Back in 2019, the original The Sinking City was released as a tribute to the Lovecraftian theme from H.P. Lovecraft. The game was met with mixed but generally favorable reviews, including here on Movies, Games and Tech. Players took on the role of a detective as they solved puzzles and mysteries, explored the game’s semi-open world, and “enjoyed” clunky combat from time to time. The game received a remastered release last year after legal disputes halted the original version. I never actually played The Sinking City, even though it lingered on my wishlist for ages. Eventually, I watched a YouTube breakdown of its story and decided that was enough closure.
Now The Sinking City is back with its second installment in the series. Developed and published by Frogwares, a Ukrainian company who is currently facing the horrors of war, The Sinking City 2 was miraculously released on August 18th, 2026. Frogwares took to heart the reviews of their original game and decided to revamp the gameplay entirely. This time, instead of a detective game with clunky combat, it is a survival horror with smooth combat. The game even takes place in an entirely different location with a brand new cast of characters. Arguably, this sequel is a lot better than the original, as there is a whole lot here that is executed well. Visuals are stunning, both in the game’s beauty and in its horror. Combat is smooth with a choice of fight or flight in most encounters. Gameplay is more streamlined and more effective because of it.
Honestly, there’s a lot here that I really enjoy and appreciate about the game. I’ll try to focus on the bigger, more impactful things for me as a player. And of course, I will discuss the very few downsides about the game, though they feel more like personal preferences. Despite these, The Sinking City 2 is a game that I can easily and gladly recommend to fans of survival horrors, the Lovecraftian theme, and those who played the original, regardless if they thought that one was good or bad. Frogwares really hit the mark with this one and there’s quite a bit to discuss, so lets get into it.
Calvin Rafferty – A Man Trying to Save his Love
Players take on the role of Calvin Rafferty, a man interested in the occult in the 1920s. The story begins with Calvin meeting with his catatonic lover, Faye Bennet, in a bar. The two discuss performing a ritual from the Book of Dreaming to contact a god. Their intentions are not made clear right away though as thugs come into the bar looking for Calvin. Just when you think you’re about to fight some thugs, the environment changes. A zombified Faye stares back at you with the thugs saying that Calvin killed her and its all his fault. Calvin wakes up from this nightmare of guilt shortly after.
However Faye is still sleeping. In fact she’s been in a coma-like state ever since they’ve attempted the ritual. Calvin looks after her, placing a strange mask called Night Shade over her face every night. Calvin learns of another ritual—The Call—that can bring a spirit back to its body. He hopes that this will revive Faye so that the two can escape the city together. The city of Arkham is all but lost. It is quite literally already in the process of sinking as a massive flood drowns the roads and various locations. Residents are abandoning their homes, fleeing on overcrowded boats. Buildings sit in disrepair, and a blaring siren warns that the final evacuations are approaching—no more supplies or rescue for anyone left behind. Strangest of all, weird worm like things came with the flood, writhing around in clumps throughout the city.
These are called the Slither. Calvin sees a group of them as he travels by boat to the library to find the book for The Call. A closed off floodgate blocks his path so he must dock and try to find a way to open it. He travels through abandoned apartments, coming across a room that oddly contains some of his and Faye’s belongings. These are called Safe rooms. In here, players can manually save the game, access their storage, and eventually use a talent table that I will discuss a bit later. After exiting the safe room, all seems fine despite the state of the building. He gets into a store, finds some electrical fuses. Suddenly, the Slither squirm underneath, heading towards a body on the floor. It takes control of it, reanimating the corpse back to life. The horror has now begun.
This is just the start of the game. From here, the story unfolds in ways unexpected. The writing has passion—a story of Calvin and Faye in a Lovecraftian world. Flashbacks help give a better picture of their relationship, sparked by a mutual interest in the occult. I was able to fully get behind wanting to save Faye instead of thinking Calvin should leave her behind. His love and interest in the occult was enough to explain why he was risking his life out there in Arkham. Various notes found throughout the city are not only clues for various puzzles, but also help tell the Lovecraftian story. Notes of people experiencing madness, of letters to loved ones, or even a woman asking for someone to take care of her cat, help explain the history of the city, its people, and the Flood.
Visually, the game is stunning both in aesthetics and in horror. Yes, buildings may be in disarray, but the game’s graphics still hold up wonderfully even when playing in performance mode. Using the slightly dim but realistic flashlight as I walk around dark corridors helps build the tension and suspense, making the game much more horrifying. And speaking of horror, the creature designs are amazing. There are multiple different kinds of enemies Calvin comes across. I want to mention one moment of a chef’s kiss visual for creatures. I shot an explosive next to a zombie to try and kill it. It did not die. Instead, all of its skin ripped off, leaving it with exposed flesh that continued to pursue me. It was grotesque, horrifying, and visually amazing.
