#sunless sea spoilers

[morgan-the-lonely-brick]

NO THANK YOU

[ashetheshade]

I love this game

[asleepinawell]

after playing some of sunless sea every time i sail to hunters keep or mutton island in fallen london i'm always mildly bemused by how not overrun by unhinged cannibals they seem

[miamicommune]

doesn't look so deconstructed to me

[capn-twitchery]

not a day goes by where i don't think about the sigil ridden navigator's storyline from sunless sea

the poor guy. his correspondence tattoo makes him forget his past, he has no idea who he is or what he's done & it Tortures him

until you take him to uncover it, only to find that in the past he fucked up at navigating. the ship was lost at zee for so long they had to resort to cannibalism--he had to eat his own brother

the knowledge torments him even more, and he begs you to drop him off on a remote island, so he can die alone

then the game hits you with the fucking option to uno reverse card him and offer to perform a cannibal ritual instead because "it would be a release for him"

so you do! you take all of his organs out. you carve more correspondence into him so he forgets again. it's horrifying

and then you take his undead shambling corpse back on the ship. and it has the best navigation stats in the entire goddamn game

[c-schroed]

One thing I especially loved about the new Fallen London substantial story "A Dream of a Thousand Tails" is a huge reference to Nuncio, my all-time favourite place in Sunless Sea:

I'm still so much in love with this island where strange currents bring all undelivered mail to shore. Thanks to @failbettergames for reminding me why.

[leyside]

not to flex but

[shittykinaesthetics]

Shitty Echo Bazaar aesthetic: this is like when you go to a seafood restaurant and they have all the crabs and lobsters bopping around in a tank at the front and you feel so guilty and kind of sick to your stomach that you're participating in this farce at all, even if you're not going to order crab or lobster, except a thousand times worse because you just bought a house here where your aunt finally doesn't know your address

[nerdyadoptee]

Mask of the Rose: The NerdyAdoptee Review

PUBLISH DATE: June 8, 2023 PLATFORMS: Windows, macOS, SteamOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch (launch); PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S (unspecified later, post-launch)

This is the game I've been waiting for.

Mask of the Rose is a visual novel from UK-based Failbetter Games, developers of Sunless Skies, Sunless Sea, and Fallen London. I've long followed Failbetter's work because of their commitment to worldbuilding. All of their games share a common universe, an alternate Victorian vision of the 19th century world, with generous helpings of the unexplained, the supernatural, and even dashes of Cthulhu-esque cosmic horror. London has sunk underground, and the residents of London have lost contact with the surface. In this dark world (nicknamed "the Neath"), we encounter things that are familiar (the Queen is still around, although she's become curiously reclusive) along with the less familiar (what exactly are the "Clay Men?").

This world has been built by Failbetter over three games and thirteen years, but Mask of the Rose doesn’t require any previous knowledge or experience with their games. A character creator allows you to choose your character's background, silhouetted portrait, and how others address your character, from "Captain" to "My Lady" to "Citizen." In addition to the gender inclusivity of the character creator, it's wonderful to see Failbetter give the player the option to specify the kind of romance they're looking for in this visual novel. You can pursue friendships only, seek romantic relationships, physical relationships, or both--and choosing any of those options doesn't prevent you from seeing certain endings or lore, it just gives the player agency in this quite personal choice.

From there, we're introduced to the world and its wide and diverse cast of characters. Going into almost any detail risks ruining the discovery that is such a beautiful part of Mask of the Rose, but I'll at least say that the characters in Mask of the Rose feel complex and unique, each with their own voice and desires. The gameplay loop revolves around choosing how to spend your time--like with other time-management-style games, you can't have conversations with everyone. In each conversation, you're making dialogue choices that have an impact on the people you speak with and on the character you're building over time. The choices are well-written, and show an insight into the complexity of conversation and tone that is often missing from less thoughtful visual novels.

Each day in Mask of the Rose is split up into a Morning and Afternoon time, adding weight and stakes to each playthrough: do I try to get the exhausted pastor to spend more time with a mutual friend, or do I cozy up to the streetwise merchant who seems to know what's going on behind the scenes? More importantly, WHOM DO I WANT TO SMOOCH?

