The Sinking City
In the 1920s, on the East Coast of the United States, the half-submerged city of Oakmont is gripped by supernatural forces. You're a private investigator, uncovering the truth of what has possessed the city and corrupted the minds of its inhabitants… and yours. The Sinking City is an adventure and investigation game set in an open world inspired by the universe of H.P. Lovecraft, the master of Horror. The half-submerged city of Oakmont is gripped by supernatural forces. You're a private investigator, and you have to uncover the truth of what has possessed the city… and the minds of its inhabitants. An oppressive atmosphere and story inspired by the universe of H.P. Lovecraft. A vast open world that can be explored on foot, by boat, in a diving suit… High replay value thanks to an open investigation system: each case can be solved in a number of ways, with different possible endings depending on your actions.
Steam User 154
I almost didn't buy it after reading the flood of negative reviews, what I found is a lovingly crafted atmosphere along with rich storytelling and immersive gameplay.
This game has extremely dark themes; self harm, family abuse, racial injustice etc. On the other hand there is also some clever dark humour.
The genre is a mix of Detective, RPG and Survival Horror. I guess some of the negativity comes from people who only wanted one of those things.
A common complaint seems to be "The Combat" and I have no idea what their problem is, I found it to be a very simple and intuitive experience with satisfying gunplay. At first it can be intense but is very easy to figure out and it is not punishing at all, if you do somehow die it just reloads the last checkpoint which is never far away.
The concept of limited resources is executed perfectly imo, I always seem to have just enough bullets to survive a situation and it feels rewarding to be prepared, scouring for more when needed. Venturing into barricaded streets marked as "infested area" is one way to find more but is completely optional so it's funny to see that complained about too. You can also earn from side missions (they're actually good too) and search any empty houses you come across.
The only really bad thing in this game is "Optimization", it lags sharply at some moments but at least stabilizes itself pretty quickly. I can see how frustrating it is hand-in-hand with having a combat system at all, since it is prone to happen when a new area and several enemies spawn all at once, but I see it as it's own separate issue, besides it never actually caused me to die.
The Detective work in this game is generally pretty easy but not always. It lets go of your hand sometimes and you just have to read through the clues you collected so far and piece together where to investigate next e.g. you may need to look up a birth record or business address at the newspaper or city hall archives, I felt a real sense of accomplishment in figuring these things out.
Naturally this type of game requires some patience and attention span, to fully appreciate the depths of the story and cases. For me the most tedious part is to go over some crime scenes with a fine-toothed comb to collect every clue, but at least the game tells you once everything has been found in an area.
Traversal can also be daunting at first but gets easier when you find all the phone booths to "fast travel" between, it's such a detailed environment anyway that it can be nice to just soak in on a boat ride or jog while thinking about your next step.
In 30 hours I beat my first play-through of the main story alongside about 7 side missions (it's a good idea to multi-task them)
However this is one of those games that doesn't return you to the open world after the final mission, so make sure to do a manual save a bit before the finale.
I will also give it a replay anyway since there are many multiple choice moments with interesting plot results.
In conclusion I highly recommend giving The Sinking City a chance if it calls to you.
Steam User 310
Hey, you. Yes, you. I know you're rifling through Steam reviews wondering if this title is worth your time. You're a cosmic horror fan. You crave the unknowable, the unfathomable. You chew through horror fiction hoping to find something - anything - that will scratch that itch for Lovecraft. Your love of weird has you forever chasing the dragon across books, games, and films...except that metaphorical dragon is a 100 foot tall Great Old One with an octopus head.
You know this isn't an action game, but that doesn't deter you. It's glitchy, yes, but you're not here for cutting edge gameplay. You've showed up for the atmosphere, the writing, and the infinite malignity of the stars. And yes. It delivers these in spades.
"The Sinking City" is messy and sometimes tedious, but its shortcomings are worth putting up with for a fantastic voyage into a very accurate and immersive Lovecraftian vision.
Steam User 113
There's a whole lot of bad rep in this game, the dev and publisher got a fight.
You should probably buy the game on the dev's site but either way it's a masterpiece of a game, it has many great investigations and it's a beautiful Lovecraftian world.
PS: Frogwares, you are amazing.
Steam User 67
Scratches my Lovecraft itch.
.
.
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Frogwares has recently gained full licencing rights to "The SInking City" and a big overhaul update is coming in late February (2024).
Steam User 80
A bloody good AA game with a fun detective mechanic. You have to collect evidence and then deduce the perpetrator, location and/or next move; the game doesn't hold your hand.
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☐ Watch paint dry instead
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☐ Average
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☐ Captivating
☐ It'll replace your life
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☐ MS-DOS
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☑ Beautiful
☐ Masterpiece
☐ You forget what reality is
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☐ I wish I was deaf
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☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Unforgiving
☐ Difficult
☐ Souls-like
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☐ Nothing to grind
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Only if you care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Average grind level
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☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
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☐ Depends on you
☐ To infinity and beyond
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☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ Infested and broken
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☑ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
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☐ You could also just burn your money
☐ Not recommended
☐ If you have a spare coin
☑ If it's on sale
☐ Worth the price
☐ It's free!
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Steam User 75
Absolutely Phenomenal game. Sick of all this "Jank" talk, like a game is only worth it if it hits the holy trinity of perfect Gameplay, Story, and Graphics. Its a massively unfair standard to hold developers to.
This game looks great, all the detective mechanics work flawlessly, the atmosphere is great. The only real "jank" is in the combat, but thankfully this isnt COD so I can deal with that.
This game is on sale almost constantly at the minute and you're doing yourself out of a great time by letting silly reviews stating that because this thing, or that thing is not absolutely flawless then the game isnt worth your time. Its a good solid game. Play it!
Steam User 89
---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☑ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
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☐ 10