The Sinking City 2 Screenshot
Image: Frogwares

Lovecraftian mystery adventure The Sinking City (now remastered) was the very definition of a rough-cut gem. As a survival horror game, it was a bit wonky, with so-so combat and perhaps too much walking around. As a supernatural detective adventure, though? It was often great. This week, the long-awaited sequel - The Sinking City 2 - emerged from the dark oceans of Steam, accompanied by a chorus of very positive reviews. Despite the praise, it seems like it's not quite the sequel that some fans of the original were hoping for.

Despite being best known for their investigative adventures (including a long-running series of Sherlock Holmes games), Ukrainian studio Frogwares has opted to pivot away from their sleuthing roots for this one, and that's reflected in the majority of negative user reviews on Steam. It should be noted that these critiques are the minority stance, and that the game is broadly well-liked, but it's interesting to see people judging the game not for what it is (according to most, an excellent survival horror game that is both creepy AND wet), but rather what it isn't, as the detective mystery side of the game has been pared down to a vestigial stub.

Frogwares have been keen to highlight that while investigations do technically exist in The Sinking City 2, they are optional and never gate progression. Instead, they now provide alternative, easier routes with extra supplies and upgrades if you go out of your way to complete them. You still have to dig around for notes and clues, piece together bits of information in your mind-map, and seek out the correct conclusions, but these play second fiddle to the more traditional survival horror-style logic puzzles of the main story.

Those investigations seem doubly optional, as the game further simplifies things for those really uninterested in sleuthing things out by adding a separate Investigation Difficulty option. There are two settings - Brainy being the default, while Breezy highlights important information in documents and automatically connects clues for you - which might be good for speedrunners, but it does feel like a further step away from the most distinctive part of the original. It's also worth noting that despite sharing a setting (the fictional flooded and monster-infested city of Oakmont, Massachusetts), no knowledge of the first game is needed.

The Sinking City 2 is out now for £41.35/$50, with a £50/$60 Premium Edition that adds an extra launch-day DLC side-quest, which Frogwares claim adds another two hours to the game's run-time. I've never been a fan of major launch-day DLC, so that rubs me up the wrong way a bit, but I can't deny that I'm still looking forward to playing this one. But if you're after a detective adventure, consider The Sinking City: Remastered, the similarly Lovecraftian Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened or the heavily-discounted Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One, which is 90% off until the end of the month.