The Sinking City 2, from Ukrainian developer Frogwares, is less of a sequel than it is a Lovecraftian doppelganger of Capcom’s Resident Evil 2 (2019) remake. Fans of the first game more interested in investigations and piecing together past events might find the combat-to-puzzle ratio disappointing, but it is nonetheless a solid entry in the resurgent survival-horror genre still building on the success of Resident Evil VII. More remarkable is how cohesive and polished it feels (at least by modern standards) when you consider the Kyiv-based developer has endured four years of Russian aggression, seen colleagues drafted, and dealt with the near-daily risk of drone and missile strikes.
When stripped of its Lovecraftian embellishments, The Sinking City 2 is a love story set at the end of the world; full of touching moments and irrational decisions that one might make to protect loved ones. Set in 1929, the protagonists Calvin and Faye are classic adventuring academics, with a shared passion for banned literature and ancient mysteries. Calvin wakes from a nightmare to an unresponsive Faye and bloodstained floors after a ritual to enter the “Dreamlands” goes awry. Faye is in a coma; her spirit caught between realms; an inexplicable flood and plague of “slither” worms ravage the New England town of Arkham; the local populace either evacuated or slain.
Despite the deteriorating situation, Calvin embarks on a trip through the ravaged city to the nearby Arkham University annex. His desperate and dubious plan? Use an ancient ritual dagger and his own blood while invoking the old gods to return Faye’s spirit to her body. Unsurprisingly, this triggers an adventure that takes Calvin through the flooded streets of Arkham in sequences similar first game; through an overrun hospital and labyrinthine fish market that rely on the classic Resident Evil mansion template; and finally, through ancient ruins long forgotten beneath Arkham for a more linear finale packed with spectacular sights, revelations, and cosmic monstrosities.
The middle chapters form the meat of the game. The second presents Arkham in a state of chaos as you traverse the flooded streets, going from the university past an old church, print works, fire station, and finally a hotel where crazed guests were violently celebrating the end of the world for the attention of a Siren. You travel northwards and back again, revisiting locations to solve puzzles and survive new encounters. Each event feels tightly designed as on a first playthrough, I only ever had enough ammunition and healing supplies to scrape through to the next fight. It feels tough but fair – with ample checkpoints – rewarding the cautious and punishing a reckless approach.
A hospital on the outskirts of town and a fish market on the seafront ramp up the tension, with a stalker-type enemy (mercifully constrained to hospital corridors), new enemy variants, and the introduction of actual boss fights instead of chaotic mob battle finales. As with classic Resident Evil titles, The Sinking City 2 gets a lot of mileage out of these locations – maybe too much when dealing with limited inventory space – but there is still a satisfying and subtly guided flow that sees you move back and forth while the environment changes and new threats emerge. Novel, no. Satisfying for fans of the genre, yes. It is a game that offers familiar thrills in a less familiar setting.
That Resident Evil 2 (2019) DNA is obvious but comfortingly familiar. I’d argue The Sinking City 2 is to the Resident Evil remakes what Darksiders is to the 3D Legend of Zelda games; derivative, sure, but fun and compact so that the shared mechanics never feel like a weakness. You have a claustrophobic over-the-shoulder perspective that reduces peripheral vision and ramps up tension; lavishly detailed but cramped environments plagued by “infected” corpses with a tendency to lunge and grab you; creatures with glowing weak spots that make no evolutionary sense; and you’re forced to circumvent gloriously absurd locks as the protagonist can’t overcome waist-high debris.
For many modern “AAA” action games with bloated campaigns, overfamiliar mechanics with limited depth can become a fundamental issue that even complex narratives, memorable performances, and visually spectacular set-pieces struggle to overcome. In contrast, The Sinking City 2 is a compact survival-horror experience that took me a dozen hours to complete on the “hard” combat and puzzle difficulties. The unpredictable plot and traditional survival-horror mechanics, with light weapon and character progression elements, were more than sufficient to carry a visually striking journey through a city under siege from grotesque forces beyond human comprehension.
Which is not to say there are no unique elements. The Sinking City 2 retains streamlined investigations that involve finding and connecting clues, with the more taxing variants leading to optional rewards and weird encounters. Fans of Lovecraft’s novella and short stories will also find elements from Hypnos, The Whisperer in Darkness, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, and Shadows over Innsmouth. Scattered notes hint at his other short stories but, as always, the premise revolves around academics delving into the inexplicable and incomprehensible unknown, selfish individuals willing to sacrifice others to save themselves, and the terrifyingly predictable consequences that follow.
If you’re a fan of the genre and relishing the quality of releases we’ve had over the last decade, don’t let the “AA” status and lower pricing of The Sinking City 2 put you off. Don’t let it become another game swiftly forgotten in an increasingly bipolar world, in which entertainment is either near perfect and aggressively defended, or deemed terrible and collectively trashed (for reasons I’m starting to believe is the need for people to rage against something when they can’t do so against elements in their lives). It is a well-designed, polished adventure and, despite limited mechanical novelty, the unusual setting, unpredictable plot, and visual spectacle elevate the overall experience.
The Sinking City 2 was played on Xbox Series X. It is also available on PC and PS5.
