, very often you are forced to do monotonous activities and kill time something that definitely can not be labeled as entertainment. As Sunless Sea is built on convincing text, you must always work with a user interface that has not been happier processed on your PC.

On the PS4, where you have to bite at DualShock, the situation is somewhat more tragic. When I started the PS4 game for the first time, first I said that this is definitely not the title I want to play seated on the couch in front of the TV and the driver in hand. Controlling the ship, moving around at sea and fighting will not be such a problem, but if it is combined with the quantum of text that is constantly leaping on you everywhere, it's nothing pleasant. I tried to play so playfully through Remote Play on PC, where I did not remove DualShock, but at least I had all the necessary information on the palm of my hand, and I did not have to blink a big screen on my eyes and pause what I should pay more attention to and less. Maybe it sounds like banality, but the type of games like Sunless Sea does not fit my PS4 at all.

Sunless Sea: The Zubmariner Edition is not a bad game, but if it gets to someone who exactly meets the target group parameters for which the authors did this game. However, in 2015, despite its qualities, there were shortcomings that did not move very well in the rankings and did not improve much in the past year. The arrival of the obviously pure PC game on PlayStation 4 with already clear deficiencies will only make the whole situation worse. If you like a similar type of game and you want to give Sunless Sea: Zubmariner chance, you will definitely pay more on the PC, especially if you do not need over-iron on its launch.