Ahem. Excuse me.

Mask of the Rose has so much story to uncover that one playthrough isn't sufficient. You're trying to solve a mystery, you're trying to uncover more about London's peculiar new surroundings, and you're trying to matchmake your friends, and you might be looking for romance for yourself. A playthrough generally takes me about 3-4 hours, and although I've done multiple playthroughs, there's still more to discover. I'm excited to learn more about each one of the fascinating characters, and I'm further drawn in because Mask of the Rose weaves a tale that touches upon so many elements of 19th century English society, from British global imperialism and colonialism to class struggles and privilege.

While I love the writing and Mask of the Rose's visual novel gameplay (and unique "storycrafting" mechanic/minigame, which is another gameplay pillar), I did run into a few frustrations. I would've appreciated an option to fast-forward text I've already seen. Mask of the Rose helpfully provides a fast-forward option, but it's too easy to accidentally skip past new dialogue and lore. In a game that demands multiple playthroughs, a smarter fast-forwarding option is a really unfortunate omission. I also felt like the time management aspect felt very constraining; it could be my own lack of intuition and understanding, but I sometimes found progression dense or unforgiving. The subtlety of Mask of the Rose is a strength, so I’d love if hints or some kind of help could be an option that players choose to turn on. More days and levels of signposting to clues would go a long way to making me even more excited about future playthroughs.

Overall, I'm smitten by Mask of the Rose. It's the game I've been waiting for because I've wanted to explore this world for a long time, but have struggled with the gameplay and difficulty of Sunless Sea and Sunless Skies. If you share a love for evocative writing and thoughtful worldbuilding, you've got to get Mask of the Rose.

Be sure to tell me whom you smooch!

[ladylupae]

THE SUN!

THE SUN!

THE SUN!

THE SUN!

[c-schroed]

For me that's Nuncio. All the stories you'll ever need will just wash up on the shore. Plus there are old quirky postmen assisted by tinkering rats. And deep below, a secret awaits that always almost (and sometimes not-just-almost) makes me cry.

What more does one need?

okay. where do we think the best place to live in the neath is?

[starryeyed-seer]

Something really sad about Stone being jealous when the Venturer leaves through the Avid Horizon and into the High Wilderness. This comes out of nowhere, a minor end detail in the story, and is one of very few Stone related things we can feel certain is her and not the Prester. Stone is not very active, directly, beyond her nice vibes.

Stone must know she's a crime who would be killed on sight in most of the HW. She has countless kingdoms of people who worship and love her, and she loves them. But she's envious to see someone else fly when she never can

[a-moth-to-eastern-folly]

Not sure how I feel about the direction the writing went with the mystique of the East after the Zailing rework, but it's still nice to think and dream of distant shores where the air is something like pine, and the sea turns from slate grey to emerald green...

This paired with the new East destiny from Irem it's becoming increasingly suggested that East functions akin to the event horizon of a black hole (last horizon and all that). I worry/wonder if it's perhaps leaning too far into the metaphor though. Maybe that's just me?

[the-ratronaut]

I always love when people start to get into the good shit for Fallen London's lore because this is always the reaction lol. If you want the answers to those questions tho, it's below the cut

The ability to love was stripped from them due to a very bad deal they kind of had to take to survive.

Because space is where the gods are. They're very large so they need the room.

Because devils are bees (and some other insects but mostly they are represented by bees)

Blame Mr. Pages.

Blame Mr. Eaten.

The Thief of Faces, the first Snuffer, did a horrible thing and it created that.

They believe that amassing souls will allow them to become human. They probably aren't wrong but honestly they're doing it the hard way.

Exploration. They want to go East.

War is hell.

trying to learn about FL lore stuff bc i wanna make another character. wtf do you mean lorn flukes are like eldritch gods. wtf do you mean they're from space. what

i killed like 30 of those things in seas I THOUGHT THEY WERE JUST BIG SEA URCHINS.......

