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Coriolis: The Great Dark
The portals are dead. Ship City is dying.
But there is still hope.
You are explorers of a dangerous world. You’ll do the work few others will. The enigmatic ruins of the Great Dark is shunned by most, but not by you. You seek them out, to delve into their shadowy depths and uncover their secrets. The Blight — the cataclysmic scourge that spreads from the ruins — makes others wary. For you it’s a beacon: where there is Blight, there are artifacts to find and mysteries to solve. Ship City is dying, but you and your fellow explorers can find a way to a better future.
So don your delver suit, step aboard a mighty Greatship and venture down the Slipstream towards the unknown. Your creed: explore or perish!
Inspired by 19th century expeditions, deep sea diving and pulp archeology. Coriolis: The Great Dark is a roleplaying game about exploration and intrigue were you’ll join dangerous expeditions, navigate the byzantine schemes of Ship City and hunt for the keys that unlock the mystery of this Lost Horizon.
But there is still hope.
You are explorers of a dangerous world. You’ll do the work few others will. The enigmatic ruins of the Great Dark is shunned by most, but not by you. You seek them out, to delve into their shadowy depths and uncover their secrets. The Blight — the cataclysmic scourge that spreads from the ruins — makes others wary. For you it’s a beacon: where there is Blight, there are artifacts to find and mysteries to solve. Ship City is dying, but you and your fellow explorers can find a way to a better future.
So don your delver suit, step aboard a mighty Greatship and venture down the Slipstream towards the unknown. Your creed: explore or perish!
Inspired by 19th century expeditions, deep sea diving and pulp archeology. Coriolis: The Great Dark is a roleplaying game about exploration and intrigue were you’ll join dangerous expeditions, navigate the byzantine schemes of Ship City and hunt for the keys that unlock the mystery of this Lost Horizon.
- GenresScience Fiction
308 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2025
4 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 4, 2025
Another Year Zero Engine game from Free League. This one is the third (I think) edition of the Coriolis game, but my first introduction to the setting.
I get a bit of a Torchbearer vibe, in that the focus is on "delves" which are basically dungeon crawls in space, and while on the delve it's a lot about resource management. Fortunately, it's just while on the delve that you have to worry about that. In between you get to rest up and prepare for the next delve without worrying about running out of money.
The rules section shows Free League taking full advantage of YZE being their house system, borrowing subsystems from other games, largely Alien. This is good in that they have tested systems they can re-use, but bad in that there is at least one reference left to the "stress" mechanic from Alien that doesn't make any sense in this game.
The book could benefit from either a re-organization or a "read these sections first" guide. I was well over 75% of the way through the book before I had any real idea of what I was supposed to actually DO in this game, either as a player or a GM. Once I did get to that section, it only partially answered that question with a description of the five themes of the game: exploration, mystery, intrigue, hope, and teamwork. It then mostly focused on the exploration part involving the delves.
This is also a game with setting secrets. There are big mysteries in the setting. Mysteries that the GM knows the general answers to from the beginning, and that will apparently be given more detailed answers in future supplements. Given the rather confined nature of the setting (one major city and a handful of star systems), this kind of limits what a GM can do without risking contradicting future releases.
All in all, after reading the afterword, I think I probably would have liked the previous edition of this game more. It sounds more open ended. Also, I was first attracted to this game because of its reputation for non-European influences in the setting. That's still here, but not nearly as big a part as it apparently was before.
The game looks OK. The mechanics have a solid base, but there are some disappointing errors that appear to be due to cut and paste from either the previous edition or other games. Maybe I'll get this to the table for a one-shot at an event, but I think it's probably going to be a non-starter for my regular group due to the focus on delves. Anything resembling dungeon crawls just isn't interesting to them.
I'd love to come back here in a few months and update this to say that I was proven wrong, and that my group loves this, but for now I'm a bit disappointed.
I get a bit of a Torchbearer vibe, in that the focus is on "delves" which are basically dungeon crawls in space, and while on the delve it's a lot about resource management. Fortunately, it's just while on the delve that you have to worry about that. In between you get to rest up and prepare for the next delve without worrying about running out of money.
The rules section shows Free League taking full advantage of YZE being their house system, borrowing subsystems from other games, largely Alien. This is good in that they have tested systems they can re-use, but bad in that there is at least one reference left to the "stress" mechanic from Alien that doesn't make any sense in this game.
The book could benefit from either a re-organization or a "read these sections first" guide. I was well over 75% of the way through the book before I had any real idea of what I was supposed to actually DO in this game, either as a player or a GM. Once I did get to that section, it only partially answered that question with a description of the five themes of the game: exploration, mystery, intrigue, hope, and teamwork. It then mostly focused on the exploration part involving the delves.
This is also a game with setting secrets. There are big mysteries in the setting. Mysteries that the GM knows the general answers to from the beginning, and that will apparently be given more detailed answers in future supplements. Given the rather confined nature of the setting (one major city and a handful of star systems), this kind of limits what a GM can do without risking contradicting future releases.
