For what it’s worth, I really loved 2019’s The Sinking City. It might have been a little janky in parts, but it served up a foreboding and tense atmosphere that felt like the best bits of Resident Evil and BioShock combined. While the gameplay felt a little stiff, I had plenty of fun simply existing in that world, backed and bolstered by Lovecraftian lore.
The Sinking City 2 is, in many respects, an improvement over the original, but a more direct homage or tribute to the games that inspired it. Lore and narrative aside, this is a more obvious attempt at traditional modern survival horror that might not live up to its inspirations, but certainly aims for an enjoyable experience all on its own.
What Dreams May Come
The Sinking City 2 is a standalone sequel with a new protagonist, Calvin Rafferty, taking over from the previous protagonist, Charles Reed. The story follows Calvin attempting to free his partner, Faye, from a supernatural coma that has left her stuck in a dream-like state.
Now set in the city of Arkham, Calvin must set off and do everything he can to rescue her from this coma, all while diving into and dealing with his complicated past and the events that brought both Calvin and Faye to this very situation.
After a relatively straightforward and brisk introduction to these characters and the broader city of Arkham, The Sinking City 2 does its best to address many of the cosmic Lovecraftian themes that accompanied the first game, but it feels like it’s slightly more occupied with producing a more tense, survival horror experience based on modern third-person Resident Evil games.
As a result, these themes feel a little more scattered and sparse, leaving the setting and foreboding atmosphere to do more of the heavy lifting. That being said, there’s no doubt that The Sinking City 2 is more enjoyable to play, but it ultimately feels like a double-edged sword.
You’ll spend most of your time traversing through various flooded sections of Arkham via boat, and the game does a great job of splitting up its settings into more distinct areas that make each chapter feel fresh. While some areas certainly feel a little creepier than others, Calvin is equipped with a small, yet capable arsenal of weapons to get the job done.
Again, much like most Resident Evil or survival games in general, The Sinking City 2 barely gives you enough ammunition to take out all enemies, and you’ll instead need to use your wits, or even your hands and feet, to escape and live to fight another day. The only real gripe here is that the feeling of dread is made redundant during boss fights with infinite ammo drops. It simply alters the pacing of the action, and I wish these more epic encounters would have been a little more creative to complement this fight-or-flight response that you get from needing to avoid regular enemies.
Combat is basic yet functional, but I feel like its amplified frequency brings a more chaotic nature to the sequel; something admittedly lost on the original, which was in service of a more thoughtful, detective-focused story. There are some fancy perks to unlock and use along the way, though, which also make combat a little more exciting as you progress.
Piecing It Together
Of course, there are still some mysteries to solve here, and Calvin will collect various clues and hints while exploring each area. The general difficulty affects things like combat and enemy strength; players can now choose to make puzzles slightly simpler by highlighting clues and items of importance. But if you opt in for a more challenging experience, you’ll generally find everything you need if you take those couple of extra minutes to look.
Players have access to a board in which to pin clues, which is accessible at any time. Most of the detective work here involves pinning relevant clues together, which usually unlocks crucial bits of information relevant to the plot, while some outlying clues can unlock the locations of hidden goodies like health boosts and ammunition.
It does balance out the gameplay to a certain extent, but it still takes a backseat to the survival horror elements like managing your inventory and exploring hidden corners of each area for just a few more rounds of ammunition.
Look the Part
I would just like to point out here that The Sinking City 2 was made in Ukraine, obviously during a time of war. The Ukrainian team at Frogwares made an effort to highlight this, so I just wanted to pass it on to our readers. And I think they did a fantastic job.
Whether it’s a limited budget or extreme circumstances, The Sinking City 2 still delivers gorgeous visuals and lighting effects, particularly as the water ripples past the hull of your boat. Some awkward character models and pop-in textures are present, but don’t really detract from the experience all that much.
A Performance Mode targets 60 FPS, while a Quality Mode locks the experience at 30 FPS. I would recommend the former option, as even with slight frame rate drops in certain places, it still feels like the much smoother and more responsive way to play.
Final Thoughts
The Sinking City 2 might have its flaws, but is ultimately a decent sequel that I believe would still please fans of the original game and Lovecraftian Cthulhu lore alike.
While it feels like a much more direct experience inspired by the more modern third-person survival horror games, it still generally succeeds at presenting a unique and forbidding atmosphere with an engaging, mind-bending narrative.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: Great atmosphere; Functional combat; Decent visuals and performance
Lowlights: Boss fights feel a little out of place; Detective work takes a back seat to the action
Developer: Frogwares
Publisher: Frogwares
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC
Available: Now
Review conducted on PlayStation 5 with a code provided by the publisher.
Featured header image also provided by the publisher.
