When I think of the Ukrainian developers Frogwares, I immediately jump to the Sherlock Holmes games. I love these charming adventures, featuring tales from Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved books wrapped up in investigative tests and slightly hit and miss gameplay. This series isn’t the only thing Frogwares cooks up in their magical development lab though, they also created The Sinking City. Although I skipped this particular game back in 2019, I’m an avid horror fan and lover of wet settings. So with a sequel on the horizon I decided it was time to jump into this Lovecraftian world, and have a play of The Sinking City 2.
In this build of the game, I was given access to two chunks of the overall experience. One of these was an early portion of gameplay, and the other later on in the game with more things unlocked. Before anything else though there was an introductory cutscene to watch, featuring main character Calvin and his love interest Faye.
Calvin is a fun roguish kind of 1920’s guy, who would do anything for Faye. When a ritual goes wrong though Faye goes into some sort of horror coma, and he is left trying to bring her back from the depths of sleep. While all this is happening the city of Arkham floods horribly, and disgusting black worms begin to infect people and create Eldritch monstrosities. It’s a wonderful setup for a horror game, allowing for a gorgeous waterlogged environment and plenty of nasties to try and survive.
The first chunk of gameplay in this preview dropped me in a library, but as expected a fairly wet one. It didn’t take long for some monsters to find me there, and I was introduced to the game’s combat. The over the shoulder shooting feels nice and familiar, and strikes the perfect balance between shooting and running away that so many Resident Evil titles have managed. Instead of aiming for head shots here though you’ll be shooting fleshy blobs that serve as weak points on your enemies. Even on the normal difficulty it can be tough to survive these encounters, especially with limited supplies.
The Sinking City 2 is a survival horror game at heart, and that means you need to make every pack of painkillers and bullet count. You find more supplies hidden away in corners and inside special containers you open with a pen, and there’s even a crafting element that allows you to turn scraps of metal and chemical into bullets for your gun of choice. It’s not anything you haven’t seen before, but it’s engaging nonetheless.
What helps The Sinking City 2 stand out from other survival horror games outside of the gorgeous setting, is the fact it’s semi open world. This means there are locations you don’t have to explore if you don’t want to, but if you do you’ll find mysteries to solve and extra supplies that’ll help you going forward. Most of the first chunk of the game I got to play was actually an optional side quest, which involved searching a church for clues and solving puzzles in your horror themed mind palace. I really appreciate the more thoughtful sections in a game packed with tense moments, and with Sherlock experience Frogwares knows how to deliver them.
After finishing the first preview area, I jumped forward into the later section of the game. This horror hospital was everything I was expecting, with derelict wards, bodies strewn all over the place, and doors locked with face recognition that required me to collect flaps of skin. I also got to play around with better weapons in the form of a machine gun and a shotgun (alongside a bigger inventory that actually fit them in) and was able to upgrade things a bit. This is done by spending Lovecraftian rune points to unlock skills, and placing them in the mask you bring everywhere with you. I’ll probably understand the lore behind this system more in the main game, but for now I was happy to increase my reload speed and deal more damage up close.
The Sinking City 2 has all the makings of a wonderful survival horror experience, blending Eldritch horror, twenties style, and a whole lot of water to create a fascinating setting. The familiar action horror combat is as satisfying as ever, and desperately searching for more supplies in open areas on your little boat is going to be a treat. Hopefully I won’t have to wait long to have that sinking feeling come over me again, because I’m ready to continue this tragic tale.
The Sinking City 2 is coming to PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.