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Explore the flooded city of Arkham in this Lovecraftian survival horror. PC, PS5 & Xbox Series. Coming to Kickstarter soon!

The Sinking City 2 is a terrifying Lovecraftian journey, powered by Unreal Engine 5. Experience a heart-pounding survival horror as you explore the flooded city of Arkham and fight eldritch monsters beyond human comprehension.

Learn more here: https://frogwares.com/the-sinking-city-2-revealed/

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

More details via Game Watcher:

The Sinking City 2 will focus on combat, exploration, the Lovecraftian setting, and story when it releases for the PC, Xbox Series X, and PlayStation 5 in 2025

The Sinking City 2 will feature a new stand-alone stor​

Set in the 1920s USA, in the fictional city of Arkham, The Sinking City 2 will be powered by Unreal Engine 5.


The city has been plagued by a supernatural flood that has brought decay and Eldritch monsters to its streets. Players will encounter Deep Ones, Mi-gos, occult zealots and other iconic monsters from HP Lovecraft’s works in this survival-horror adventure

Here’s the full set of features:

• Immerse yourself in a distinct atmosphere of cosmic horror and twisted designs drawn from the dark wellsprings of HP Lovecraft's macabre imagination.
• Explore and survive the city of Arkham, a sprawling labyrinth of flooded alleys and decrepit mansions where eldritch horrors lurk just out of sight.
• Use an arsenal of weapons to fight off Deep Ones, Mi-gos, occult zealots, and other iconic monsters from the source material, as well as new and unique creatures that expand the Cthulhu Mythos.
• Experience the classic survival horror formula at its finest, complete with inventory management, optional puzzles, and backtracking to newly unlocked areas and hidden treasures.
• Use environmental storytelling and scattered clues to solve side mysteries that unlock new outcomes and gameplay bonuses.
• Thanks to Unreal Engine 5, The Sinking City 2 delivers next-gen visuals with Lumen global illumination, photorealistic Nanite geometry, life-like Metahuman-powered characters, and much more.

“The original Sinking City is still one of our most successful titles, most likely because of stronger horror genre leanings and setting.” said Sergiy Oganesyan, Publishing Director, Frogwares.


“We created quite a few detective adventures in the past, so now we’re going to mix things up to keep doing what people love about us - meaning story-rich experiences - while still being able to evolve. It’s exciting but at the same time risky.”


“We’re a totally independent studio that for the past 24 years has become known for detective games. But we need to start taking bolder moves. The industry is changing around us and we want to secure the studio’s future.” he added.


Becoming a shrewd detective has almost become a hallmark of Frogwares’ previous projects, given its success with the Sherlock Holmes series of video games. Naturally, The Sinking City 2 will continue in this tradition.


“We want investigation to be a beneficial part of the game but just for those who want it, offering tangible gameplay bonuses and eureka moments without it being a requirement to progress.” explained Denys Chebotarov, Executive Producer, Frogwares.


“By taking time to piece together clues, you’ll arm yourself with more knowledge and awareness of your options vs just coming across them by chance. We are also doing this for our existing fans who have come to love this feature from us, so they don’t feel left out. For those not keen on combat and survival-horror mechanics, we will also have various accessibility features to help.”


Frogwares are based in Ukraine, and as the country is still in a state of war, it’s turning to Kickstarter to ask the community to help fund its development and make The Sinking City 2 the best game it can be.


“At this stage, we have learned and adapted to our reality but the ongoing war adds an ominous layer of uncertainty, and the additional funds will help us deal with potential disruptions on top of helping fund various extra features we would love to implement.” said CEO Wael Amr.


“Our previous game, Sherlock Holmes The Awakened, was fully developed and released during the war. Through Kickstarter and our supporters, we built ourselves a safety net that saved us more than once. From power cuts as our electrical infrastructure was targeted for months to the need for team members to relocate at very short notice, this financial safety net proved invaluable to us.”


The Kickstarter campaign will be launching later in 2024.


We wish Frogwares well with the development of The Sinking City 2 and look forward to finding out more about it later in the year. It’s in development for the PC, Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.

 

[Beer Baelly]

Can't get into the first one sadly but more Lovecraft is always great

 

[Bartski]

cool I guess, I hope they're taking combat seriously this time

 

[Magic Carpet]

Murlock gargle sound effects are missing.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

Interesting, I would not have expected this.

