SAIL THE STARS. BETRAY YOUR QUEEN. MURDER A SUN. Sunless Skies is a Gothic Horror roleplay game with a focus on exploration and exquisite storytelling for PC, Mac and Linux.

Sunless Skies has released, and it has had some major updates since the early access preview here.

One of the very first things noticeably different is the new tutorial and story added at the very start of the game, which also highlights the new story UI.

Speaking of the UI, the whole thing in general has had an overhaul. It is now easier to read and lends itself better to the dark aesthetic of Sunless Skies.

New weapon types have been added, with two versions of each to choose from. First off there are the Portsmouth House ‘Albertine Candle’ and the Portsmouth House ‘Her Renewed Majesty’s Jubilee’ rockets, and then the Wit & Vinegar ‘Sneeze-Lurker’, Wit & Vinegar ‘Zounderkite’ mines respectively. Added to this is the powerful new exotic weapons added throughout the game just waiting to be discovered by the player.

New content has been added to the Blue Kingdom and High Wilderness, including some new officers the Clay Conductor and two Blue Kingdom officers; the Forged Companion and the Felined Eccentric.

The wealth ambition received some adjustments and your captain can now retire in Eleutheria, while Narrative Director Chris Gardiner worked on the final ambition The Stars are Dying for launch.

Part of the new content added was smuggling! It was one of the stretch goals on the Sunless Skies kickstarter and offers more opportunities for nefarious deeds in the high wilderness. Smuggling will unlock midgame for those captains looking to make some extra cash and don’t mind a dangerous pirate lifestyle. Just look for the Gloomy Middleman in London to start the storylet quest to unlock smuggling. Alternatively If your captain has Villainy 3+ or Veils 40+, the Gloomy Middleman will approach you directly. Once unlocked, Contraband items will appear in one shop per region across the Reach, Albion and Eleutheria. You will need to pay attention to Prospects to make a profit. Smuggling also adds hidden compartments for your locomotives equipment to hide contraband from customs.

Sunless Skies is available now on STEAM and GOG.

All and all these are welcome changes and additions to an already stellar game.

Sunless Skies is a must have title worthy of the coveted 10/10.

~Darsch

Darsch Pugs here with the second of my Atlas journal entries. These will be done in character as I feel it is more fitting since I am playing on a role play server. I will however break character in the journal when needed to explain things or game mechanics.

I write in my journal today with a heavy heart. There has been a split among the crew, everyone but the admiral and I have left us high and dry and created their own company. I thought we were doing just fine together and only had a few minor setbacks. Apparently though they thought differently. A few days have passed and the admiral has moved us to a new island, we have joined the atlas alliance, and we have a new first mate. I’m still but a lowly seaman for now. Many would be indignant over this but I’m okay with it, I’m not a leader, I function better left to my own devices with little responsibility.

I have mastered the armor smith’s art, have made much headway in the skills required to be a treasure hunter, and I have more knowledge of the crew of the damned. The knowledge I have gained has allowed me to land ever more damaging strikes on these poor souls that form the majority of the undead and cursed horde that is the damned. They seem to pop out of the ground at every treasure chest discovered. If you harm them but don’t finish them off quick enough they will submerge themselves in the ground to burst forth moments later whole. My knowledge of treasure maps have made me an expert at finding buried treasure, something the first mate has seen first hand.

The first mate and I went forth on a treasure hunt, maps in hand and supplies loaded on the small ship we decided to use for speed we set forth just the two of us. We found the island the treasure maps were for just a short sail from our home island. The first chest was easy to find, we anchored our vessel a mere breadth away from it, a small rock bar infested with giant snakes.

