The Sinking City (2019)

You are Charles Reed, WW I veteran and a private investigator. Hunted by grotesque visions and past traumas, you investigate the corrupt, racist and decadent city of Oakmont. You will slowly descend into a swirl of religious fanatics and discover the origins of the evil that engulfs the city. Inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft you will mostly walk, fast travel, fight some monsters and use your intuition to move forward with the story.

The entire game feels an alpha/beta version of what it should look, hopefully on their next installment. They have an interesting vision with their madness mechanic, combat feels sluggish and has a slightly steep learning curve but once you get the hang of it, first few hours into the game, it becomes easier and more of a chore than a true horror encounter. The game shines more on the cases and side cases you investigate and their background story and how the city horrors reveal themselves.

On my 25 hours playthrough with skills maxed out i had a lot of mixed feelings. You have your hype in the beginning but it slowly fades away due to the elements that keep repeating in a dull manor. It's still a good title, not the best Lovecraft work I've seen and i have to admit, it is really hard to express the true horror Lovecraft wrote in his stories, and put them in a detective game. The story is written well, cases are very interesting and they bring out the best and worst from the human soul. Voice acting is pretty descend but the city itself is not much alive.

Overall, it deserves a try only for the stories it tells if you can bypass the dull moments and you take your time.

People should probably ignore my opinion on this. I found out while playing it that the horror action-adventure FPS genre, which largely falls into the Resident Evil category, is not for me.

With ammunition, healing items and crafting items being rare and your inventory tiny, you constantly switching between needing stuff and not being able to loot crates because your inventory is full, with monsters getting more bullet-spongy over time, I am not having a good time. Not at all.

If this had been a point and click game, it would still have been too long, but I would definitely rate it higher. The open world unfortunately did not much for me.

The game has its moments, the humour is carefully sprinkled in so that you get a surprised chuckle out of it. The horror worked for me, especially the underwater parts were nightmare fuel for me because I already fear deep water.

If you can get it on sale and don't mind constantly craving bullets, it's worth a try (yes, I know you can get ammo from Red Skull places, but that means more shooting monsters, which I didn't like either).

I understand the people who love the game just as much as those who don't. For me, the only way I could finish it was with a cheat code that made me one-shot enemies and a walkthrough for the last third, so I could focus on getting through the story faster.

A game that makes me sigh in relief when it is over is just barely 3 stars, but then again I am not the audience it was made for.

Dark and Foreboding as it shuld be. I was halfway through it before I realized I could turn on a flashlight

this is a HP Lovecraft third person action-adventure shooter with some light CNC and RPG mechanics, oozing with atmosphere. It features a pretty nice clues and detective deduction system to progress your story and tell you your objectives. the storylines in it are above average for sure. You hope into boats like taxis to get to some parts of the 'sinking' city, which are novel but get old fast because the boat is hard to control and steer.

Do I know it? Girl, I AM the Old Golem!

I very much enjoyed this game but it's far from perfect, i can't even call it good because a lot of things are substandard in design. It also has rather shallow gameplay (The shooting aspects are okay, but it gets old once you learn the games gimmicks) But its still admirable because it connects lore and plays with it in fun ways, and its quite a large effort to make something like this, as there is a lot of stuff in it so it does resembles a AAA game (but it just isnt and the flaws show up here and there)

Thinking cap and tobacco pipe not included, but necessary to play

First, it took me a while to figure this game out and how to play it. It's somewhat unique and the closest thing i could compare it to is Vampire the Masquerade in how janky and weird it's blend of shooting, questing and exploration is. It has several different subcomponents, such as the clue system, the way mapping waypoints work (the game steers you towards doing it yourself unless you turn on an 'easy mode' for Detective bits)

The game is essentially you are navigating an overworld of about 7 districts and Fast travelling between them. Main quests have light CNC elements and the game 'attempts' to play something like a survival horror. There are houses that function essentially as dungeons with respawning monsters (small houses) and there are overrun areas that function as bigger (outdoor dungeons)

Most of the quests are fetch quests and similar and are good for grinding XP. The game features lots of nice dialogue scenes and interesting notes to read. There's plenty of references to HP Lovecraft stories, characters, concepts (and more) I enjoyed reading everything in this a good bit. The game excels in this regard.

