We enjoyed The Sinking City, though at launch it was arguably a bit rough around the edges. What we didn’t realize at the time was that the creation of that game’s sequel would be heavily affected by the war in the Ukraine (where the Frogwares team is largely located), as well as a battle with their then publisher Nacon. The team finally broke away, seizing control of their game, remastering it and bringing that average score from 61 to 81 in the process! Now, they’re finally ready to give us our first taste of that sequel, and just like that remaster, this one is going to surprise some folks.
In this brief slice of the game we got to see two segments of Arkham, a city flooded by an otherworldly amount of rain and Eldritch horrors alike – an open world section where you can free roam a bit and explore, and an indoor sequence inside a very disturbing hospital. Almost immediately you’ll notice two things – a massive jump in visual fidelity thanks to a move to Unreal Engine 5, and the engine being used to great effect to give you nightmares. Where the original had more of a campy, investigative angle with the occasional horror element, The Sinking City 2 is straight up survival horror. Instantly, you’re beset by unnatural nightmare creatures made of not enough flesh and entirely too many appendages. Yes, the game is still an open-world investigative game, but Arkham is so much more dangerous this time around.
In The Sinking City 2, we play as occult investigator Calvin Rafferty. After a dream ritual goes completely sideways, Rafferty’s girlfriend Faye is left trapped inside the dreamworld. Now, Calvin must travel to the drowned streets of 1920s Arkham in a desperate bid to bring her back from the brink, only to encounter things well beyond his ability to comprehend.
The demo I got to play starts with Calvin waking up, flat on his back, and laying in a pool of water. Based on his comments, he just came face to face with something that had a deep-seated desire to do him serious harm. He was making his way to a library annex in Miskatonic University in the city of Arkham, trying to find a mystical Ritual Book that would supposedly help Faye’s condition. The only problem is, he’s far from alone.
One of the first creatures I ran into was a type of horrifying leech creature called “The Slither”. As gross as their name would suggest, these bloodthirsty parasitic creatures attach themselves to humans, consuming parts of them while transforming them into a sort of undead puppet. With a whopping 7 bullets in my pistol, I took out a shambolic human, bursting with pustules and malice, expending my last round. With the slide locked back on my pistol, I was now completely vulnerable until I could find more ammunition. A cold chill ran up my spine in a way that never happened with the first title - the game had changed.
When I did find some ammo (or crafted it with things like scrap and gunpowder), it was still scarce, as was the inventory to store it. Hard decisions about what to carry versus what to ditch permanently (it’s lost once dropped), are constant, and every shot needs to count as you never know when you’ll find your next box of bullets. Enemies often have some sort of weak point like a throbbing pustule nodule or exposed raw muscle bundle, so taking a moment to line up your shots might be better than just banging away with headshots.
The first Sinking City title was an investigation game that took place in a series of hubs until you reached a certain point where the city opens up. The Sinking City 2 seems to operate in the same visceral brain space as the likes of the current Resident Evil games – true horror, tight inventories, limited resources, scarce ammunition, and enemies that can and will destroy you head-to-head. The odds are very much stacked against you.
Slogging through the waist-high water, dodging slithering creatures, and navigating the detritus-filled library, we make our way into the upper floors where we find a strange book with a huge massive red and purple aura. Given the energy it’s giving off, naturally we open it and immediately attempt to read it – what bad ever came from reading a book? Lucky for us, it’s beyond our ken – we’ll need a translator. Exploring the remainder of the library annex, our prayers are answered by a helpful man named Corentin.
Corentin is a translator who can help us with the book. He’s made a few improvements to help with his vision, which is to say he’s scooped out his eyes and slid live Slither into his skull, who have now taken residence in the dead flesh of his eye sockets, “lifting the veil”, as he puts it. He reassures us that he means us no harm and is very much alive and willing to help us. Time will tell if our trust is misplaced. To help translate the book, however, he’d need some help from somebody at the Devil’s Reef Hotel.