I've followed Frogwares for a long time, since my wife and I play their Sherlock series (best one: Crimes and Punishments). I enjoyed the Sinking City, truly a unique style of game even if had plenty of flaws in the mechanics.

But it's surprising how much they have doubled down on being the Lovecraft developer, instead of being the Sherlock guys. Their last Sherlock game was just a weaker Lovecraft setup with some Sherlock awkwardly on top, so at least it's better to go down one road or the other and stop seeking some weird middle ground.

That said, we'll miss their detective games. I hope Sinking City 2 has as much investigation as the first title... it was quite nice that they never used waypoints etc in it, and your choice of where in the city to go was driven by more natural dialogue or information about landmarks, street names, etc.

 

[adamsapple]

Can't get into the first one sadly but more Lovecraft is always great

The first one takes a bit to get used to, but it's pretty decent once you get into the loop.

It also received a fairly good new-gen upgrade a year or two ago.

 

[Plague Doctor]

Dear dark lords from beyond the stars,

Please have the devs keep it more or less the same gameplay loop and vibe but fix the god damn jank in movement, combat, animations, breathing, etc, etc, practically anything that involves actions.

And vary up the creatures/enemies.

At its core, SC1 is a good game that falls flat with its technical amateur hour bullshit.

 

[Buggy Loop]

All that money spent on CGI and I can't tell wtf the gameplay will be like

Useless

 

[Bartski]

Dear dark lords,

Please keep it more or less the same gameplay loop and vibe but fix the god damn jank in movement, combat, animations, breathing, etc, etc, practically anything that involves actions.

And vary up the creatures/enemies.

pretty much. I stopped playing after the second chapter, monsters sucked and combat was even worse than I expected. Everything outside action was ok tho, I'll keep an eye on this one

 

[Plague Doctor]

pretty much. I stopped playing after the second chapter, monsters sucked and combat was even worse than I expected. Everything outside action was ok tho, I'll keep an eye on this one

It's upsetting how much I felt combat systems wanted to convince me that I didn't like the game. I think it lays out one of the best Lovecraft inspired settings and presents its characters and themes well. But then... then you have to actually play it and fuck me, it was disappointing. It can all be fixed but they have to nail the combat in part 2.

Edit: Forgot to mention the investigation system. It's cool as hell. Could use some stream lining, but they are striking gold there.

 

[semiconscious]

whoa! talk about unexpected. very, very in. one of my favorite last gen games, & going with a fresh, stand-alone story is a great decision on frogwares part...

 

[Mr Hyde]

Fantastic news. Loved the original. Bought it for Switch, PS5 and GoG so I'm day 1 on this. I hope they improve the combat and monster variety, as those were the biggest flaws. I hope they don't dumb down the detective stuff and the deep story, characters and lore, as that was the best thing about the game. The Lovecraftian themes and setting was second to none in Sinking City.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

> Unlike The Sinking City 1 which was a detective adventure with a horror flavor, the sequel is a full-scale survival horror game with emphasis on combat and exploration. We are also keeping investigation as an optional mechanic, one that will yield real gameplay benefits if you decide to engage with it!

This part give me some concern... the best aspect of the first game was open-ended investigation across the city; the worst part was the actual combat. I don't see why they think re-balancing away from the detective work is good.

 

[StueyDuck]

I enjoyed the first one... but it very much needs alot of work, and I don't just mean the eurojank side of it.

The gameplay loop very quickly because repetitive even though initially its an interesting loop, actually researching your targets and finding where they live and so on.

There just wasn't much more than that

 

[The Cockatrice]

Ah yes Frogwares, jack of all trades masters of none jank. Pass

 

[mdkirby]

excellent, love their games, hope there's plenty of investigation still, the interview sounds like there'll be quite a bit, I'll throw a few hundred quid their way once the kickstarters up regardless. One of my fav studios.

 

[CanUKlehead]

Sweet. Another Let's Play to watch someone trudge through a Lovecraft game.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Awesome! I still need to get the first game on GOG.

 

[DirtyBast8rd]

Can't wait! The Sinking City is one of my favorite games.

 

[Alan Wake]

This was a surprise. I never could get into the first game despite trying several times. Atmosphere was OK though.

Hope this is better. Looks scarier at least.

 

[Diseased Yak]

Awesome news!

 

[Horatius]

dang youd think it would have sunk by now

 

[ManaByte]

BTW the game isn't being made yet. It's a Kickstarter announcement.