Initially mostly restricted to Interactive Fiction, Failbetter began to experiment with more avenues, resulting in Sunless Sea, a top-down exploration game with roguelike elements and Failbetter's trademark flavor. A sequel to this game, Sunless Skies, was released in 2019.
In 2016, co-founder Alexis Kennedy left the company, desiring to work on his own smaller projects, the first of which being Cultist Simulator.
Games developed by Failbetter:
- Fallen London (2009)
- An adaption of The Night Circus (2011)
- The Silver Tree (2012)
- The Last Court (2014)
- Sunless Sea (2015)
- Sunless Skies (2019)
- Mask of the Rose (2023)
List of tropes persistent in Failbetter Games:
- Nameless Narrative: A cornerstone of Failbetter; in every one of their games, most characters' real names are unknown and they are usually referred to as 'The Adjective Noun'. They even go to the extent of taking well known characters from Dragon Age in The Last Court and only referring to them in this way.
- Recurring Location: Outside of London and the Unterzee (which do not count since they are the main hubs), the Tomb-Colonies, Mutton Island, Hunter's Keep, the Iron Republic, Port Carnelian, Polythreme, the Mirror-Marches, Abbey Rock, Adam's Way and the Chapel of Lights can be visited in both Fallen London and Sunless Sea, and the Avid Horizon appears in all three Failbetter games. There's also New Newgate Prison, which failed to make it to Sunless Sea since it was planned to be part of the game's dirigible expansion which didn't manage to be funded via Kickstarter.
- Schmuck Bait: Mostly seen in their games set in the Neath, but if one of their games tells you not to do something, don't do it. What awaits you is never good.