Epileptic seizures, violence, racism and madness and more, oh my!

The game also features subject matter related to racism and gives you a disclaimer at the beginning. There are even KKK Meeting spots with hoods, robes photos etc. (You crash a meeting at one point and get to have a dialogue-induced shootout which was satisfying) You also get a rivalry between fishmen of innsmouth and the monkey men of Oldtown's Throgton (i think?) While this seems edgy it's befitting of the time and political climate I guess, so I didn't find anything wrong with it.

You'll be fighting Fishmen on the docks on occasion but battling bugs in the boat quite frequently as it tends to hitch and gets stuck due to bad collision

Some things about this game are a little tedious. IT tries to make you play detective and figure things out. Matching evidence to create a clearer picture of the overarching narrative of your main quests. or using libraries and police records to figure where to go next. It's not difficult but it took me some time to figure out how to play these 'minigames' Overall I liked it for the novelty but it was hit and miss at times. The game has clue 'icons' that supposedly let you have an idea of what they mean (such as researching it at a certain record archive, such as city hall or police station) but its hard to see and not clear. There's quite a few icons!

The game also features a complicated map with lots of icons that mean differen things which also took some time to learn how to use.

All in all its worth playing if you like Lovecraft. It's creepy and has nice ambient music shifting from droney and dreamy to foreboding and feels immersive and authentic to what I've read of his writing. But it has lots of flaws that are annoying and at times it can get repetitive. a lot of the buildings are recycled (asylums, medical clinics, and whatever you call that ruined house layout with the hidden passages) and that was lame. The way enemies spawn is also gimmicky. (Just about every subcomponent of this game gets a little tiresome after a while) You also can't just wander into a unique dungeon and expect to find stuff unless you've got a quest to tell you about it. I strongly disliked that. the RPG elements could have been fleshed out more as could the CNC dynamics (half the time it's simply peaceful resolution (with reward) or violent confrontation (for no reason)

I enjoyed it. I'm tempted to give it four stars instead of three because I mean, I played every side quest even just to see the story and notes. There are just so many things that could be improved and made better pertaining to various mechanics, details, UI elements, etc. Play it if you want a Lovecraft game that dovetails nicely with the lore, or if you like the Sherlock Holmes series that this developer is known for (I guess?) I'm not sure i'd recommend it to anyone else. Gamers who like third person shooter games (its not the core strength or a chief part of the game) have better options IMO, but these third person action-adventure games are generally of a genre I'm lukewarm on to begin with. However, I did enjoy this one more than most and found the 40+ hours sunk into it well worth the wade through its waters.

Plus it's got a Golem!

I'm a huge fan of Frogwares from their Sherlock Holmes series, so when this was announced I was very excited as someone who plays a lot of Call of Cthulhu tabletop. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it until more recently due to not having a PS5 and not wanting to give Nacon any money (IYKYK). Thankfully, I finally got my hands on a PS5 and this was one of the first games I got.

I had to play this game in fits and starts, not because I wasn't enjoying myself, but because it really triggered my PTSD for some reason so I'd inevitably have to tap out after a few days of playing at a time. Will that be an issue for others? I can't say, and I honestly can't pinpoint what about the game caused my issues. But, I do want to throw it out there so anyone with said issues can have fair warning.

Now, to the game. The main story is rich, interesting, and full of wonderful lore. I love the city they developed and the ways they sprinkled in Cthulhu lore with their own. It was very fun. Where it really shines is its detective bits. Frogwares really knows how to do these things right. Full stop. I also enjoyed the leveling up system. It was simple but well done, and you can easily max out if you're doing side quests and exploring. Rushing through the main stories only would likely be rough but doable. I much prefer taking my time exploring and doing other things when games let me though.

That said, while the main story and side quests were fun and engaging, there's a whole set of fetch quest type missions that are repetitive as hell. Not only in that you have a whole list of the same goal over and over again, but also that it takes you to places that basically look the same, with the same pattern of things to do. These don't include any type of investigation and they just weren't it. The proper side quests, though, are worth it, as they are investigative with good story of their own.