Once we cleared out the snakes I approached the mound of dirt that was clearly where the chest was buried, that’s when a group of 5 of the crew of the damned burst forth, I was quick with my pistol and lay waste to two of them, the first mate was even quicker with his bow and made short work of the rest with my assistance. This would continue on with the other three chests we discovered. In the end we found over 700 gold coin and many journeyman blueprints for plate armor and other items, all in all I would estimate a grand haul valuing roughly 1,500 to 2,000 gold. Not bad for my first treasure hunt, and this has lifted my spirits. I am rather fond of the adventures I have whilst hunting for treasure and can think of no better life than this.

We have begun work on a galleon. This will be a massive vessel and a massive under taking. The sheer amount of resources required is worth a king’s ransom. It will take time and effort but in the end will will have the largest seafaring vessel known to man.

We hope you enjoyed Day 2 of Darsch’s player diary of ATLAS, if you want to chat about the game, please join us in Discord and remember Darsch will be joining Katoe streaming Atlas on Tuesday and/or Thursday night’s, 9pm GMT on the station twitch!

Here’s Katoe’s stream from last week [it went better than last stream, however, the game didn’t hold up, so we changed stream plans! ~Lonesamurai]

Game of the Year 2018 – Awarded to the best of our Game of the Month winners of 2018.

Legrand Legacy – SemiSoft Studios

Our first Game of the Month title in the new scene and a worthy community choice for our first proper Game of the Year award aswell, massive congrats to Uwil and the team at SemiSoft Studios! 

For a reminder of our Game of the Month choices in 2018, here you go –

 

01-2018 Legrand Legacy – Semisoft Studios

02-2018 Fe – Zoink Games

03-2018 Surviving Mars – Haemimont Games

04-2018 Battletech – Harebrained Schemes

05-2018 State of Decay 2 – UndeadLabs

06-2018 Jurassic World Evolution – Frontier Developments

08-2018 World of Warcraft Battle For Azeroth – Blizzard Entertainment

09-2018 Shadow of the Tomb Raider – Square Enix

10-2018 Red Dead Redemption 2 – Rockstar

11-2018 Fallout 76 – Bethesda Studios

12-2018 Just Cause 4 – Square Enix

Team Choice 2018 – Awarded by the station team.

Marvel’s Spider-Man – Insomniac Games

The station team thought long and hard over the new year break what they loved the most in 2018 and Marvel’s Spider-Man was the stand out winner from the team.  Insomniac Gaes bought us a blinder of an open world adventure for the web slinger that all the other great games this year just couldn’t quite top!

And for those interested, here’s the full list of the teams choices –

 

Lonesamurai –       Surviving Mars – Haemimont Games

Scarlet_Dragon –  Graveyard Keeper – Lazy Bear Games/TinyBuild

Crimsonshade –    Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc.

Ca1t –                    Marvel’s Spider-Man – Insomniac Games

Isnotavampire –     Marvel’s Spider-Man – Insomniac Games

Phasechan –          Spyro Reignited Trilogy – Toys for Bob

TGB-Sirhc&Ar0n – Marvel’s Spider-Man – Insomniac Games

Darsch –                 Monster Hunter World – Capcom

Katoe –                   Marvel’s Spider-Man – Insomniac Games

Best Sony Playstation 4 Exclusive Game – Our choice for the best PS4 title in 2018

Marvel’s Spider-Man – Insomniac Games

As mentioned in the Team Choice section, Insomniac played a blinder with the new iteration of Marvel’s Spider-Man, bringing qualities we loves from way back in Spider-Man 2 to make a perfect free roaming open world.

Best Nintendo Switch Exclusive Game – Our choice for the best Switch title in 2018

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc.

The latest Smash Bros. dominated the Switch owning members of the community and team in 2018, with challenges flying over in discord (we should have done a tournament), with a fantastic roster of fighters and clean, precise controls, it was one of the best fighting games of not only 2018, but also all time!

