The Sinking City

So, there is a lot to talk about.
The game starts strong, but then slows down quite a bit. If you want to get immersed in it a little faster, you could probably skip the first side quest, "Letters from Oakmont". However, me being the freaking completionist that I am, I actually found this long-ass side quest helpful for learning the game mechanics.
Because the game is not intuitive at all .
So when you get a pop-up telling you that you can read more about something in the tutorial — YOU OPEN THAT TUTORIAL AND READ IT. Because ooooh boy, you are going to have some issues otherwise.
There are still some bugs, too. For example, monsters can spawn inside furniture or literally in the floor, and sometimes, in order to progress, you have to leave the area and go pretty far away to make them despawn and respawn properly. Nothing like a little bit of eldritch creature management to spice things up.
The asset reuse also becomes pretty noticeable after a while. You will see the same houses, rooms and interiors over and over again, to the point where I started wondering if Oakmont has a building code that allows exactly three different floor plans. Thankfully, I was too busy staring at the paintings or small relics scattered around to care most of the time.
The choices are really well made. Some of them can actually make you feel terrible (i.e. killing old ladies), and they genuinely affect certain parts of the game. About halfway through, the main character even starts trying to be funny with pseudo-one-liners, in a way that reminded me of the kind of lines Mr. Leon from the RE franchise is known for.
And yeah, the flashback scenes where you have to put events in the correct order? Preschool level. Absolutely no challenge there.
But overall, I love this game.
Once you really get into the main storyline, it becomes incredibly immersive. It took me around ~5 hours to properly get immersed, though. But, as I mentioned, I am a completionist goblin . I had to do every side quest I came across, inspect every suspicious-looking object, and stare at every tiny detail like my life depended on it.
And it pains me that some achievements depend on the choices you make during quests. But oh well. Maybe I'll play it again someday and make different choices.
It took me around ~20 hours to complete the game. And let me tell you - or not if you did not play it and doesn't want the spoilers- : the endings... should be more satisfying than they are. I was also really hoping that Cthylla would be designed a little better — and, preferably, a little scarier — rather than looking like a Lovecraftian Malboro from that other famous franchise.
Anyways, 10/10 , would happily suffer through the eldritch horrors again someday.
I am in my Lovecraftian era again thanks to this game.

Amazing but flawed.
While it starts with an unpleasant first impression, with a janky camera, animations and unimpressive combat, it develops into a well-made, unique detective mystery game based on Lovecraftian lore.
The writing is excellent and is probably the main reason to pick this game up. I like how the morality of every choice is always called into question, and how there is no 'correct' choice — every decision you make has its own shade of grey.
Also the way you solve cases by adding evidence into your "Mind Palace" is really unique and well done.
One thing I especially want to mention is the empty, useless open world, which unfortunately detracts from the overall experience.
As for the remastered version of the game, it runs exceptionally badly for a game that doesn't even look particularly good and, if you enable ray-traced reflections, enjoy stuttering every two seconds. Plus, for some reason, there is no motion blur toggle, which is completely insane for a remaster of a video game released in 2025.
If you enjoy good Lovecraftian stories, this game is definitely for you and I would recommend it.

TLDR
The Sinking City feels like a game created by authors and artists, then coded by monkeys. If you’re looking for a Lovecraftian detective experience, it’s absolutely worth playing. The atmosphere, story, character dialogue, and voice acting are all phenomenal. The moral choices are genuine dilemmas rather than simple good/evil prompts. If Lovecraft is what you’re here for, buy it.
That said, the positives end there. The game objectively feels terrible to play. Your character controls like a tank on ice skates. Combat is easily the worst part: the moment you engage an “enemy,” your sanity drops and you’re hit with a disorienting fisheye lens effect. As someone who does not get motion sickness, the effect is extremely nauseating and cannot be disabled.
The resource management system makes no sense and feels like a chore. Rather than make crafting resources scarce, they are abundant, as chests refill when you walk away. You just have an extremely limited inventory, making it a minor inconvenience in between fights rather than something you actually have to manage.
Environments also suffer from repetition. There are basically three interior layout templates, all some variation of a three-story building; but the interior design team does impressive work disguising the sameness and making each space feel distinct.
All of these negatives only highlight how well the game nails its story and atmosphere. The Sinking City is clunky, jank, and at times outright annoying to play… yet its narrative and world-building are so good that it’s still worth it for fans of cosmic horror.

Now I can say that I escaped the nightmare. Man what a creepy journey it was.
For the first moment you set a foot into Oakmont it will grab you with this strange bizarre and twisted world feel. Its straight up HP Lovecraftian invitation to darkest corners of the world. The whole semi open world feels unsettling and you feel like you want to escape as fast as you can but you cant for some reason.
Main protagonist performance and story driven experience sold me out for the first moment I started to play. Hard to imagine better performance than hes: pulp noir voice acting is strongest detail in this game. He will sell you the believability of realness. How they captured the face expression and talking tones are outstanding and golden globe worthy material. Quick note of mentioning is not only hes performance was great but also basically every character that you interact is superb status.
You play as a detective and majority of this game will be exploring and investigating dark topics. There are lot of them here and again none of the cases felt boring or cheap. I wanted to explore every detail of them and that’s a good sign because how real they felt. You can say that whole city is one big character with many bad traits. But gameplay wise it will not stop here and will give you combat encounters to with nightmarish creatures. Its not the best combat experience but its serviceable. You could say its another layer of nightmare upon a top of you regular nightmarish time you doing in here.
One of the best HP Lovecraftian games I experienced for sure. Do yourself a favor and I think you can still do it. Download the original version of this game which you can still do via steam if you own this remastered version because for some reason unreal 5 strikes again and screws up lightning very badly.

What happens when Lovecraft's works collide into one comprehensive universe, then mix with further occult myths like the Golem of Prague and undead Mayan? The Sinking City is exactly that, a rough but charming melting pot of cosmic horror and esotericism by the underfunded AA Ukrainian studio Frogwares.
There are so many problems with its gameplay, especially repetitive combat against the same 4 types of enemy, the over-reliance on the crafting system and the overused repetitive level layouts. Yet despite all that, the city of Oakmont and its eerie but memorable stories carry such a great atmosphere that I'd recommend this game to anyone who loves the weird fiction genre. There's something truly special about being thrown into a bizarre, decaying but fully believable world and stumbling upon its strange characters and moments that make you pause and question things. And that's why The Sinking City is one of the most authentic Lovecraft games for me, an imperfect but truly unforgettable experience.

A pretty cool open-world detective game heavily inspired by Lovecraftian horror. You play as a private investigator in a flooded, creepy city trying to solve a bunch of supernatural mysteries. I absolutely loved the clue-finding mechanics and connecting the different pieces of evidence in your mind palace to solve cases. Unfortunately, the game becomes very repetitive in the second half, with a lot of back-and-forth travel and clunky combat. Other than that, solid atmosphere and really cool investigation gameplay.

The Sinking City Remastered is a fascinating detective horror game that shines thanks to its eerie atmosphere, unsettling Lovecraft inspired world, and rewarding investigation mechanics. Exploring the flooded city of Oakmont feels genuinely mysterious, and piecing together clues yourself is far more engaging than simply following map markers.

That said, the game still carries some of the rough edges of the original release. Combat can feel repetitive and clunky, enemy encounters often become more of an annoyance than a source of tension, and some animations and side activities lack polish compared to modern AAA titles.

Overall, The Sinking City Remastered is at its best when it leans into investigation and cosmic horror