[c-schroed]

Sunless Sea Lives Rent-Free in My Head, Part Three: Pigmote Isle and Hideaway

One place that I failed to help, and one place that never stood a chance. I'm sorry for both. They haunt me.

The most melancholic of all Port Reports.

This always brakes my heart anew.

<- Part Two Part Four ->

[maskofenigma]

Fallen London's recurring topic of Love is really interesting to me as a sort of throughline between various stories and i want to ramble about discuss that briefly. i dont call it a theme because thematic statements are usually more complex than a single word, at least in my mind, but a lot of Fallen London's storylines incorporate love into their themes.

there's the obvious things ofc; the Manager and the King, the Duchess and the Canigaster, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the Bazaar's whole situation. Love is a common motivator that many people can relate to, so it's no surprise that it appears in this capacity. Even so, these instances also underpin a lot of the setting's character, particularly the latter two examples, explaining why the neath is the way it is. but if we broaden our horizons just a bit, you can start to see it appearing all over the place (though maybe thats just confirmation bias lol).

the youthful naturalist loves discovery and life, and evolution in that context is a story about what one is willing to endure and sacrifice for that love. Love is a constant theme in the Light Fingers storyline, between moon milk and poor Edward, but also shows in Mr Fires's love for London (strange and deleterious though it may be) and the protagonist's love for either the Hybrid they protected or the diamond they'd been after. I don't know as much about the other ambitions (yet), but Nemesis is all about avenging a loved one by any means necessary, and you could see Bag a Legend as a love for the hunt or a love of fame, though even i’ll admit thats a bit of a stretch. Idk about Heart's Desire i’m still working on it but there's probably something. Its literally about what your heart desires but there’s absolutely a deeper connection with the Marvellous and stuff. No spoilers i'm still working on it :3

i dont know a ton about SMEN's story either, but i know from a ludonarrative perspective that it tests the players love for their character, forcing you to ruin this silly victorian who you are presumably quite attached to in the search for knowledge (perhaps another kind of love?) With what little i know of it, i’d honestly be shocked if there wasn’t anything there. if ao3 has taught me anything, there was definitely some kind of love going on between those two space bats, but im not sure if ao3 is a reputable source in this specific instance

The Flukes are literally sick with love for lost Axile, and a lot of the Masters are shown yearning to return to the High Wilderness. Many of the Irem Destinies regard love in this way, love for the sun, for the liberation, for ones partner, for london, for the people of the neath, and on and on. im not very far along with the railway but im 100% certain itll crop up again there, whether with Furnace Ancona or the Efficient Commissioner or the masters or whatever else. same goes for the Exceptional Stories and the myriad tales ive yet to unlock. Weve started to see a glimmer of it in firmament, with the imminent lucifer fire guy, but i wasnt really sure what his deal was. the idea extends to the other Sunless games from what i know, though ive yet to play those. Mask of the Rose is a romance, so thats pretty clear cut; sunless skies seems to have a lot of content relating to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert; and sunless seas seems to have it present in a few storylines, though i couldnt point to anything specific at this time. even small things, such as the way that the railway steel seems drawn to Hell and the sorrowful properties of sphinxstone, makes for a setting that is inundated with longing and heartbreak in a fascinating way.

viewed through this lens, fallen london's perspective on love is tragically earnest: love is painful and unfair and yet so very necessary. as someone who's aromantic and a hater, i call that an L. but from a thematic perspective its very interesting how often this occurs and how it connects a lot of fallen london. In so many other narratives, love is a conclusion, a reward or climax. In fact, mass media seems allergic to depicting an active and healthy relationship, and instead relegates such matters to a single ceremonious kiss. But for fallen london, a game where kisses are currency and romance is taxed, the concept of love is afforded such an interesting amount of care and reverence. Fitting for a setting wherein the insisting incidents all relate to love in some way or another

it may be comedic and at times quite absurd, but fallen london to me is a game deeply concerned with love and its influence on people. and idk i think thats interesting. if you're looking for the theme or message of a given fallen london story, look to love, always.

does that count as a thesis? i certainly dont know