Ocean-based survival title Sunless Sea is leaving Early Access on February 7, developer Failbetter Games has announced.

Set in the award-winning Victorian Gothic universe of Fallen London, Sunless Sea has players take the helm of a steamship and head out to explore the spooky unknown.

Light is the player's greatest ally, but a stout set of cannon and a gunnery officer with a grudge will come in useful too.

According to Failbetter, Sunless Sea features a non-linear, choice-heavy, personalised story, and dozens of games are required to explore all its sub-plots, grand arcs, alternatives, and mysteries.

“Your character will die (or disappear, or lose her mind, or be hollowed out and filled with candle-wax and haunt a cliff-top chapel), but their legacy may survive,” reads the game’s pitch.

“You’ll build up your own story across generations of zailors who braved the Unterzee and lost – or won…

“Take the helm of your steamship and set sail for the unknown! Trade with strange new lands. Battle sea monsters. Smuggle souls. Go mad and hallucinate lizards. Sunless Sea is a game of discovery, loneliness and frequent death.”

Assuming it retains its Early Access price, Sunless Sea will be US$19, and will release for Windows PC and Mac.