Bloody Disgusting departs for Oakmont and finds fish-faced terror, and cosmic horrors in The Sinking City review for PC.
A lot of modern horror games like to dabble in a bit of Lovecraft, few really delve into the man’s work as deeply as Frogwares’ The Sinking City.
By this I mean it doesn’t just slap a few tentacles on the box, ram in a sanity meter, and feature a bunch of mysterious writing alluding to cosmic beings. It has those things, of course, but The Sinking City takes on a lot more of Lovecraft’s trappings, including the less appealing undertones to it. You can’t say Frogwares hasn’t gone all in on trying to make a Lovecraftian story feel as authentic as possible as far as world-building goes.
What Frogwares also brings to the table is its exceptional detective systems from its underappreciated Sherlock Holmes games. By blending this with the Lovecraftian setting and story, Frogwares has perhaps made one of the most immersive and disturbing detective games for years.
We find ourselves in the gummy shoes of one Charles Reed, a war veteran turned private eye, whose sanity is slipping due to some unknown cause, and in an effort to find a cure, he heads to the city of Oakmont, which supposedly holds the key to his ailment, and likely holds some rather sinister secrets.
Oakmont is a decidedly grim-looking place from the moment you step off a boat and onto its waterfront (though due to flooding, Oakmont has a lot more waterfront than it should). If you played Call of Cthulhu earlier this year, then there’s an eerie similarity to the starting area in that game, a dilapidated harbor populated by an assortment of the thuggish and the surly sorts.
It’s a fairly large city, split into specific districts and all are full of dank and dreary life, and an oppressive atmosphere. Frogwares has filled it with detailed decay and ruin. This is not a thriving place, this is a dying one, a sinking one, and those still left in it are well suited to its sickness. Reed’s journey will take him not just through the streets of Oakmont, but to other, more otherworldly places too, so there’s plenty to explore. You’ll travel by boat to navigate some parts of the city due to the flood, and there’s even a trip to the briny deep itself, and that provides a whole new set of issues. In short, this is an expansive game world, and it is a delight to be in.
As he sets foot in Oakmont, Reed almost immediately strolls into a case he needs to solve in exchange for information. Charles gets to see the first of many grisly sights here, and this task is one of the more straightforward and morally sound things he’s asked to do during his time in Oakmont. All he will be asked of will be further stress on his increasingly frazzled mind, and that, in turn, will affect how the game plays out, so everything you do has to be carefully considered. From conversation to combat and beyond.
Oakmont is full of cruel-hearted opportunists, desperate, tortured souls, and miserable hatemongers, always looking to find an angle to negotiate for someone to do their dirty work, and Reed, with his particular set of snooping skills, is a hot commodity for these scoundrels, saps, and savages.
Charles Reed is not just a naturally good detective, it seems a side effect of his crumbling psyche is a set of supernatural powers that aide his investigation. These gifts allow him to see things others cannot, which in game terms means you can view reconstructions of crimes by piecing together clues, and discover short visions by interacting with relevant objects. Helpful, but it comes at a price for Reed. He is driven closer to the brink of madness with every use. Once Reed’s sanity slips far enough, he’ll hallucinate, and see some frankly weird shit. The trick to staving off this madness is to use a keen eye and methodical use of Reed’s powers to solve puzzles with the least amount of stress possible.
It adds an interesting wrinkle to Frogware’s sleuthing mechanics. On the one hand, the supernatural powers are a big help when you’re confounded by the clues in your possession, but on the other, you can’t rely on them explicitly. It’s a nice compromise between accessibility and mastery, and freshens up a tried and true formula. Frogwares also allows for several difficulty options for puzzles (and other aspects) so you can tailor The Sinking City to your preferred playing style.
Check Out This Concept Art For The Sinking City
When not using your time for investigative tasks, there’s plenty more for Reed to tackle. Conversations with the residents of Oakmont can branch off in a number of ways, and the consequences of them can be felt long after the last word. Nobody here is exactly decent as people go, and the ongoing war between rival families in Oakmont has left its mark on the mood of the place. Lives can be altered and there’s a high probability it won’t be for the better.
As if Oakmont wasn’t suffering enough, the waterlogged city has a monster problem. There’s some pretty interesting creature design too, blending the usual Lovecraftian far with things akin to something you’d find in The Evil Within or Silent Hill. The local populace does its best to avoid these stalking supernatural creatures, but they still claim victims as they move around the streets. Unfortunately for Reed, he can’t avoid them so easily, and that’s where combat comes into play, The Sinking City‘s weak point.
While you don’t have to fight everything (and you shouldn’t because combat with these nightmares put a further strain on Reed’s sanity), the story will inevitably take you places where confrontation is necessary. The Sinking City‘s gunplay is a tad clunky and slow to operate. It feels like a deliberate choice for the most part, but it leads to frustration on occasion, especially as the longer encounters go on, the more damage you end up doing to yourself in the long run. The other problem with so much combat is that it dulls the terror a bit to have so much protection against monsters, but in fairness, it is at least pretty fairly balanced so they don’t just feel like cannon fodder.
The only other gripe of note is on the technical side. Frogwares has often released games that have some technical hiccups and a lack of graphical polish, and that’s definitely the case here, but as with those previous titles, the visual style and mechanics of it more than make up for any shortcomings by showing a clear identity.
Frogwares has created an interesting and absorbing world of horror, and it’s deliciously rich in story and world-building. The sanity system works well, throwing some horrific visions at you, and capturing a feeling of nightmarish helplessness. Yes, it comes with some signature flaws too, but The Sinking City is a fine horror game and an engrossing detective RPG.
The Sinking City review code for PC provided by the publisher.
The Sinking City is out now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Nintendo Switch release later in 2019.