The graphics in this aren't the best, no, but they also aren't bad. The cut scenes can actually be quite beautiful. There is certainly an upgrade to the PS5 version from what I've seen of side by side comparisons (more on that later). There's some really good physics at play - I particularly like the way the water moves and reacts. Atmosphere is another thing Frogwares is good at, and this is no different. The city itself is moody. Both the sound and lighting design work in a way to set the tone perfectly. So, no, I don't care the overall graphics are atypical AA quality at the end of the day.

The only true downside of the game for me was combat. Though, I think part of that is my own personal failings of being crap with horror games. There are a variety of weapons you'll end up with through the course of the game. Ammo is scarce and you'll have to craft it yourself most of the time. Crafting stuff is easily found, though, especially when you start knowing where to look and the fact you can keep raiding the same locations as you please. Also, taking certain skills will help. I say all this as I saw other reviews saying supplies were hard to come by, so I'm not sure if it was rebalanced for PS5 version (again, more later), or what. But I didn't have an issue. Back to combat: The shooting actually isn't that bad. A little janky, but not bad. I hated the melee strike with the trenching tool. I felt like the thing never hit where I wanted it to, which was super frustrating, especially when you have a creature up in your face. That said, while not my favorite part of the game, I did get used to it and the rest of the game made up for it.

Lastly, a small change I really think should be made: There is a feature where as you lose sanity, the screen will blur and warp, images will appear in the corners, etc. Now, it's an amazing effect, don't get me wrong. I really do like the concept. However, there should be an option to switch all or part of it off - specifically the weird warping and swaying motion. If you're someone who experiences motion sickness or similar issues, it's going to make any type of combat very difficult. I don't even have those problems, yet it still was nauseating to me at times. So often I had to back out of places just to let my sanity bar come back up so it would go away before I could continue. It's a pretty big accessibility oversight, IMO.

In conclusion, this was a really fun game, despite it's flaws and slight jank. Now that Frogwares has full rights and control of the game back on ALL platforms, it's the perfect time to dive into this game. And for those that got it on non-PS5 platforms, in case you missed the announcement, all editions will be getting the new update they did for the PS5 version, so if you tapped out for one reason or another, it's worth giving it another look.

The Sinking City is a game that I found delightful. As the name suggests, it is set in a sunken city that is full of references to famous writers such as Lovecraft, Poe, and Heinlein, among others. The city is half-flooded with water, which creates a unique gameplay experience where players can travel on foot or by boat. The boats spawn near every harbor, making it easy to navigate the city.

One thing that stood out to me in this game was the absence of automarkers on the map. Instead, players are given descriptions of places, and they need to use their own intuition and exploration skills to find the points of interest. This added an extra layer of challenge to the game and made it more immersive.

As a private eye, players spend most of their time investigating. These investigations are usually split into two parts: finding all the clues in an area and then recreating the sequence of events. While the puzzles aren't too challenging, it was still a fun mini-game to search different archives for clues. I appreciated the attention to detail in the investigation gameplay.

The game has some interesting side quests, one of which involves hunting down a witch that sewed a librarian's mouth shut. This side quest includes a boss fight and a video sequence, which I found impressive.

I also appreciated the self-awareness in the game's dialogue, where a police officer explains why he dislikes the protagonist:

The choices players make in the game are more subtle than in other games and are influenced by The Witcher. For example, one quest involves choosing between a necromancer that resurrects the dead to torture them and a Mayan vampire that eats people at night.

While both choices are bad, I appreciated the nuance and thought that went into the decision-making process. However, it was disappointing that the choices players make do not ultimately affect the ending.

The game gives players weapons during key sequences, but the process is not shown. Additionally, while the investigations in the game are enjoyable, they can get repetitive as they all follow a similar pattern.

Overall, I found The Sinking City to be an enjoyable game with plenty of references and interesting side quests. The lack of automarkers on the map added an extra layer of challenge, and the investigation gameplay was engaging. While the choices players make aren't consequential, they still add an interesting layer to the game's story.