Best Microsoft XBox One Exclusive Game – Our choice for the best XB1 title in 2018

Forza Horizon 4 – Playground Games

Bringing us a good chunk of the north of England and the Scottish border, Forza Horizon 4 turned into the best racing game of 2018, but more on that later.  It was also the first in the Forza series also on XBox Play Anywhere that ran brilliantly on mediocre PC specs aswell, after the horrible showing by Forza 7 in 2017!

Best Action Game – For the best game in the action genre focused on combat.

Monster Hunter World – Capcom

The first Monster Hunter to make it to PC, albeit a few months after the console versions, didn’t arrive with fanfare’s, but it should have.  A great action game, even if a little shallow compared to other RPG’s, but still amazingly fun if you like chopping up huge monsters and using the parts to make new armour and weapons!

Best Independent Game – For outstanding creative and technical achievement in a game made outside the traditional publisher system.

Celeste – Matt Makes Games

An indie title we shockingly missed when it came out in January of 2018 on STEAM and other platforms, and then a free title on XBox Live (you can grab it now if you haven’t already) Matt Makes Games made a classic platformer that left us in awe of what Indies can do.

Best Multiplayer Game – For outstanding online multiplayer gameplay and design, including co-op and massively multiplayer experiences, irrespective of game genre.

World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth – Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard may have had some issues at the end of 2018 and into the new year, but WoW had a great launch to it’s 6th expansion, Battle for Azeroth. Learning from Legions up’s and down’s, it was a solid expansion, but felt a little lacking in places until patch 8.1 dropped.

Best Ongoing Game – Awarded to a game for outstanding development of ongoing content that evolves the player experience over time.

World of Warcraft Battle for Azeroth – Blizzard Entertainment

As mentioned above, WoW’s 6th expansion dropped continuing WoW’s dominance at the top of the MMO tree for another year!

Best Racing Game – For the best racing experience in 2018.

Forza Horizon 4 – Playground Games

As mentioned above, Forza Horizon 4 was a massive step up for the series, especially being cross platform, but as a really good racing game.

Best Role Playing Game – For the best game designed with rich player character customization and progression, including massively multiplayer experiences.

Monster Hunter: World – Capcom

Again, as mentioned above, Monster Hunter has been successful for years on Nintendo systems, but finally branching out to the other consoles and even PC made it one of the best RPG’s of 2018!

Best Strategy Game – Best game focused on real time or turn-based strategy gameplay, irrespective of platform.

Battletech – Harebrained Schemes

One of our Game of the Month winners in 2018, Harebrained Schemes bought us a turn based Mechwarrior title that not only reminded us of the good old days of XCom, but has us excited for Mechwarrior 5 in 2019.  The Flashpoint DLC near the end of the year added a well needed Iron Man mode for those that wanted more of a challenge too!

Stinker of the Year! – The most disappointing game of 2018, not the worst, just disappointing

Fallout 76 – Bethesda Studios

We were unsure when Bethesda first announced Fallout 76 last year, but we wanted to give it benefit of the doubt.  Unfortunately, although not bad, it wasn’t great either.  With a bad, buggy start for most people and issues like duping and cheating carrying on into the new year and beyond, although it was good and even fun to play sometimes, it left a sour note on the franchise.

In 1984, a young programmer begins to question reality as he works to adapt a fantasy novel into a video game.

Since its Channel 4 debut in 2011, Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror has become an international success under the wing of Netflix, with every episode providing innovative and controversial content for its loyal audience. Brooker’s latest baby, ‘Bandersnatch’, has been highly anticipated for a long time due to the unusual concept of giving the power of choice to the viewer. The idea that we, the viewer, can influence the outcome of a programme is not a new one; the saturated market of reality TV competitions and talent shows beg us to call and text for your favourite contestant by a public majority. But how can it be possible to have a feature length drama influenced by just you? How can Netflix take a feature only seen in video games and DVD bonus features? Like many, I was desperate to find out.

