The Sinking City 2 scraps investigation for stronger combat

Whilst The Sinking City 2 doesn’t feel like a sequel to 2019’s The Sinking City, it’s still a very strong survival horror adventure.

I liked The Sinking City when it first came along, even if I felt the endings were a little rushed by comparison to the rest of the game. Both exploring the fictional city of Oakmont as it gradually succumbed to a never-ending flood and meeting its residents was enjoyable. The open world was pleasant to explore as you worked through its side quests and unlocked more parts of the city. There was plenty of investigation too, as main character Charles was a PI rather than a fighter. There was a lot to like, and the remaster did a solid job of modernising it somewhat. 

But you can forget all that, as The Sinking City 2 feels like a completely different game. This isn’t exactly a bad thing, as it’s a far more polished experience than its predecessor with combat that’s much sharper and a far more tense atmosphere. If you were coming into this as a fan of the original and expecting more though, then this isn’t the game you’re looking for. 

You play as Calvin, a man who seemingly has a great interest in discovering and researching the occult. His partner Faye has suffered at the hands of a ritual that they carried out and is trapped in a coma, but Charles has discovered a further ritual that may allow her soul to return to her body. So he sets off for the local university in the flooded streets of Arkham to find the texts he needs to act on his plan. Obviously things don’t go as planned.

Much like the original, you’ll travel around the flooded streets by boat, finding mooring spots to explore on foot, find resources, and progress the plot. Where this differs considerably is in how you interact with the world. The first game had you exploring, speaking to locals, and finding and completing side quests at your leisure, often involving use of investigative skills. The Sinking City 2 loses a lot of that, limiting exploration and side questing in favour of a more tailored and linear experience.

You’ll do very little speaking to side characters aside from during cutscenes, and whilst these characters are often interesting, they really serve to drive the plot forward rather than being part of what feels like a living world. There’s also far less exploration as you’ll often be operating in small locales instead of exploring the city as a whole. This is good in a way as you do far less backtracking to try and solve cases, but you’re playing something closer to Resident Evil 2 Remake or The Evil Within than you are The Sinking City. That isn’t a bad thing, as those games are very well made, as is The Sinking City 2, but if you wanted more of what came before, then you won’t find it here.

What you will find though, are cramped corridors filled with dangerous zombie style enemies, and a distinct lack of resources. This is far more survival horror than investigative adventure. Foes are reanimated corpses, brought back by wriggling worm creatures referred to as the Slither. You can put them down with your array of standard survival horror weapons, but your ammo is very limited outside of boss battles, so you’ll either want to ensure you hit those glowing weak spots or make a run for it.

A little complaint I have here is that the areas you explore are often a little too cramped for the volume of enemies you face. You’re encouraged to evade and escape rather than confront every time, but you aren’t always given the space to do so. This does push a bit of risk vs reward for combat, but I feel it’s a little heavily skewed against evasion. 

Outside of combat, the puzzles are pretty fun, with you needing to actually read the notes you find and interpret them to progress the plot and find hidden items. Completing those hidden side objectives is somewhat crucial, as unlockable perks are quite useful, but not half as useful as inventory space upgrades! Calvin seems to be able to carry as much as a sleep deprived toddler early on, and it’s very irritating to find crafting items that you need to cart back to a safe room over and over. Once you’ve got a few capacity upgrades under (attached?) to your belt, things become much more enjoyable.

With all this said, The Sinking City 2 is a very well put together game. The systems feel well thought out for the most part, and the combat is very tight and responsive. The presentation helps here, with environments feeling genuine and artistically well designed. There’s the minor Unreal engine texture pop in annoyance from time to time, but this is really only when you load the game up and the visuals are otherwise quite lovely. The audio is strong too, especially the ambient screeches from enemies just a couple of rooms over that you just know are going to come bursting out of a doorway any moment.

Whilst fans of the original may find that this isn’t exactly what they were after, survival horror fans should enjoy The Sinking City 2. Considering the circumstances the Ukraine based developers find themselves in, this is a remarkably well made product, and is absolutely worth a look for fans of the genre and H. P. Lovecraft content in general.

The Sinking City 2 is available now on PC, Xbox, and Playstation.