Sunless Sea

Your long voyage is nearly at an end.  The only thing still fresh for you in the neath is you memories, and one aches like a wound.  The past weighs like an anchor; despite its weight, still you drift.
Before you, the grey walls of the steam store loom.  Their dullness is bright after the dark of the neath...
Purchase a copy of Sunless Sea.
You no longer have any of this: $20 Steam Gift Card
You no longer have any of this: Menaces: A Pirate's Remorse

Sunless Sea is a rogueish world-exploring game.  You chose some cosmetic options for your zee-captain and a boost to one of five statistics.  Progress is measured by your ship type, weapons, engine and crew.  And, of course, in the myriad tiny stories that you will slowly wend through .
My immediate reaction to SS was that it could have been so many things: an indie concept album, an art book, a series of novelettes.  Something really pretty, and precious, and quaint.  I'm glad it's a computer game, because I probably would have ignored those other possible permutations.  The sprite artwork is impeccably gorgeous throughout, and the soundtrack is perfect wandering music.  It's one of those creations that just feels right - consistent, buttoned up, made without compromise or focus groups.
The most defining aspect of SS, despite what the trailers and the initial loading screen might sell you, is of contemplative movement.  Combat is rare and mostly voluntary.  Only a few conversation choices can kill or wound you, and they tend to advertise their presence.  So you won't die unless you ask for it, or test yourself against too hard an opponent.  Voyage across the Zee is slow, and you'll need to return to Fallen London sooner rather than later to refresh your supplies, make a few echoes, and look at boats you can't afford.
Zailing is almost boring, but it manages to rise just above that standard and become meditative.  With the starting ship, it can easily take five minutes to cross the entirety of the map.  Minor course changes and chart checking make up the majority of the movement, but there is a little game to sailing effectively.  Turning your light on and off when in light sources or near the shore saves fuel without bumping terror up too high.  Voyages are constrained by fuel and supplies, which are expensive and rare outside of Fallen London, and by the terror bar, which can only be lowered at some ports.
Combat consists mainly of backing up while firing weapons, because most enemies are simply going to ram the ship.  Weapons are on short cool-down timers which only refresh when an enemy is in the appropriate arc.  A wise zee-captain only picks fights that he/she/it will win with no risk, because any risk is really too much for the meager rewards.
Statlines are affected by the six officer slots, and officers can turn the currency of secrets into a one-point boost for a single stat.  These stats are compared against hidden difficulty numbers to give % success rates for story challenges.  They have great descriptions like "a very chancy chance" and "a straightforward challenge," as well as a pop-up % chance of success.  Overall, you'll find that veils and iron have the most challenges, but every stat is useful.  It's best to focus on one stat to level, probably veils, if you want to get the most special outcomes for the stories.
Stories - if you don't like text, you won't like this game.  Most of the story is necessarily happening in your imagination.  Every port is a four-paragraph masterpiece that can be unpacked over the course of multiple trips; most have several outcomes.  The drip of content and the urge to explore is managed by the "something awaits you in port" quality that refreshed while you're at sea.  To advance a story, you will usually need to have this quality, along with requested goods.  Which means that you'll be zailing all over the neath, hopping from port to port, and updating a long notepad document that details what and where and how.
The primary sticking point for this game is the end-game.  It asks a significant amount of grinding for any of the win conditions, which seems quite unnecessary.  I chose to not finish the story because, after a long and difficult search for sunlight protection, the game asked me to go across the map seven more times and farm the most difficult enemy for currency.  My chosen goal, "write the song of the zee," wanted me to never use any of the special currencies throughout the game.  Quite a shame.  With the end in sight, the neath is barren of stories, and it would have been nice to not require a joyless voyage of grinding to cap the experience.  I would recommend the "Father's Bones" goal, because it appears to be progressive rather than counting on accruing a stack of goods.
The secondary sticking point of the game is the rogueishness.  I would recommend turning this off.  There are two enemies that can basically kill without recourse if you chance them in a weak ship, and a reasonable playthrough will involve 8-10 hours of zailing.  While you can pass some of your knowledge or goods onto your next character, more if you have a zee-crazy scion, and the map will re-randomize, you'll still be running the same stories, the same initial grind, and probably simply lose steam and go drifting.  There's little skill involved overall, so the regular machoism that rogues endear can be safely ignored.  I would also recommend NOT looking at a wiki, because the game if fully playable without min-maxing.  You can beat the hardest enemy with a store-bought weapon and the third-tier ship, so there is little reason to hit the bleeding edge.  Also, if you simply want heartless progression, there are really better games for that.
I rate this game an Amazing Accomplishment, recommended with reservations based on personal preference.  Failbetter games has shown that they intend to continually update the game, so there may even be enough new material in a year or two to justify a second playthrough.  If you're interested in creative world building, new narrative structures, and atmosphere, please sail, don't walk, and pick up a copy.