The works of horror fiction author H. P. Lovecraft has inspired many video games, including "The Sinking City," which was released in 2019.
Seven years later, the sequel of the game has finally been released. But has it been a hit with gamers and critics alike?
'The Sinking City 2'
"The Sinking City 2" is a Lovecraftian survival horror game developed and published by Ukrainian studio Frogwares. Set in an otherworldly version of 1920s Arkham, the game takes the series in a more horror-focused direction compared with the original "The Sinking City," putting greater emphasis on combat, exploration, and survival.
According to PlayStation, the story follows a protagonist attempting to rescue the woman they love after a ritual goes wrong, trapping her soul in the Dreamlands while malevolent forces steal her body. Their search leads them through a flooded Arkham and toward the source of the supernatural catastrophe, with the sequel featuring a standalone story that does not require players to have experienced the first game.
Gameplay combines third-person survival horror with exploration, resource management, puzzles, and combat against Lovecraftian creatures. Players can investigate optional cases, uncover clues and secrets, find supplies and upgrades, and use unlocked shortcuts to navigate Arkham, while some encounters may require players to retreat and prepare before taking on enemies again.
You can watch the official game overview trailer below.
What Do the Critics Say?
Given the seven-year wait for this sequel, are critics happy with it? IGN's Len Hafer has given "The Sinking City 2" a score of eight out of 10.
"Nobody really gets a happy ending in the Cthulhu mythos," Hafer notes in the IGN review. "But I was pretty satisfied with this latest, harrowing peek into its writhing innards."
Over at Metacritic, the game has a score of 78 based on 44 critic reviews as of press time.
"Dispelling the open world and detective heavy gameplay of the first, 'The Sinking City 2' sinks its roots into the survival horror genre with great success," Finger Guns said in a review, giving the game a score of 80. "It's more imitation than original in concept, which may disappoint fans of the original."
Impulsegamer gave it a score of 78, saying that "'The Sinking City 2' is ultimately worth it though because it's a tasty slice of inexpensive survival horror that'll satisfy, but you'll just wish it aspired to be something more."
'Very Positive' Reviews on Steam
Over on Steam, "The Sinking City 2" has more than 1,500 user reviews as of press time. Steam has categorized them as "Very Positive."
"While some might not like the shift in genre, I found 'The Sinking City 2' to be a great survival horror game," Steam user Mivey said in a review. "The core loop that Frogwares developed here is surprisingly strong and addicting."
Mivey added, "While the game is marred by some technical issues, especially some later areas show serious CPU-related stuttering that is just wild given my machine and gets downright unplayable during heavy combat in those later areas, I still find it hard to not ultimately come back to liking this game."
"This is the good stuff," Steam user Stoibs said in a separate review. "A survival horror emphasizing limited resources that doesn't expect you to kill everything that moves, good puzzle design, likeable characters, a cohesive plotline... things that Capcom could learn a thing or two from after their 2026 disaster."
