Sunless Skies is a game that masterfully combines narrative depth, exploration, and a darkly imaginative universe. It offers players a blend of steampunk aesthetics, cosmic horror, and RPG mechanics, all wrapped in compelling storytelling. As you pilot your locomotive through the vast and strange skies, encountering unusual characters and making difficult choices, it’s easy to become deeply immersed in its unique world. For those who’ve finished their journey among the stars or are simply curious about similar experiences, there are other games like Sunless Skies that echo its atmospheric storytelling, exploration-driven gameplay, and rich worldbuilding.
Sunless Sea
The Predecessor That Started It All
Before Sunless Skies, there wasSunless Sea, a nautical adventure set in the same Fallen London universe. Instead of flying a steam locomotive, you sail a fragile vessel across the Unterzee, a vast underground ocean filled with dangers both physical and existential. The writing is similarly rich and poetic, with each encounter offering multiple choices that shape your character and story.
Exploration and Survival
Much like Sunless Skies, Sunless Sea requires players to manage supplies, fuel, and sanity while navigating an unforgiving environment. The mechanics reward careful planning and risk assessment, as many captains perish long before uncovering the sea’s full mysteries. It’s a must-play for fans wanting more from the same world, with equally eerie lore and slow-burn discovery.
80 Days
Text-Rich, Globe-Spanning Adventure
If you’re drawn to the narrative strength of Sunless Skies,80 Daysoffers a different but equally compelling experience. This interactive fiction game casts you as Passepartout, the assistant of Phileas Fogg, on a race around the world in 80 days. It features stunning prose and player-driven storytelling with a steampunk twist.
Choice and Consequence
80 Days excels in offering meaningful choices that influence your journey’s outcome. Your path through the world is nonlinear, allowing for multiple playthroughs with different experiences. While it lacks the survival elements of Sunless Skies, it delivers a similar sense of curiosity, world exploration, and intelligent writing.
Disco Elysium
A Detective RPG Driven by Narrative
Though not set in the stars or seas,Disco Elysiumis another game that relies heavily on storytelling and atmosphere. As a detective solving a murder in a dystopian city, you’ll encounter philosophical dilemmas, strange characters, and the consequences of your own fragmented mind. The entire game plays out through dialogue, internal monologue, and skill checks, offering deep narrative engagement.
Similarities in Writing and Themes
Players who enjoy the literary depth and complex themes in Sunless Skies will find Disco Elysium equally rewarding. It explores politics, identity, and morality through unique gameplay mechanics that blend character stats with personality traits. The emotional tone, sense of mystery, and philosophical weight mirror the best elements of Sunless Skies.
Banner Saga Series
Strategy Meets Storytelling
TheBanner Sagatrilogy takes players on a grim journey through a dying world inspired by Norse mythology. The series combines tactical turn-based combat with a rich narrative filled with moral ambiguity, character development, and permanent consequences. Players lead a caravan across a frozen land, managing supplies and facing hard choices at every turn.
Atmosphere and Art Style
While the gameplay differs from Sunless Skies, Banner Saga offers a similarly heavy atmosphere and beautiful yet somber art direction. The weight of leadership, difficult decisions, and surviving in an unwelcoming world are strong parallels that make the game appealing to fans of narrative-driven adventures.
Pathologic 2
Survival Horror with Deep Lore
Pathologic 2is a psychological survival game set in a strange, plague-ridden town. You play as a healer trying to save lives while managing your own physical and emotional needs. The town’s residents are bizarre and often unsettling, and the storytelling is both surreal and brutally honest.
Immersive and Unforgiving
Fans of the slower, more immersive pacing of Sunless Skies will appreciate Pathologic 2’s willingness to challenge the player’s perception and comfort. There’s a strong focus on atmosphere and narrative, with little handholding and a constant sense of unease. Its difficulty may deter some, but the experience is unforgettable for those willing to embrace it.
Heaven’s Vault
Language, History, and Exploration
InHeaven’s Vault, you play as an archaeologist exploring a lost civilization across a series of ancient moons. The game’s standout feature is its language system, which lets players decipher glyphs to uncover the past. It’s a slower-paced game focused on lore, exploration, and piecing together meaning from fragments.
Nonlinear Narrative
Like Sunless Skies, Heaven’s Vault allows for non-linear storytelling where your choices and discoveries shape the experience. The focus on learning, exploration, and uncovering a hidden world through narrative clues will strongly appeal to players who enjoy immersive, story-first gameplay.
Frostpunk
Survival and Morality in a Frozen World
Frostpunkchallenges you to build and manage the last city on Earth in a world turned to ice. As the leader, you must make decisions that balance survival with humanity. Do you allow child labor to keep your factories running? Do you sacrifice the sick for the good of the many?
Emotional Weight and Tough Choices
Though more focused on city-building, Frostpunk echoes the moral tension of Sunless Skies. Every decision carries a cost, and the game pushes you to consider the price of leadership in desperate times. The cold, oppressive setting and emphasis on narrative consequences make it a worthy recommendation.
Outer Wilds
Curiosity-Driven Space Exploration
Outer Wildsis an open-world exploration game set in a mysterious solar system trapped in a time loop. Unlike traditional RPGs, it lacks combat and inventory systems. Instead, it focuses on uncovering ancient secrets through exploration, observation, and deduction.
Cosmic Themes and Storytelling
The sense of cosmic mystery and player-driven discovery in Outer Wilds resonates deeply with Sunless Skies fans. The game’s haunting atmosphere, existential themes, and carefully crafted world offer a deeply satisfying experience to those who love unraveling complex stories piece by piece.
Finding games like Sunless Skies means looking beyond traditional genres to those that prioritize atmosphere, rich storytelling, and immersive worlds. Whether it’s the oceanic horror of Sunless Sea, the philosophical inquiries of Disco Elysium, or the ancient mysteries of Heaven’s Vault, each of these titles provides something that echoes the magic of Failbetter’s steampunk universe. They capture the feeling of venturing into the unknown, making impossible choices, and uncovering the strange beauty hidden beneath dark surfaces. For fans of narrative-driven exploration and immersive worldbuilding, these games offer endless paths to wander.