It's been evident for a while now that the people at Frogwares are really big Lovecraft fans. Something that can be seen in the crossover they made with their long-running Sherlock Holmes series and the cyberpunk-infused Magrunner. The Sinking City stands as their deepest dive into the Cthulhu mythos yet, and right from the get-go you can see what a marked improvement it is over their previous works. Presentation is something the developer has often struggled with and for the first time a game of theirs actually looks pretty great. It also represents an evolution in their approach to gameplay as they branch out into the realm of open-world survival-horror, while still retaining the sleuthing mechanics they've built their reputation on.
There certainly isn't any handholding going on here. The title forgoes a lot of the comforts of modern day gaming in favor of a more realistic approach. The only way to restore your health or refill your guns is to craft first aid kits and bullets yourself, making searching every container you come across for supplies an absolute must. You also often have to figure out where your next objective is by looking up street names on the map and combing the area for the right building when you get there. It's decidedly old-school in a very charming way that also serves to up the challenge. You can even disable helpful icons in the character's journal to make things require further deciphering on your part.
Not all of the ways it hearkens back to the PS1/PS2 era of horror are great however. Expect a lot of backtracking to and fro between a few key locations without so much as a mini-map to help you get your bearings, forcing you to constantly bring up the pause menu. Fast travel points do alleviate some of the tedium, but they must first be discovered and even then there's still a fair amount of distance you have to cover on foot most of the time. The real annoyance with this though is that it reveals the game's technical limitations. You'll frequently run into random loads when walking around or entering a building. That's because sections of the city are regularly only spawning into existence as you approach them. The latter of which is especially surprising given how often the mere handful of interior layouts are reused.
I think the real dated aspect the majority of people are going to take the most issue with though is the combat. Just like protagonists from previous console generations, our leading man is slow and somewhat clunky to maneuver. This of course makes aiming at the fast moving enemies when shooting rather unreliable, and your only melee attack option is an awkward swipe of a shovel that also runs into trouble when foes begin to circle you. You're given tools like traps, molotovs, and homemade explosives to help out, but they take a second to use. As someone who's introduction to the genre largely consisted of the original Silent Hill titles none of this was too big of a problem for me personally, but at the same time I would be lying if I said there weren't a few tedious encounters as a result of all this.
Luckily, just about everything you do grants you experience that unlocks "knowledge points," which in turn can be spent on new abilities. I'm hesitant to call this a true RPG as while there are side-quests, story decisions that give a whole new meaning to the term "morally grey," and skills to invest in it honestly just never truly feels like one. You're not really increasing stats so much as you are just gaining the ability to carry more items or use weapons more effectively. So these systems come off as being implemented solely as a way of adding a little extra depth as opposed to anything else.
It's the writing and setting that ultimately make this worth playing. The team at Frogwares didn't just focus on the tales of the Great Old Ones alone, but actually pulled from the wider array of Lovecraftian fiction and the contributions made by other authors to the universe as well to create something truly unique. It contains all of the themes you would expect and implements them in interesting ways, such as the creative visual effects that appear onscreen any time your character's mental state begins to slip which I don't think I've ever seen another game try before. I don't know what it is about this mythos, but as with Cyanide's Call of Cthulhu before it I once again jumped right back in after completing it the first time to see all the other outcomes. The amount of freedom you have is genuinely surprising. There are some options tied to the trophies that you could only find out on your own if you were some kind of sadistic weirdo. Or CallMeKevin (kudos if you know who that is). Sure it's not exactly scary in the traditional sense and some of the original creature designs are more Silent Hill than Lovecraft, but faults aside this is a standout piece of cosmic horror that is sure to be a treat for anyone who knows their Dagons from their Idh-yaas.
8/10
There certainly isn't any handholding going on here. The title forgoes a lot of the comforts of modern day gaming in favor of a more realistic approach. The only way to restore your health or refill your guns is to craft first aid kits and bullets yourself, making searching every container you come across for supplies an absolute must. You also often have to figure out where your next objective is by looking up street names on the map and combing the area for the right building when you get there. It's decidedly old-school in a very charming way that also serves to up the challenge. You can even disable helpful icons in the character's journal to make things require further deciphering on your part.
Not all of the ways it hearkens back to the PS1/PS2 era of horror are great however. Expect a lot of backtracking to and fro between a few key locations without so much as a mini-map to help you get your bearings, forcing you to constantly bring up the pause menu. Fast travel points do alleviate some of the tedium, but they must first be discovered and even then there's still a fair amount of distance you have to cover on foot most of the time. The real annoyance with this though is that it reveals the game's technical limitations. You'll frequently run into random loads when walking around or entering a building. That's because sections of the city are regularly only spawning into existence as you approach them. The latter of which is especially surprising given how often the mere handful of interior layouts are reused.
I think the real dated aspect the majority of people are going to take the most issue with though is the combat. Just like protagonists from previous console generations, our leading man is slow and somewhat clunky to maneuver. This of course makes aiming at the fast moving enemies when shooting rather unreliable, and your only melee attack option is an awkward swipe of a shovel that also runs into trouble when foes begin to circle you. You're given tools like traps, molotovs, and homemade explosives to help out, but they take a second to use. As someone who's introduction to the genre largely consisted of the original Silent Hill titles none of this was too big of a problem for me personally, but at the same time I would be lying if I said there weren't a few tedious encounters as a result of all this.
Luckily, just about everything you do grants you experience that unlocks "knowledge points," which in turn can be spent on new abilities. I'm hesitant to call this a true RPG as while there are side-quests, story decisions that give a whole new meaning to the term "morally grey," and skills to invest in it honestly just never truly feels like one. You're not really increasing stats so much as you are just gaining the ability to carry more items or use weapons more effectively. So these systems come off as being implemented solely as a way of adding a little extra depth as opposed to anything else.
It's the writing and setting that ultimately make this worth playing. The team at Frogwares didn't just focus on the tales of the Great Old Ones alone, but actually pulled from the wider array of Lovecraftian fiction and the contributions made by other authors to the universe as well to create something truly unique. It contains all of the themes you would expect and implements them in interesting ways, such as the creative visual effects that appear onscreen any time your character's mental state begins to slip which I don't think I've ever seen another game try before. I don't know what it is about this mythos, but as with Cyanide's Call of Cthulhu before it I once again jumped right back in after completing it the first time to see all the other outcomes. The amount of freedom you have is genuinely surprising. There are some options tied to the trophies that you could only find out on your own if you were some kind of sadistic weirdo. Or CallMeKevin (kudos if you know who that is). Sure it's not exactly scary in the traditional sense and some of the original creature designs are more Silent Hill than Lovecraft, but faults aside this is a standout piece of cosmic horror that is sure to be a treat for anyone who knows their Dagons from their Idh-yaas.
8/10