If you haven’t heard of Sunrider, what is wrong with you? Close this article and go to Steam and get it for free. It’s a visual novel that is 100% free with no micro transactions or anything. Now that you are back, let me explain what it is. Sunrider is a visual novel / RPG hybrid created on the Ren’py engine.

It is still in beta and is still laggy, mostly as a result of the Ren’py engine, but it’s pretty good. I’m not going to spoil anything but I do have to give a fair warning: Sunrider is the Dark Souls of visual novels. You have to work hard for that space whale romance.

While Sunrider’s developers, Love in Space, had confirmed the new installment, Mask of Arcadius, to be released soon, I wasn’t expecting this. Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius will be available on October 1st for both the Steam version and the Uncut version. The Steam version, most likely due to Valve’s rules, will have story excised. I’m assuming that means all the steamy bits.

The Uncut version will be a patch that has to be applied to the Steam version.  This new version includes hours more story content, a better battle system, and more. Sunrider should be downloaded by the time you reach this sentence.