Played a lot of Sunless Seas a while ago but found the punishment for dying was a bit too... punishing. Starting all the stories from scratch, along with losing your map* and resources, was so frustrating I a) always chose the "keep map" option and b) never got very far in the game. The risks when getting further from London were hard when improving your ship took a lot of grinding for money.
Sunless Skies does a lot to help ameliorate that- you only lose a few character levels and keep your map, locomotive, and some of your resources (and everything you put in the bank!) meaning dying doesn't set you back nearly so much. I did die to a random mutiny last night though, I think because I let the Terror get too high. A shame because I just got voted in as an MP.