All in all, after reading the afterword, I think I probably would have liked the previous edition of this game more. It sounds more open ended. Also, I was first attracted to this game because of its reputation for non-European influences in the setting. That's still here, but not nearly as big a part as it apparently was before.
The game looks OK. The mechanics have a solid base, but there are some disappointing errors that appear to be due to cut and paste from either the previous edition or other games. Maybe I'll get this to the table for a one-shot at an event, but I think it's probably going to be a non-starter for my regular group due to the focus on delves. Anything resembling dungeon crawls just isn't interesting to them.
I'd love to come back here in a few months and update this to say that I was proven wrong, and that my group loves this, but for now I'm a bit disappointed.
September 20, 2025
The new Coriolis game from Free League is sharp and focused, dripping with flavor and mystery.
FL applies the lessons learned from other games in their lineup, making the rules more refined and borrowing elements from games like Alien, Forbidden Lands, Symbaroum, etc.
While The Third Horizon was very open ended (unless you played the Mercy of the Icons campaign), The Great Dark is more clear cut in what the game's goals are: exploration and delving (which is like dungeon crawling in space to a certain degree). Resources are scarce, the new Horizon mostly unexplored, the wilderness dangerous, the discoveries both lucrative and possibly life altering for the Diaspora.
The lore is fantastic. A group of refugees fled war in the Third Horizon. It took them years to arrive to this new, Lost Horizon. The Diaspora settled on an asteroid they eventually called Ship City, discovered the Slipstream, which allowed massive Greatships to explore the uncharted Lost Horizon. Ancient ruins, lost relics, and forgotten vaults dot the Horizon.
Players are members of the Explorers Guild, tasked to explore these ruins and if they survive, bring back their discoveries to Ship City, while other mysteries and political maneuvers abound. This gives a clear cut goal for GMs and players alike, shifting the game style from the Firefly style, freelance crew shenanigans feel of The Third Horizon, and more into something with the feel of 19th century polar expeditions. Exploration is full of wonders, and full of dangers.
Not that it would limit a group of players from doing whatever they'd like to do with it at the table, but I find that the focus of the game as members of the Explorers Guild, the resource scarcity, and the clear motives provided by the rules make it easy to get into.
The feel of the world, the flavor of the writing, it all still captures that unique feeling that The Third Horizon possessed, but with the twist that a century has passed since the Diaspora left and the Third Horizon is long gone to them.
The art, as expected, is absolutely phenomenal and transmits the flavor of the Lost Horizon wonderfully. I would definitely hang many of the art pieces as paintings on my walls.
Currently, the campaign boxed set is not out yet, but I am excited for it, since it will connect to Third Horizon lore, with the fate of the long lost ark ship Nadir. (The Zenith arrived at the Third Horizon and became integral to it).
Can't wait to bring this to the table and run it for my group, and as a massive Third Horizon fan, I'm extraordinarily happy with how this new game came out. Truly excited to see what Free League does with it!
FL applies the lessons learned from other games in their lineup, making the rules more refined and borrowing elements from games like Alien, Forbidden Lands, Symbaroum, etc.
While The Third Horizon was very open ended (unless you played the Mercy of the Icons campaign), The Great Dark is more clear cut in what the game's goals are: exploration and delving (which is like dungeon crawling in space to a certain degree). Resources are scarce, the new Horizon mostly unexplored, the wilderness dangerous, the discoveries both lucrative and possibly life altering for the Diaspora.
The lore is fantastic. A group of refugees fled war in the Third Horizon. It took them years to arrive to this new, Lost Horizon. The Diaspora settled on an asteroid they eventually called Ship City, discovered the Slipstream, which allowed massive Greatships to explore the uncharted Lost Horizon. Ancient ruins, lost relics, and forgotten vaults dot the Horizon.
Players are members of the Explorers Guild, tasked to explore these ruins and if they survive, bring back their discoveries to Ship City, while other mysteries and political maneuvers abound. This gives a clear cut goal for GMs and players alike, shifting the game style from the Firefly style, freelance crew shenanigans feel of The Third Horizon, and more into something with the feel of 19th century polar expeditions. Exploration is full of wonders, and full of dangers.
Not that it would limit a group of players from doing whatever they'd like to do with it at the table, but I find that the focus of the game as members of the Explorers Guild, the resource scarcity, and the clear motives provided by the rules make it easy to get into.
The feel of the world, the flavor of the writing, it all still captures that unique feeling that The Third Horizon possessed, but with the twist that a century has passed since the Diaspora left and the Third Horizon is long gone to them.
The art, as expected, is absolutely phenomenal and transmits the flavor of the Lost Horizon wonderfully. I would definitely hang many of the art pieces as paintings on my walls.
Currently, the campaign boxed set is not out yet, but I am excited for it, since it will connect to Third Horizon lore, with the fate of the long lost ark ship Nadir. (The Zenith arrived at the Third Horizon and became integral to it).
Can't wait to bring this to the table and run it for my group, and as a massive Third Horizon fan, I'm extraordinarily happy with how this new game came out. Truly excited to see what Free League does with it!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews