Frogwares takes a surprisingly drastic approach with The Sinking City 2. Rather than continuing the open-world detective adventure formula of its predecessor, the studio has turned its Lovecraftian series into a much more conventional third-person survival horror. That change could easily have gone wrong, especially considering how much of the original game’s identity was tied to investigation and the city of Oakmont, but Arkham proves to be a suitably grim replacement. Calvin Rafferty’s attempt to rescue Faye after an occult ritual goes horribly wrong provides a straightforward emotional hook, while the flooded city and the supernatural forces lurking beneath it gradually expand the story into something considerably more cosmic. The personal motivation works well enough to keep the journey moving, although Calvin himself is not always the most compelling protagonist, and the wider mysteries surrounding Arkham are ultimately more interesting than his relationship with Faye.
The biggest surprise is just how comfortable The Sinking City 2 feels within the conventions of modern survival horror. The influence of recent Resident Evil games is impossible to overlook, from the over-the-shoulder perspective and compact interconnected environments to locked doors, revisited locations, safe rooms, limited resources and maps that encourage players to return once they have found the necessary item or shortcut. That familiarity is both the game’s greatest strength and one of its most obvious weaknesses. Frogwares understands this formula extremely well, and the resulting exploration loop is consistently enjoyable, but there are few moments where it feels as though the studio is substantially reinventing it. The move from a sprawling city to more focused locations such as a hospital, fish market and underground areas also means that Arkham itself never quite becomes the living, breathing character that Oakmont was. There are some excellent environmental stories to uncover, but too often players arrive after something terrible has already happened rather than witnessing the catastrophe themselves.
Exploration nevertheless provides a strong foundation for the adventure. The environments are deliberately constructed around backtracking, with blocked routes, locked rooms and shortcuts gradually opening up as players find the appropriate keys or tools. This creates a satisfying sense of learning each location rather than simply passing through it, while optional investigations give more reason to search every corner. The detective mechanics from the first game have been significantly reduced, with evidence now being combined in a more streamlined system that rewards successful deductions with resources for character development. That is a sensible compromise: players who came to The Sinking City for its investigations still have something meaningful to do, while those primarily interested in survival horror are not forced through lengthy detective sequences. The actual puzzles are generally enjoyable too, ranging from environmental observations to combinations and hidden objects, although the old adventure-game habit of placing strangely unrelated items in increasingly unlikely locations can occasionally make the logic feel more mechanical than natural.
Resource management is where the survival horror structure really begins to work. Ammunition and healing supplies are scarce, crafting materials compete for limited inventory space, and even apparently useful objects can become a burden when the available slots are running out. That pressure encourages players to think before picking a fight, particularly because enemies do not always need to be defeated. Safe rooms provide a welcome counterbalance, allowing supplies to be stored and upgrades to be applied without turning every excursion into an inventory-management exercise. Weapon upgrades and the talent system add another useful layer, while the additional customization provided through the game’s rune-based progression gives players some freedom in how they approach combat. The downside is that the scarcity can occasionally feel less like carefully calibrated survival tension and more like an excuse to make players repeatedly shuffle their belongings, especially early in the adventure.
Combat itself is considerably more substantial than in the original The Sinking City, but it is also the area where the sequel most clearly shows its rough edges. The parasitic Slither enemies make encounters more distinctive than simply lining up headshots: players need to target vulnerable parts of their hosts and then deal with the parasite before it can find another body. Later weapons provide satisfying variety, and a well-placed shotgun blast or explosive can feel appropriately brutal. The problem is that Calvin’s movement and aiming can be sluggish, particularly when several enemies close in at once. Dodging is useful and can even feel overly forgiving in certain situations, yet there are other moments where awkward animations or rigid aiming make a hit seem unavoidable. Enemy behaviour is similarly inconsistent, with some encounters feeling tense and deliberate while others rely on enemies seemingly knowing exactly where Calvin is, undermining any suggestion that stealth or positioning might offer an alternative.
That unevenness is unfortunate because the basic survival-horror rhythm is otherwise very effective. Deciding whether to spend ammunition now or save it for whatever might be waiting around the next corner creates precisely the kind of uncertainty the genre needs, while returning to previously visited areas after finding upgrades gives exploration a meaningful purpose. The difficulty options also help make the experience approachable without removing the survival mechanics entirely, and the roughly ten-to-thirteen-hour campaign sits comfortably within the genre’s preferred length. The additional New Game+ mode gives the progression systems more room to breathe, particularly for players who want to experiment with stronger builds or chase further upgrades. Those looking for a completely fresh interpretation of Lovecraftian horror will find the structure conservative, but players who simply want a well-constructed survival horror with a strong atmosphere have plenty to appreciate.
Visually, The Sinking City 2 is at its best when it is creating a sense of place rather than showing off technical sophistication. Flooded streets, abandoned buildings, ruined interiors and grotesque creatures give Arkham a convincingly decayed identity, and some of the more surreal locations make particularly good use of lighting. Character models and facial animation are less impressive, however, and the PS5 version exposes some of the limitations of the production through occasional graphical glitches, awkward distant animations and problems with the water during boat sections. The Performance mode is the preferable choice on PS5 because the smoother frame rate better suits the game’s combat and exploration, while the higher-quality mode can introduce distracting stutters. None of this destroys the presentation, but it does make clear that post-launch patches are expected.
The sound design ultimately does more to sell the horror than the raw graphical fidelity. The contrast between the relative calm of a safe room and the unsettling noises that occupy the world outside is particularly effective, with environmental sounds and creature noises doing much of the work when the soundtrack deliberately pulls back. The English voice acting is convincing enough to give the smaller cast some personality, while the music reinforces the mixture of decaying reality and otherworldly nightmare. The Sinking City 2 therefore succeeds not because it reinvents survival horror, but because Frogwares has understood which parts of the established formula best suit its Lovecraftian setting. Its combat can be awkward, its technical presentation is inconsistent and its investigation mechanics have lost much of the individuality they once possessed, yet the combination of oppressive atmosphere, satisfying exploration, meaningful resource management and genuinely effective horror makes the gamble worthwhile. It may no longer be the detective adventure some fans expected, but as a survival horror, The Sinking City 2 is a convincing new direction for Frogwares.
Score: 8.0/10