Context is paramount when considering reviews, whether from the perspective of the reader, or the writer. The Sinking City 2 has been built by a team (Frogwares) based in both Ireland and Ukraine. Many of its creators have been directly impacted by the war itself, as is made apparent even within the game itself. While that won’t have a bearing on my perspective of The Sinking City 2, the video game, I’d implore anyone to consider that background history when discussing it. The fact that this game even exists is a testament to the studio and staff. Video games are notoriously challenging to produce in ideal circumstances, never mind under such a tragic and horrific scenario.

With that in mind, I’ll be spending the rest of this review focusing purely on the game itself. To that end, it’s important to note that I was not much of a fan of the original. The Sinking City was, for me, a tedious slog. I appreciated the commitment to extensive lore and an interconnected spider’s web of a narrative, but jeez was it janky and painful to get through. Its biggest sin, in my view, was that it was a Lovecraftian-inspired game that was just, simply, boring.

So, coming into The Sinking City 2, developer Frogwares had a tough job on their hands to win me round. Could they achieve the impossible and clasp more willing devotees into their ranks to feed the Eldrich beast? Load up your shotgun and hop into the boat; the floods have risen, and the Deep Ones are calling.

Sinking Into The Abyss

The Sinking City 2 is a marked departure from the original, both in concept and execution. While its predecessor was an open-world, detective-heavy experience, the sequel is much more streamlined and firmly planted within survival horror. The open world has been replaced with more linear, chapter-based hubs. Combat has seen a dramatic rework too, now emulating the best of the genre. Imagine if a cosmic being absorbed both Resident Evil 2 remake and The Evil Within, amalgamating them into a Lovecraftian-themed experience, and you’ll basically have The Sinking City 2.

I was sceptical at first. Imitating the best of a genre can be a double-edged sword if you get it wrong. To my surprise, however, the developers have gotten it mostly right. Fans of their detective gameplay may be left feeling short-changed, but I think the pivot to this style has led to a more interesting, if still flawed, experience. It’s not on a par with its inspirations, but it does a good job of evoking what works so well within them.

The camera is now zoomed in to be over-the-shoulder, detective work is wrapped up within optional exploration, and while there’s still plenty of lore here, you won’t be forced to engage with it in the same manner you were in the first. There’s also a heck of a lot more directed combat encounters. Whether or not you can get on board with the switch-up, I can’t guarantee, but for someone who struggled with the first, I was much more captivated thanks to Frogwares’ shift in direction.

The City That Always Sleeps

Oakwood and Charles Reed have been swept away with the tide. In their place come 1920s Arkham and Calvin Rafferty. Arkham, impossibly, is an inland city that’s been beset by floods. The people have fled, and Calvin has refused to take up evacuation, opting to remain behind as the water levels rise. Calvin’s partner, Faye, is in an endless slumber, her physical body alive, but unwaking. In order to bring her back, he’ll need to perform a ritual invoking the Gods. What could possibly go wrong?

Using the Night Shade, a mask of occult and magical properties, Faye’s spirit form can manifest and accompany us on the journey. Their relationship history is slowly doled out as the campaign progresses, as is the mystery of what led Faye to be given the Cinderella treatment. There’s a certain level of melodrama that doesn’t always quite land, but their dynamic is authentic and engaging. The few quarrels they have are often resolved a little too quickly, but it’s easy to get invested in their cause.

The story is slightly hampered at times due to odd lip syncing in cutscenes, but by and large, it’s a decently told story with a good emotional hook. To my pleasant surprise, the more Lovecraftian elements take more of a backseat to the personal stories of the few people you meet. It never quite hooked me with its side characters the same way it does with the core duo, but I really liked the commitment to its conclusion. I couldn’t tell you much at all about the first game’s narrative, but The Sinking City 2’s story will linger much more effectively for me.

City of Heavenly Evil

Foraying into Arkham in order to save Faye involves working through five chapters, each covering a different location. The boat returns, but traversal is mercifully much more scaled back. Instead, you’ll be entering a hotel, hospital, fish market and various other, smaller locales. Each has interlinking pathways, complete with locked doors, requiring items to progress. This is where the Resident Evil 2 remake comparison makes the most sense.

These locations are layered and relatively sprawling, to the point it almost feels a bit overwhelming at first. However, it’s intuitive to get to grips with their layouts and before long I was flying through them. Puzzles are fairly straightforward, though one had me scratching my head for a good ten minutes. On the whole, progression is more about inventory management and picking up the various iterations of keys, rather than too much critical thinking.

Each level does host a couple of optional puzzles that reward you with weapon upgrades or inventory expansion, both of which are very valuable indeed. The loop is tried-and-tested, with The Sinking City 2 being no exception. The more curated locations provide more opportunities for balancing combat encounters, as well as avoiding repetition, which plagued the first game. There’s a real satisfaction clearing the map (it switches from red to blue, ala RE2R as well), and I’d often feel accomplished come the end of a chapter.

