Frogwares Looks to be Delivering on Years of Promise with The Sinking City 2

We've been huge fans of the Frogwares team over the years. The studio has single-handedly redefined the detective genre in games, with open-ended options towards deduction and discovery, while also punching above its weight in the writing department. However, tech and art has always let it down somewhat, but for the longest time we knew its best was still in front of it -- now that looks to be The Sinking City 2.

Not abandoning its Lovecraftian roots, the studio is once again taking us to a flooded city, though this is not the Oakmont, Massachusetts of the first, but rather the fittingly titled Arkham City. In addition to the familiar setting, we're also getting more than just a detective tale troped in H.P. sauce, we're getting survival horror, too.

Here, make a pact with our video embed elder god and see for yourself:

The studio has been hard at work pushing through this production while also dealing with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, given the head studio is based in Kiev. And it should be hugely proud already of what this is promising to be. No longer are we a dishevelled, alcoholic PI with PTSD from the war, rather we play as Calvin Rafferty, an occult adventurer whose "cavalier actions" have led to devastating consequences of the Eldritch kind. There's no part of the game's premise we're not into, and we're in love with the studio's new "horror first" approach to storytelling and world building.

The above doesn't mean it has abandoned its detective routes, though, with a player-agency-inspired tilt that is part optional to the more pressing story and Golden Path at hand, and we find ourselves with equally familiar elements from the first game -- old timey weapons, an intricately designed city and a dinghy for getting around its flooded parts. More importantly though, is we get to face off against the older gods and weird and odd manifestations once again. 

Here's some official wording from the studio itself:

The Sinking City 2 is set in a Lovecraftian version of 1920s America, in the infamous city of Arkham. A supernatural flood has driven out all but the most deranged residents, leaving decay and Eldritch horros that roam the streets ... after a dreaming ritual goes wrong, [Calvin's] girlfriend, Faye, is left trapped in a mysterious sleep. Now Calvin must navigate the drowned streets of a derelict city in a desparet attempt to bring her back. On his quest, he'll come face to face with a plague of otherworldly creatures, the Slither, who possess and twist the dead into lethal, walking puppets.

Limited resources, undead, puzzles and more await this ode to both the Lovecraftian genre and survival horror alike. Have a look through a collection of screens and art below in our carousel and try not to get all tingly at how this is shaping up, which is also set to release on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X later this year -- stay tuned for more as we have it.