So, first off, keep your expectations low. This game has an incredible story that ties in different elements from Lovecraft's stories, it's just so fascinating and the characters were so odd and intriguing to talk with. While the main story focuses on what was wrong with the city and your own bouts of insanity, the various side quests dived deeper into the weirdness and you get to show more sides of yourself as an investigator. The gameplay and combat is where all the issues lie, and if you expect them, you won't be too bothered and can get through it fine.

The combat was okay, you start off with basically nothing and have to progress through the chapters to get better weapons. You also have to scavenge and craft ammo, first aid kits, traps, bombs, etc. so you can't go crazy with your fighting. I liked the scavenging aspect, especially after I identified a few "safe" spaces to loot. It's up to you to decide if you want to explore the infected areas for more loot, but you can mostly avoid them throughout the majority of the games.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of glitches and odd transitions that almost made the game unplayable. In one example, I died looking for the professor and when I reloaded in the most recent auto save, the professor was not in the room, which was a problem as you needed to talk to the professor in order to progress. I ended up going back a couple of saves to the game back in the normal state of things. In another example, I was doing a side quest that required using Mind's Eye to get through. When I died during battle and reloaded to return, I was completely blocked from being able to use Mind's Eye to finish that side quest. While those annoyances were definitely barriers in the game, I was able to overcome most of the glitches to continue onward. Frustrating, but honestly, I expected it when reading about this game prior to purchase, and was anticipating some of these issues to work through.

Despite those issues, I genuinely enjoyed the game for the story and characters, it made me look for more investigative style games and games that explore Lovecraftian lore. If you have any suggestions, let me know!

+ Plus +

• Atmosphere

As soon as we get off our boat and set our foot in Oakmont, we will be welcomed by some eerie aura that keeps us wondering "What is this place?"

• Looking for clues as a private eye

We have freedom in terms of where we want to go, but that won't get us far if we don't know where we are going and what we're trying to find. For example, looking for something in the local newspaper, won't yield any results, if we don't know what are we trying to find (if our search is not attached to any case).

• The sanity level system

The​ less resilient we are mentally to all the obscure and eerie things happening around Oakmont, the more our sanity will suffer. It causes some disturbances such as blurred vision or distorted images. The main character reaches even for his gun to end with himself or his own visions start attacking him. A timely injection can bring our sanity back to normal.

• Some side missions are quite intriguing

They usually help you understand what happened in Oakmont. A lot of this information we will find in households that we will visit along the way. I can still remember the lonely child who was left alone in its house and wrote a short note describing what was happening. Another example of a good side mission was the call for help from the local librarian - Joy. A creepy but gripping side story.

• The main story in quite well-written

I was expecting 10-15 hours of gameplay tops, but the game got me playing for more than twice as that! It is interesting how the game throws us around from one NPC to another, but in the end it all makes sense where we end up.

• Interesting monster design

Even though there aren't that many species of opponents, they are quite interesting and will make you shudder, as you try to save ammo.

Minus

• Sudden animation transitions in dialogues

It was the first thing that struck my sense of aesthetics. It seems like the dialogues were recorded together and assembled as a set with the video. Afterwards, those sets were cut into parts and used depending on players' choice in the game. That's my impression. Feels choppy sometimes.

• Long loading time (35-80 sec)

While playing The Sinking City you don't want to die. After death you have to wait 80-90 for the game to reload. Which triples the usual 30-35 secs when we fast travel.

• Exploration (backtracking)

Fast travelling is a great time-saver, and it is good to invest some time at the beginning of the game to find all fast travel points. Many locations will have to be visited numerous times, and running around is not one of the game-selling points.

• No sprint

Charles is not in a hurry. Even with monsters spewing shit behind him, he keeps jogging, as if he had everything under control.

• Monotonous gameplay

A lot of the gameplay solutions are copied and pasted from somewhere else in the game. Locate the right place on the mat, fast travel, find tracks in another copy of a room you have seen earlier in a different place, look for a clue where to go next. Rinse and repeat until you solve the case.