Continuing with the horror elements, I also want to highlight how well the game executes them. If you’ve read any of my other reviews on horror games, you know of my love/hate relationship with the genre. I love listening and watching other people discuss/play them because I love the creativity that goes into the genre. I hate playing them myself because I scare way too easily. The Sinking City 2 did scare me at times, but it never felt unearned, such as using excessive cheap jumpscares. There are a few jumpscares, like when enemies jump out at you, but it is not constant. The horror comes from the game’s atmosphere—in the tension it builds up as you wander. Yes I was scared, but I was also able to breathe at times. Or maybe I just spent too much time in the Safe rooms.
Surviving In Arkham
Now that the general story and horror discussions are out of the way, lets talk about the actual gameplay. As mentioned, Frogwares went in a completely new direction for the gameplay. Instead, they did survival horror rather than a detective game. As a survival horror, The Sinking City 2 contains all you might expect and doesn’t try to change the formula. This includes things like occasional puzzle solving, inventory management, and crafting with limited resources. I’ve seen other reviews stating that the gameplay is similar to that of a Resident Evil game.
Calvin is by no means a combat expert. He starts off with a pistol and can unlock new guns later in the story. Different enemies have different ways of being killed. For example, the zombies, the most common enemy, grow these large pus growths on their bodies. These are weak spots that you can shoot to do extra damage and save yourself some bullets. You can also go for the legs which Calvin can follow up with a stomp or try to dodge and punch them to death. Resources are limited, including bullets, so sometimes fighting isn’t the best choice. Calvin is pretty good at dodging most attacks so there were times where I just dodge spammed my way through an area if there were too many enemies. Oh, and if a creature grabs you, be prepared to tap your way to escaping.
Your health appears as a heart icon in the bottom‑right corner. The more spliced the heart gets, the lower your health. Eventually in the story you can find Night Ore. These can charge the Night Shade mask, which will revive you should you meet your demise. The mask icon above the heart makes your remaining revives obvious at a glance. The combat keeps things simple, yet it still plays smoothly and feels reliably effective. Clunky combat was one of biggest negatives in the original game. I think of all things, Frogwares greatly improved on this aspect the most.
If combat is or isn’t your thing, there’s a surprising amount of flexibility when it comes to the game’s overall difficulty. There are four difficulty settings—sweet dreams being the easiest and sleep demon being the most difficult. The difficulty affects the amount of resources and the challenge of enemies. For those who don’t want combat at all, the easiest setting has the option to turn on immortality or invulnerability. For those who want some assistance, aim assist is optional, including a scale for how effective you want it to be. Puzzle solving even has its own difficulties, Breezy and Brainy, depending on how much assistance you want in this regard. I personally played with normal difficulty (restless slumber), aim assist at 35, and brainy. This was perfect for my preferences, but play the game as you wish.
Instead of an open world like its predecessor, The Sinking City 2 is more streamlined. Some sections of the map are somewhat expansive though, so it isn’t like strictly linear in its approach. Players can use the map to help guide them around each section. Outlines of the area show if there’s still more to discover. Optional puzzles, such as opening emergency relief crates, offer valuable resources like extra inventory space. It is important to note that many times areas can be inaccessible if you progress too far past them. If you leave behind an option puzzle thinking you will just solve it later, you may not be able to travel back. I would recommend trying to do or discover as much as you can before completing the main goals of that area just in case.
You’ll discover many different resources as you explore. These include things like chemicals or scrap metal which can be used for crafting. With limited and occasionally shared resources, players will sometimes need to decide whether more ammo or healing is more important. Most times, I went with the dolorocide pills to heal myself and hoped that I would find ammo elsewhere, as this feels more likely than it does to find healing items. Inventory management will also play a big factor as well, but I’ll discuss this a bit more in the next section.
Another thing you’ll find as you explore are the various notes that give more story but also clues to solving puzzles. Players gather clues and slot them into the Investigations tab. It’s a much smaller, lighter detective element than in the first game. Brainy difficulty lets you link clues and draw conclusions, but the game doesn’t force you to engage with that system. This is more so to help the player piece the clues together for their own sake, a feature I didn’t use too much. Puzzles are a decent challenge of being not too easy but not too difficult. A handful did stump me, but after I learned about the solution, I could see how the clues were in place for me to solve it. There’s also not too many required puzzles so even if puzzle solving isn’t your thing, it shouldn’t bog down your experience completely.