Calvin heads back out front and climbs into his boat. Cruising through the flooded streets, I spotted a church that, despite the squalor that surrounds it, remains in remarkable condition. Low on ammunition, crafting materials, and health, it seems like the sort of place we should seek refuge on our way to the Devil’s Reef Hotel. After the collapse of the civil infrastructure of Arkham, someone scattered E.R.C. units throughout the city. E.R.C. (or Emergency Relief Crates) can contain all sorts of critical supplies, so we’d need to scour the area for ERC Activator Pens – single-use devices that keep those E.R.C. crates sealed but for those who need it most – and we have a mighty need.
In another nod to games like Resident Evil, I found an odd room with a strange symbol on the door. Opening it revealed a well-lit room with books, a phonograph, pictures, a big conch shell, and more. This room, ostensibly some sort of pocket dimension version of our apartment back home, represents a safe room. While I can craft found materials into things like ammunition and healing items, here I can do it safely. Additionally, I can allocate points to a mask relic that allows me to do things like take less harm after dodging, get more ammo in crafting, deal extra damage to the next enemy after slaying a foe, and more. Finally, I can save here using the aforementioned shell – the only place this occurs. Yes, there are periodic autosaves, but backing up to the start of an area is a pretty big setback on death. If you grew up scouring desk drawers for ink ribbons, you know what’s on offer here.
Where the first game focused on the investigative gameplay elements to move the story and find resources, here this element is more often optional, instead pushing the player to take risks and explore instead. Searching the space, I found innumerable alternate routes, background information and clues, and all sorts of locked doors and puzzles that stood monolith against my progress. I imagine that this game is one where the main thread is just the start of the journey.
The second half of my time with The Sinking City 2 took me to Akeley Memorial Hospital. As unnerving as the library annex in Miskatonic University is, there’s something worse about a filthy hospital setting in any game that is so much worse. The dead are strewn about the place, and the cracked paint reveals a place more run down than it initially appears.
As you explore, you’ll find a great many doors that will slow you down. I mention that as the dead roam the halls in some places, infested by the Slither, so having an egress point identified is probably wise. One locked door was covered in a thick coat of rust that would stop me from opening it unless I found an acid solution to clean the internals. Another just needed a specific key that I’m fairly certain resided in the pocket of a creepy doctor I met earlier. These sorts of locks make sense…but what about one you have to unlock with a face?
When I say “unlock with a face”, I’m not talking about using some sort of bizarre 1920s biometric technology – no, these “Mirror Doors” are literally unlocked by a human face. Approaching one caused a disembodied voice to remark “You are not Nurse Kitty”, turning red lights on at the edges. Searching in the morgue, I found the young nurse’s face inside of a strange sort of box that I had to slowly take apart. Dismantled, I was able to remove the face so I could backtrack to the door. Well, I would have, if not for the sudden surge of Slither-controlled monsters who quickly exhausted all the ammunition from my Tommy Gun, shotgun, and pistol with little effect. Making a break for it, I made my way back to reception and prepared to re-open the front door, only to be confronted by a completely new and far more dangerous threat. Before I could dispatch the creature, the demo ended, leaving me wanting more.
Although The Sinking City 2 represents a huge change from the tone and gameplay of the original, it’s a massive step towards the sort of horror that keeps you awake at night. It’s befitting of the darker and more dangerous Lovecraft setting, and clearly embraces the type of game the team wanted to make all along. Frankly, I’m excited for this new vision, and I can’t wait to see how this story unfolds. Will it feature multiple endings? Will the protagonist’s cavalier attitude that has caused Faye to slip into her coma, cause her to end up facing a far worse fate? Lovecraft has never been known for his happy endings, but time will tell. I just know that I’m excited to see where the Frogwares team takes this game series now that they are fully in control.
The Sinking City 2 is slated for some point in 2026 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 – stay tuned here at GamingTrend.com for our continued coverage, and guard your sanity – this will be one to watch.