• Summary

The Sinking City is a rather mediocre attempt at creating an open-world that would be interesting to explore. Even though Oakmont has some intriguing locations and can keep fans of Lovecraft's Cthulhu glued to the pad for a bit longer, overall it collapses under its own weight and limitations to deliver something more memorable.

• Verdict: 6/10

Gameplay below:

[Wrote a much longer criticism of The Sinking City for my blog, but here's the conclusion.]

I have no real sense of what it was like to develop The Sinking City, but I suspect that a more cohesive and competent game would have resulted if Frogwares had reduced the scale of their vision and designed something smaller. In a smaller game, many of the systemic-narrative collisions would be obviously inappropriate and would hopefully never be include. I can’t rightfully say if The Sinking City is this repetitive and dissatisfying because Frogwares conceded to popular taste by adopting conventional open-world design, but I can say what is good about the game is buried under miles of mediocrity.

Littered throughout the game are examples of a visionary mangling of Lovecraftian tropes. As Matthew Gault wrote at length for Waypoint, the weirdest and most detested figures of Lovecraft’s mythos find refuge and a semblance of humanity in the city Frogwares created. Playing boring games long enough to witness buried, transformative moments is the unfortunate, but often ethically necessary labor to unearth hidden, noteworthy experiences. My new favorite example of a trope being inverted came from such work, learning that the Esoteric Order of Dagon have diversified their goals after establishing themselves in Oakmont. No longer merely a cult for the worship of a fish god, they now provide food and community services similar to the socialist Survival Programs of the Black Panthers during the American 1960s. This could be a brilliant highjacking, but between moments of intrigue and fun, generic boredom pervades.

I believe Frogwares could create a good, Lovecraftian investigative adventure game, but The Sinking City is not that. Their talent and passion for handling the source material is clear to me when the normalcy of regular, urban, 20th century American living survives and isn’t completely dissolved by the weirdness of an Eldritch reality. In that quality, I found an empathetic bridge to the terror and struggle of living in Oakmont, a connection to the real world, that most Lovecraftian media forget to build. But it is difficult to find anything specific in this sinking, auto-generated mess. Without the anxiety to build a game that , in every aspect, strives and fails to be as big as contemporary open-world games usually are, The Sinking City might have been a better game that I could easily recommend. But it isn’t that game.

Gameplay: 2.5/5 Story: 3/5 Presentation: 3.5/5

Basis:

Story= plot progression, intrigue, characters, world

Gameplay= Mechanics, gameplay options (freedom), repetition, goals, difficulty

Presentation= graphics, animation, environment/character design, Art direction, Script, music

A partial bias in my review may be that I had much higher expectations for this game than how it turned out especially with the roughly 2-month delay that they had from its original release date. I really like the Lovecraft themed world and they did a pretty good job building the atmosphere that I had hoped, but where the game fell flat for me was the struggle to decide what it wanted to be. It fought between being a puzzle mystery game and a third person shooter. This divide in what the game was made it excel in neither category. The puzzle (investigation) side of it was fun for the first three mysteries, but then it was the same old uncomplicated process for every investigation.

Most investigations took me about 5 minutes to do with the killing and the solving side. To do all of these investigations required a lot of fast traveling which consisted of about a minute or more (ps4 load times haha). So a fifth of the game I felt like I was fast traveling because there was no incentive to roam the streets since most of the "open world" consisted of locked doors or frustrating flood zones (I know right.. I should've expected flooded zones, but not such a terrible boat vehicle). Along with the plethora of load screens, there was a lot of struggles with the world rendering fast enough for your character to travel the world. Most of the time when traveling by boat I would be floating through an empty grey space until the other half of the world loaded. The load time was only a few seconds, but none the less it frustrated me.

Also to make things worse the main story of the game felt as compelling as most side missions in games like these. It fell into about the same level of genericness as the other missions up until like the last couple of main missions.

The game would have received a much larger score from me had the gameplay been refined and more creative ways to solve mysteries were implemented. Also if the game is going to be "open world" or semi-open world give the player reasons to explore like. Unique weapons or abilities that otherwise they couldn't get. Not just another generic mission.

-clunky, load times are rough, stiff animation -repetitive, lots of fast travel -not open world