Lurching Madness

I imagine the biggest source of conversion or derision with The Sinking City 2 will come from the third-person action overhaul. Calvin controls more akin to Leon Kennedy, Isaac Clarke or Sebastian Castellanos from their respective games. Enemies are more frequent, appearing alone and in groups to test your resolve and ammo management. Most are infected humanoids, corrupted by The Slither, with a handful of special types that chew through lead like an Eldrich being chews through sanity.

All enemies have specific, glowing weakpoints, and will often lurch around to make aiming more difficult. However, if you have experience of survival horrors, I’d recommend playing on hard from the get-go. The foolproof method of shooting legs and stomping downed enemies is almost too effective here. Having bulbous orange glow points does feel a bit too “gamey” at times, but the system works well enough to maintain the 10-15 hour runtime.

Calvin will uncover up to five weapons on his journey, including a pistol, shotgun, rifle, machine gun and grenade launcher. The latter I found to be nigh-on useless, but the others are all tuned excellently to serve a combat function. Managing ammo is essential, as is backtracking to safe rooms to manage crafting resources, keys, ammo and weapons. Early on, I found myself over-encumbered more than a few times, meaning a lot of back-and-forth. Even so, I’m a fan of the genre, and The Sinking City 2 hits all the right notes.

Let That Sinking City In

That’s not to say that The Sinking City 2 is perfect, or on a par with the best in the genre. The camera has a nasty habit of zooming in too close when you’re backed into a corner, which happens often. You can avoid some encounters, but often the level of backtracking almost requires you to clear out most enemies, which can grate against the ammo scarcity design at points too. A couple of gauntlets are, additionally, absolutely ridiculous with the numbers and ferocity, leading to circle strafing the environment and tediously picking them off.

Despite this, I had a really good time playing. The Sinking City 2 is tighter and more condensed than the original, so while it doesn’t have a massive wealth of enemy variety, it doles out just enough new fodder to maintain the freshness to the end. There’s some wonky hit detection here and there, but it’s far superior in comparison to the first game. Seeking out collectibles, hunting down the solutions to optional puzzles and being genuinely rewarded for it with significant upgrades felt great.

The Investigation Board fills in some of the void of the detection gameplay that’s been lost. You can read clues, connect them together and piece together the story for both a tangible upgrade currency, and for further exposition. There’s both a guided and non-guided version, allowing you to tinker with your experience how you like. I doubt much of it would be too challenging either way, but the guided approach suited someone like me, and I appreciate the desire to cater to both crowds.

Decay, Decay All Around

Visually, The Sinking City 2 is somewhat of a mixed bag. The curated environments and locations themselves have a level of detail and care that I often found myself stopping to fawn over. The hospital is enveloped in a threatening, dark and isolating atmosphere, teeming with tension of what terror awaits you next. Arkham’s streets are dilapidated, increasingly corrupted, as the neon-lit signs fall to the rising waters. At times, the art direction really excels.

However, the technical underpinnings can undercut much of the vision. The lighting can be washed out much of the time, and the animations for both combat and movement have a certain stilted feel about them that never really becomes unnoticeable. Cutscenes are prone to the aforementioned lip syncing problems, as well as hiccups in transitions, too. There’s also not as much of an emphasis on the creative madness that comes from Lovecraftian-inspired media, which I did come to miss by the end.

I played on performance mode and, for the most part, The Sinking City 2 held up superbly. Only in the more ridiculous encounters did the framerate trip up occasionally, but on the whole, it performs admirably well. A little more diversity in colour may have been welcome, and using the centre of the screen to interact with items could be rather finicky, too, but I found more to like than not.

A Deeper One

I hit credits for The Sinking City 2 at about 10-11 hours, though the game may run longer for some. New Game + is available immediately, as well as there being a host of collectibles and upgrades to uncover, with the Night Shade, I believe, being impossible to max out in one playthrough. As such, there’s a decent amount of bang for your buck lurking amongst the tendrils and horrors. Speaking of, the game isn’t terribly scary by any means, but it has a solid amount of tension throughout.

The biggest question I had entering this second sinking city was whether the sequel could meaningfully improve on the original. On that count, I can categorically state that it has. Frogwares have delivered a much more well-crafted, enjoyable and polished experience compared to the first outing. However, it’s a slightly unfair conclusion, owing to the fact that this title is more of an emulation of titans of its genre, compared to Frogwares’ own original concepts the original was attempting to deliver.

For me, the largest compliment I can give The Sinking City 2, is that it’s so much more interesting than the first. I was actively invested and wanted to see this tale through to the end, and that it nailed the conclusion really justified my more positive sentiment. It may very well be an imitation of others, based on a more popular genre and design philosophy, but even with its less original take, I suspect the Deep Ones, and many players, will be far more satisfied with the sequel.

The Sinking City 2 is available from August 18th on PlayStation 5 (review platform), Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Developer: Frogwares
Publisher: Frogwares

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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