Before touching on the content, it has to be said the concept of interactivity has opened a window of opportunity to streaming services that could take the format and run with it in so many genres. For that, the creators should be commended for pushing boundaries and taking the linear out of television. At release it was widely reported that the decisions could affect the length of the production from between a 40 minute show to a full length, 90 minute film. But let’s get to the content.

Set in the early 80’s, Stefan Butler (Fionn Whitehead) is a talented young programmer who is hired by Tuckersoft boss Mohan Thakur (Asim Chaudhery) to adapt ‘Bandersnatch’, a choose-your-own-adventure book into a video game to dominate Christmas sales. Despite being under the same roof as famous game creator Colin Ritman (Will Poulter), Stefan rejects any help with programming his masterpiece (or rather, you reject any help) At this point I become suspicious, as after choosing to take help, the story took me to a disappointing rating by a gaming critic on TV, which led me back to the Tuckersoft office with the same choices to accept or reject help.

Stefan imprisons himself in his room behind a computer, the walls plastered in scribbly paper. As he takes the complex paths of Bandersnatch and brings it to life, we learn that his irate yet vacant presence is key to the storyline. As he struggles to overcome the difficulties of his glitchy software, he is riddled with guilt for his mother’s passing in a train crash many years prior. His reluctance to leave the house without his toy rabbit delayed his mother’s train journey, hence Stefan’s sense of responsibility for her demise. Stefan attends therapy sessions with Dr R Haynes (Alice Lowe) which you, of course, decide the frequency of the visits.

The decisions you make from start to finish become more gruesome and at times you wonder how can there be a choice. How am I meant to know if Stefan should jump from Colin’s balcony or whether Colin should do the honor? Is chopping up a body a better idea than burying one? However, each decision seemed less and less impactful as I progressed through the story. Dead-end after dead-end left me feeling deflated by the show and the option to go to the credits became more and more tempting after every wrong decision. If interactive television becomes a more frequent part of streaming services, giving people a choice when there is actually only one viable choice isn’t going to work every time.

I can be sympathetic to the widely publicised struggles that production faced. There is no denying that creating a nonlinear show must have been a massive uptaking, so it is understandable that delays happen; some of the greatest films are made later than planned, but audiences quickly forgive and forget if the delay is justified. I believe that it would have been worth the wait if Bandersnatch took a bit longer to make. Black Mirror fans may have high expectations, but as I said before, they’re loyal.

Despite all of the negatives, It’s worth watching for the experience of picking the path for Stefan (despite the choices being…a choice). It’s worth watching for Will Poulter, who in my eyes was the highlight of Bandersnatch, with his confident yet creepy performance. He’s completely underused in the role. Furthermore, the show/film is very polished in true Black Mirror style and the transition between choices in smooth, but the pathways need more than it offers.

Will I rewatch Bandersnatch? Not yet. I don’t think there’s any satisfaction in playing it over and over to find every outcome at once. Instead, I think coming back to this in the future will bring a greater anticipation for a new outcome that resembles the same feeling of watching it all for the first time. The future of television is definitely here, but it’s got a lot of work to do.

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is available to watch (play?!?) on Netflix now!

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch Get’s an chosen adventure score of 7 out of 10

~Gemma

Darsch Pugs here with the first of my Atlas journal entries. These will be done in character as I feel it is more fitting since I am playing on a role play server. I will however break character in the journal when needed to explain things or game mechanics.

Journal Entry 1

I am Mirac Pugs, first of my name. With no recollection of my past I woke up on a desert island in a free port, the former crew I sailed with were missing and my memory of all event prior to awakening with them. All I remember is a rowdy drunken night in a tavern and that is it. [this was the very first load into the server after character creation, you load into a free port naked]

I awoke to finding myself with nothing but the shorts I had on and a hangover. I meandered along the paths of the free port and the small outlying area just outside of the port looking for some supplies and that is when I met my friend Ming Tao. Ming was in a similar situation to mine. We made a pact to find our lost memories together, or to make new ones and move on. Together we worked to build a raft and left that island behind in high hopes. My hopes however were soon shattered as I fell sick from what I assume to be a vitamin deficiency and fell overboard. [my vitamin levels dropped to low and I started to die, then my internet connection went out so my limp body fell off the raft and I died]