Eventually, you come across dream essence and the talent table. Calvin can spend Dream Essence to unlock passive perks at the talent table, making survival a bit easier. Perks include ones that give Calvin resistance against specific enemy types or more damage under certain circumstances, like not having the flashlight on. Perks also have different levels, from basic to advanced, with the better ones requiring you to unlock a certain number from the previous tier. Calvin can carry up to four perks, though the game only opens the first two slots initially. The perks are a nice addition to the game that might not make the biggest impact initially, but having good ones prove beneficial later on.
Frogwares is not trying to reinvent the wheel but instead uses it to its advantage in an effective way. The game plays like what one might expect from a survival horror and I can’t find any fault in that. Combat is smooth and I appreciate the flexibility in difficulty. Crafting and the talent table made sense and I had a good feeling about what I needed at any given point. The things discussed in this section are for me all positives where I have nothing negative say.
My Opinion on NG+ and Other Wishes
There are two and half things I want to cover in this final section and unfortunately these are, in my opinion, the downsides. They all feel more like personal preference though, so your own opinions may differ.
The first thing is inventory management. Look, I know who I am and how I play video games. I am the type that likes to hoard items, even if they won’t be of any use to me. When a strict system is in place that limits me, I probably won’t be the biggest fan. Personally, I felt the inventory space was too restrictive, especially since it has to hold your guns and key items as well. Healing items, such as the dolorocide pills, don’t stack. There were times where I would find a resource only to run back to the nearest safe room and place it in storage. This doesn’t make for the most fun gameplay. Sometimes I felt like I needed to put a better gun into storage so that I could have space and then run into lots of ammo for that gun.
Before I have a small rant on NG+, another thing I was not a big fan of is the day one paid DLC. Paid DLC for extra starting resources is one thing, but when there’s DLC for an extra side mission that has a few hours of content, I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed. According to steam reviews, the DLC is only around two hours of content that is good yes, but doesn’t feel worth the high asking price (12.99 €). I particularly liked this quote – “It’s also a clear example of content cut from the main game, that should’ve just been included instead of held hostage behind a paywall. It’s certainly NOT worth it’s storefront asking price, this is ridiculous.” and even without playing it, couldn’t help feeling like I’d agree.
Lastly, I want to discuss Eldritch Feats. Eldritch Feats are basically an achievement list for you to complete. Some challenges complete automatically as you progress through the story, while others require specific actions. When you complete them, you earn Eldritch points. Players can spend these points on gameplay perks, outfits for Calvin and Faye, different flashlight colors, and concept art. However, in order to purchase the gameplay perks and visuals, it requires you to complete the base game first.
Now on one hand, I can get why some of the gameplay perks might be locked. Being able to purchase unlimited bullets would probably feel a bit unreasonable. However, I can’t help but feel like its just pandering to NG+, a feature that so many modern games have picked up. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I never play NG+ for any game, no matter how much I’ve enjoyed it. When I complete a game, I usually want to move on to something else. Why would I want to restart the game feeling overpowered from having previously completed it? Some people it it, especially if you want to replay at a stronger difficulty, but personally, it’s just not my thing.
With that in mind, I feel a bit left out when the things I want to use are locked behind a full playthrough, especially when some of them are just alternate guns or unique perks. Why couldn’t I use a perk that allows me to deal more damage but receive more damage if I wanted to the first time around? Why not allow me to purchase a cool new weapon once I’ve saved up enough Eldritch points (again, simply by progression or performing specific tasks) the first time around instead of needing to wait until I decide to play the whole game again? Again, just a personal opinion, but a negative for me as a player.
Calling All you Eldritch Fans
Overall, The Sinking City 2 is a fantastic game that deserves a very positive score. The negatives here are my own preferences for what I enjoy and probably differ from what many other think. Without even playing the first game, I could tell that this sequel is a massive improvement. I think the survival horror genre is the right direction to go towards for the series, but wouldn’t mind if the detective bit came back to some extent in future installments. The Sinking City 2 isn’t a very long game—one could reasonably complete it in around 10-15 hours—but its a game that showcases Frogwares passion for the Lovecraftian genre. I am personally excited for my favorite horror game Youtubers to do deep dives of the lore from this game and its predeccesor.
I’d gladly recommend this game to survival horror fans, Lovecraftian fans, and those who played the first game or its remaster. It may not change up the survival horror genre, but it executes its core features well. Visually this game is amazing and the horror is done with passion and attention to details. I hope that everyone at Frogwares stays safe, happy and healthy given the situation in the Ukraine and am excited to see where the team might do next for any future installments they wish to develop.
Thank you for reading and don’t forget to stomp on the Slither!
