Frogwares‘ The Sinking City 2 is Resident Evil with the T-virus zombies swapped out for Lovecraftian horrors. That’s the best way I can describe this fairly tight, resource-starved survival horror experience set in the drowned streets of 1920s Arkham. Instead of the quip-dropping Leon Kennedy, we have the fedora-sporting Calvin Rafferty. He’s an occultist searching for a way to break a curse that left his partner, Faye Bennett, trapped in a supernatural coma following a botched attempt to explore the Dreamlands. This pursuit travels through a linear sequence of waterlogged environments, like a derelict hospital and a rotting fish market. The rising floodwaters brings a parasitic worm species known as the Slither, and these squelching creatures reanimate the dead to hunt down the stubborn (or stupid) residents who refused to evacuate. It is a gorgeously grotesque experience defined by constant tension, forcing the management of limited ammo while solving environmental puzzles. But the ever-present threat of hideous abominations turns every simple scavenge into a desperate fight to stay above water.
The setting housing the terrors of The Sinking City 2, Arkham, is the star of the game. Subdued colors and a haunting soundscape define the ruined metropolis. Water levels rise high against the old-fashioned brick architecture. Calvin navigates the drowned streets using a small motorboat, which acts as a simple bridge between linear levels rather than open-world exploration. The boat rides break up the pacing before Calvin docks at locations like a creepy college, a high-class hotel, and other seemingly normal locales turned distressing. Each location is brimming with atmospheric dread. The silence of the abandoned buildings is regularly interrupted by the guttural shouts of pustulated corpses and squelching sounds of parasitic worms. By comparison, Calvin himself remains a fairly straightforward protagonist and lacks the depth of the environmental storytelling in which he’s housed. His defining trait is his devotion to Faye, and he tackles eldritch horrors with a blunt curiosity. His flat personality isn’t aided by slightly stiff facial animations and rigid voice acting in cutscenes.
Ominous and Oppressive
Survival horror mechanics dictate every action Calvin commits to. This sequel relies heavily on inventory management, and that means space is notably limited. A handgun and a shotgun take up most of the protagonist’s available slots. This restriction forces regular trips back to the nearest safe room to stash key items and excess materials before heading back out to grab the items that were begrudgingly forgone. At least a color-coded map system notates which spaces have been fully searched, avoiding spending extra time seeking out those crucial resources. Additionally, ammo and health items are crafted from the exact same pool of scavenged resources. This shared economy presents difficult decisions. Crafting bullets means sacrificing potential healing items, and vice versa. It often makes running away the smartest option. If a hallway is occupied by three enemies, sprinting past them saves both bullets and bandages, the latter of which assumes Calvin successfully dodges past the tentacle’d freaks.
When running is not an option, combat takes center stage. A prominent threat is the Slither. These writhing, eel-like worms arrive with the floodwaters, burrowing into dead bodies and reanimating them into new threats. The Slither form glowing, pus-filled growths on their hosts, highlighting specific weak points to deal more damage. And that translates to less bullets spent. However, the threat does not end when a body drops; the worms can burst from a defeated corpse and dart across the floor to reanimate a different body. Those pesky parasites need to meet Calvin’s boot to prevent them from continuing the undead assault on our protagonist.
The combat system possesses a focus mechanic. Standing perfectly still while aiming gradually tightens the crosshairs and increases accuracy. This mechanic pairs directly with weapon upgrades. A fully focused pistol shot can slow enemies down. A fully focused rifle shot temporarily slows time. However, this emphasis on precision makes the Thompson feel less economic. The submachine gun burns through scarce ammo far too quickly, and the grenade launcher ammunition is expensive to craft. The shotgun is helpful for crowd control, but one of its unlockable upgrades replaces a standard melee shove with a cumbersome axe swing. The axe has a rough hitbox and often leaves Calvin vulnerable to incoming attacks. Calvin does have access to a dodge, but using it in close quarters frequently results in taking a cheap hit from enemies due to the lack of i-frames.
Homogeneous Horrors
Speaking of the enemies, variety is a bit thin. Calvin fights the same basic Slither pawns for most of the campaign. They do gain a slightly evolved form, but the tactics to defeat them remain identical. The game features a handful of unique eldritch bosses, but these encounters are sparse. The limited enemy pool makes combat scenarios feel repetitive by the halfway point of the 10+ hour campaign. That said, the enemy designs are effective in being unnerving monstrosities. No matter how many times Calvin is grappled, the tentacles wildly flailing as they try to envelop his head never gets easier to watch play out onscreen.
To break up the combat, the game leans on environmental puzzles and a streamlined investigation system. The developer’s traditional detective mechanics have been scaled back but not completely abandoned. Calvin finds notes, letters, and documents scattered around Arkham, providing lore and clues for mandatory puzzles. The latter aids in efforts like deciphering a safe code, aligning symbols on a pillar, and other cognitive challenges. Players can open an Investigation menu to manually link connected clues, with successfully connected dots rewarding Calvin with Dream Essence. What is Dream Essence, you ask? It is a currency used to unlock talents for the Nightshade Mask strapped to Calvin’s back. Players can purchase upgrades like damage reduction, increased health, and faster weapon swapping. At the start, Calvin only has one active talent slot, but more can be obtained through spending large amounts of Dream Essence. Players are encouraged to scour every corner of the map to find enough of this currency to improve Calvin’s combat effectiveness. Completing the game unlocks an Ex Oblivione mode, allowing players to carry their hard-earned items and gear into harder difficulties while purchasing modifiers.
Now the real-world development conditions of and contributions to The Sinking City 2 must be acknowledged. The Ukrainian studio crafted this survival horror game while navigating a real-world war. Frogwares poured their harsh reality into their art. There’s no better example than the real air raid sirens from Ukraine embedded in the background of the game. The sound design is already exceptional, making the audio of slithering worms in the dark a skin-crawling experience, but the aforementioned example brings a haunting authenticity to the flooded city of Arkham.
The Sinking City 2 Review Verdict
The Sinking City 2: delivers a focused, grotesque nightmare. It mimics the structure of modern horror, albeit with some flaws. But the successes ultimately outweigh the missteps. Clever puzzle design and an oppressive resource economy keeps the tension high. The atmosphere alone makes the flooded streets of Arkham worth exploring, making for a visually repulsive yet engrossing sequel. – Joshua
[Editor’s Note: The Sinking City 2 was reviewed on PS5, and a copy was provided to us for review purposes.]
