I’ve always had a soft spot for survival horror games. Whether I’m wandering through the terrifying corridors of Resident Evil, getting lost in the psychological nightmare of Silent Hill, or trying to make sense of the supernatural weirdness of Alan Wake, horror games have always been some of my favorites. So when I was kindly given the opportunity to play The Sinking City 2, I was very intrigued by a game that feels like it combines elements of all three. And, as you can probably imagine, the horror fan inside of me is very happy.
Developed by Ukrainian studio Frogwares, The Sinking City 2 is the sequel to 2019’s The Sinking City, but it takes the series in a much more survival-horror-focused direction. Set in a flooded, otherworldly version of 1920s Arkham, you play as occult adventurer Calvin Rafferty, who finds himself battling grotesque Lovecraftian creatures while investigating a mysterious supernatural threat. Unlike its detective-heavy predecessor, the sequel puts combat, exploration, resource management and horror front and center.
Frogwares has also built the sequel in Unreal Engine 5, essentially using it as an opportunity to reinvent the series and move beyond its traditional detective-adventure roots. I’ve spent a few hours with the game now, and honestly, I’m already intrigued. Here are my thoughts on The Sinking City 2.
The Sinking City 2 is a horror fan’s playground
To be frank, I haven’t played the first The Sinking City, but after doing some research, I found that playing the original isn’t necessary to enjoy the sequel, as The Sinking City 2 tells a standalone story.
It’s important to note that Frogwares deliberately made investigation optional, allowing it to support the survival-horror experience rather than getting in the way of it.
That meant going into it, I had no idea what to expect, but that only made the experience more interesting. The Sinking City 2 spends its opening minutes establishing the story, with Calvin Rafferty sitting at the bedside of Faye Bennett after a ritual the pair performed goes horribly wrong. Faye has been left in a mysterious, coma-like state, while Calvin is determined to find a way to bring her back.
From there, you’re quickly introduced to the game’s survival-horror mechanics as you start your first mission to collect an important item, with exploration, scavenging and puzzles along the way. But having played my fair share of survival horror games like Resident Evil, I found The Sinking City 2’s challenges to be fairly easy.
However, the game makes up for that with its combat system, especially during your first encounter with the Slither, one of the game’s grotesque creatures.
What I appreciate about the game is that it has four combat difficulty levels, depending on how challenging you want your experience to be during enemy encounters and boss fights.
It’s important to note that Frogwares deliberately made investigation optional, allowing it to support the survival-horror experience rather than getting in the way of it. Hence why combat is more of a central focus, and it’s very similar to Resident Evil, particularly when it comes to the limited ammunition.
You’ll need to search drawers and rooms for supplies, while dedicated safe rooms give you somewhere to store items and save your progress. You have to conserve ammunition, target enemy weak spots and decide whether a fight is even worth taking. Keep in mind that the gunplay can sometimes feel a little clunky, especially when you’re trying to dodge at the same time.
But, in a way, the lack of crispness in the gameplay gives the game some charm. You’re navigating a rundown city crawling with reanimated corpses thanks to supernatural worms, and with the protagonist lacking any real fighting skills while desperately trying to save his lover, the jankiness almost makes sense.
What does become a little frustrating, though, are the stiff animations during particularly important cutscenes, as well as the fact that some environments can look very similar, with the game occasionally reusing assets and textures.
Despite some of the game’s technical roughness, The Sinking City 2 doesn’t fail to be visually pleasing. The flooded city is dark, oppressive and convincingly abandoned, with the fog, rain, water and muted color palette helping to create that constant feeling of unease. Even places like the flooded Miskatonic University, ruined hospital and fish market feel like real locations that existed before the city was submerged.
The rough edges are noticeable, but the underlying atmosphere and art direction are genuinely good, and you have to give the game serious credit for that.
The Sinking City 2 isn’t polished, but there’s something special here
Of course, for a Lovecraftian world to really come to life, the story has to be good enough to make you care about its characters and the goal the protagonist is trying to achieve. The Sinking City 2 has a very enjoyable narrative, with Calvin’s motivation to save Faye giving the game a clear emotional hook.
The flashbacks add some much-needed warmth to an otherwise gruesome and dark story, and I found it particularly funny that the protagonist channels a lot of Indiana Jones’ energy.
Rather than getting bogged down in an open-world investigation, the sequel tells a tighter, more linear story across different locations in Arkham. Along the way, there are plenty of strange twists, dark discoveries and increasingly bizarre situations that kept me wanting to see what would happen next.
Plus, we get to see more of their relationship through flashbacks and interactions, with their romance proving surprisingly effective. There’s a flashback early on when Calvin enters the library in search of something, only to find Faye deep in occult research, and the two share a flirty encounter.
When the flashback ends, we’re suddenly back in the same spot, only this time Faye is gone and we’re left in the darkness. These flashbacks add some much-needed warmth to an otherwise gruesome and dark story, and I found it particularly funny that the protagonist channels a lot of Indiana Jones’ energy.
It’s also hard to talk about The Sinking City 2 without acknowledging what Frogwares went through to actually get the game made. The Ukrainian studio was already in pre-production when Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, forcing development to stop. The team eventually resumed work while dealing with power cuts, air raids and developers being called into service. That makes finally seeing The Sinking City 2 in players’ hands feel like a genuine achievement, especially considering this is Frogwares’ first proper attempt at survival horror.
There’s also more here than simply finishing the main story and moving on. The Sinking City 2 offers New Game Plus, with additional unlockables including infinite ammunition, concept art and costumes, while the developers have packed Arkham with secrets and lore to discover. After only a few hours, I obviously haven’t experienced everything it has to offer, but that’s perhaps what has surprised me most. I went into The Sinking City 2 expecting a creepy horror game to dip into, and instead I’ve found myself genuinely wanting to see what horrors are waiting around the next corner.
The Sinking City 2 is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
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