The current dragged me to a new island with a larger free port and here I stayed for a couple of days resting until I was reunited with Ming. [the role play server did a relaunch after a wipe and so myself and the player of Ming decided to keep our characters rp and this is where I logged into a new free port upon creating my character]

Ming had made contact with a group calling itself the Take and Trade Company, and he happened to be in port looking for new recruits, so naturally I signed up. We travelled to the company’s temporary base of operations to find it over run with large wolves baying at the doors and trying to break in. By the gods I have never seen such large wolves in my life, they were damn near the size of horses and just as quick! My introduction would have to wait as I grabbed a bow and helped to defend against the beasts, we killed 6 in total with four falling to my bow that day.

After the wolves were dealt with I was introduced to Adustus, the company’s admiral, the company’s chef Angel bonny, and another Captain, Ezekiel. All a right friendly and lively lot. Each with their own specialized skill set and desires. I regret I have as of yet to fully get to know anyone outside Ming though. My duties as a seaman kept me busy harvesting resources and fighting off the many beasts I encountered.

The island we were on was full of elephants, wolves, rattlesnakes, giant snakes, giant spiders and scorpions. There were plenty of boar and horses as well as beautiful parrots and sneaky monkeys. It was during one of my many incursions into the forests off the beach the shipyard was set up at was that I encountered both a giant spider and a giant snake. I was quick with my bow and defended myself against the spider, it had trapped me in some webbing and managed to bite me, the giant snake struck me from behind, I could feel both sets of venom coursing through my body sickening me, m,y vision becoming blurry, I barely managed to escape, but I made it back to our base, and then it happened, I was stung by a scorpion on my way into the base, and fainted once I made to where I intended to lie down to rest. I may have a strong bit of fortitude, but even the most hardy of men eventually succumb to enough venom and I was asleep for three days.

I woke to find myself on a raft, our base destroyed, all my gear gone, and a note saying to come to Gorgon’s Haven island, apparently while I still was recovering we relocated to a new island. I immediately went to work harvesting more supplies upon my arrival on Gorgon’s Haven. [I was killed by a wolf through the wall before the relocation started and logged in after the relocation was finished]

After some time, maybe two to three days, Admiral Adustus and myself went on a voyage to hire some more crew, the admiral and other had collected some gold and our new ship was finished, it was a small but fast vessel, and I was overjoyed to man the sails on it. With the admiral at the wheel and me in the cows nest and handling the sails we would soon make it to the free port to hire some crew. We would first though have to brave the dangers of the open sea, we sailed through several hurricanes, dodged and weaved through water spouts, skirted the dangers of ghost ships and made it to port in one piece. We hired a stalwart crew [of the npc kind to man the sails and ship repairs] and made the return trip home. We would never make it home however. Disaster struck, one of the ships of the damned caught wind of us, and their vessel was just to quick for our dear Gorgon’s Whore to outrun. Their cannons made quick work of our ship with their demonic roars and that eerie green smoke trailing behind those hellish balls they fired, and we lost all the new crew we hired as well as all of our gold in just a few cannon salvos from the undead bastards. [Both Adustus and I died to the sharks in the water when we had to abandon ship]

So it is with all these event’s that I decided I should set pen to paper and chronicle my adventures, lest I forget anew what has transpired in my life, and for future generations to know my tale.

We hope you enjoyed Day 1 of Darsch’s player diary of ATLAS, if you want to chat about the game, please join us in Discord and remember Darsch will be joining Katoe sttreaming atlas on Tuesday night’s, 9pm GMT on the station twitch!

Here’s Katoe’s stream from last week [it didn’t go well 😀 ~Lonesamurai]