The Sinking City 2
Preview
The Sinking City submerges players in Lovecraftian detail once more...
by Dan Lenois
previewed on PC
Trial and Error...
For full disclosure, the version played here was a private beta build, and it showed. While the narrative and gameplay elements were clearly fleshed out, there was a certain roughness to the build. Optimization was somewhat lacking, and fatal crashes were not uncommon. Players can likely expect a certain amount of refinement between now and when the game launches later this year.
I did once get unintentionally jumpscared by a friendly NPC mid-cutscene, teleporting away from where she was supposed to be standing, to instead reappear a split-second later, terrifyingly T-posing directly in front of the camera, before blinking out of existence again like Slenderman. While screenshots or video capture were not permitted for this preview, this is a moment I would've loved to preserve, as I near died of laughter.
A world dripping with atmosphere...
For this play session, players had access to part of the open-world environment, where you can freely navigate the flooded streets by boat, just as in the first game. Additionally, a separate gameplay section was set aside on the main menu, for players to experience a more linear narrative-based section of the campaign, set in an abandoned asylum. Because of course, if you're going to do a Lovecraftian horror story set here on earth, you're probably going to throw in an asylum visit. Cthulhu calls, and you must answer, even if it means entering this abandoned urban mountain of madness...
Ask questions first, then shoot...
While combat was somewhat of an afterthought in The Sinking City, it plays a somewhat more active role in the sequel. However, whether you'll enjoy the experience is a bit debatable. Having played the asylum section on each available difficulty level, in order to better gauge the impact on combat, it's clear that while combat may be more of a priority in this sequel, action isn't. Combat is treated purely as a solution to a problem, rather than an experience in of itself.
Personally, I didn't mind the challenging combat, with even basic enemies often requiring relatively high accuracy and precise timing in order to be taken down. That said, I do think combat, at times, airs on the side of being overly-tedious. It may be immersive the first dozen or so times it happens. But after that point, it can be very frustrating, especially the limited availability of ammo. The game gives you just enough ammo in the world to see that you have a chance of survival, but only a chance. Longtime veterans of older survival-horror titles like the first few Resident Evil games will likely get a kick out of these mechanics, but newcomers to this approach may not be as appreciative.
A Wide World of Possibilities...
As an third-person-shooter with strong RPG elements, one of the biggest things The Sinking City 2 will be judged on is the memorability of its characters and the immersion of its world. While it's still too early to make a definitive judgement on either, given the limited scope of this preview, which contained only a small slice of the total experience, I am cautiously optimistic. The dialogue is mostly decent. Characters each have their own distinct voice and personality, their character models are unique, and even their animations often feel like extensions of their personalities. Everything feels alive and conscious, but sometimes that's not always a good thing. Some things in this world are best left undisturbed...
Overall:
The Sinking City 2 is shaping up to be a promising continuation of the first game's initial premise and mechanics. The narrative elements and atmospheric tone are the clear current winners. What remains less clear is whether the shift in gameplay approach, being more combat-heavy and a more nonlinear investigation system, will resonate with both existing fans and newcomers alike.
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