Failbetter Games known for their fantastic games Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies and their popular narrative browser game Fallen London have revealed their next game with Mask of the Rose.
Acting as a prequel to their other games set in the Fallen London universe, it's a romantic visual novel set in 1862 months after London was stolen by bats. Failbetter say the art style they went for is inspired by Film Noir, Victorian photography and Blitz-era Britain with it being an evolution of what began with Fallen London but with more detail and depth to the style.
Check out their teaser:
Direct Link
Taking place underground, you're stuck in a boarding house with a few other lodgers all with their own issues: "Archie, a medical student discovering firsthand that Death works differently here. Griselda, a close aide of the new Masters. Horatia, the landlady with a soft spot for the Neath’s native inhabitants. Harjit, the local constable looking for a missing person of his own."
"As you make a new life below, you may find yourself visiting the underwater ruins of Parliament; intervening in a murder trial where the victim is a witness; or steering a hooded, vocabularious Master through the subtleties of a London courtship. However you choose to live in the Neath, you have your own friendships – and your own heart – to look after."
I'm not one to usually play through novels like this, however, given their incredible style and story telling as found in Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies and Fallen London I will definitely be looking to give this a run through.
Their plan is to launch a Kickstarter campaign in February 2021, which you can follow along here. We spoke with Failbetter who confirmed Linux support, just like their previous games. Here's what they said in reply to Linux support:
Yes! For the Kickstarter, you will be able to pledge to get a Steam or GOG key, which will let you download the linux version from those stores. And then once it's out in the world properly, the same.
Additionally, a second project is currently confirmed to be underway with no details other than it being in a new setting with different game mechanics.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I loved the writing and stories in Sunless Seas, but the game mechanics weren't really my thing. Here's hoping that this one will be a better match for me :-).
Same thing. I watched some gameplay of Sunless Skies, because while the setting, the characters and the stories all looks amazing the driving around, the shooting and the transporting stuff back and forth make playing it myself a big no. A "dating sim", though, looks way more reasonable.
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