Sunless Skies teases new region with crumbling Big Ben

By its own admission, Failbetter Games rolled out Sunless Sea follow-up Sunless Skies prematurely—which in part led to layoffs at the studio, despite the game's impressive Kickstarter run.

Truth be told, I wish it'd led with the header image above or something similar. It's a beauty, and makes me want to return to the series' gothic, narrative-led world. The fractured Big Ben there is from Albion, by the way, the latest region en route to the space adventure on April 4. London calling to the faraway towns, indeed.

"Albion is the heart of the British Empire's territory in the High Wilderness, and the only place in the heavens you can reliably get a decent cup of tea," explains narrative director Chris Gardiner. "Its hub is London—your actual Victorian London—which has been flung into space by Her Majesty Queen Victoria. She rules it from the Throne of Hours, which allows her some dominion over time itself. We're excited to get to Albion and dig into the engines of the Empire and all its dirty secrets.

"This is the biggest change that will happen to the game during Early Access. A whole additional region brings the experience on leaps and bounds towards our final vision for the game."

That final vision of Sunless Skies is due in September, 2018. After this update, so says Failbetter, roughly half of the game's story and locations will be in place. In the meantime, check out Andy's thoughts after an hour sailing a space locomotive through the stars.