The Sinking City Review (PC)

Oakmont, Massachusetts is the center of a mass hysteria outbreak that seems to be closely related to the ominous unnatural flooding that affected the entire town. The Sinking City's prelude invites players to acclimatize themselves to the shockingly bleak atmosphere and the constant feeling of decay that engulfs Oakmont.

Although the game says you'll play as Charles Reed, a World War I veteran turned private eye, in fact, you'll step into Sherlock Holmes' shoes as you try to uncover the mystery behind the supernatural creatures that have started to attack many of Oakmont's residents. The protagonist himself is haunted by chaotic visions that seem to be related to what's happening in Oakmont, the more reason to start explore the city and find some answers.

The Sinking City has many references to H.P. Lovecraft's works, so if you're familiar with some of them, you should be able to to easily recognize the unique facial traits of the fish-like innsmouthers and simian Throgmorten family. As soon as you land on Oakmont's soil, you're given your first task – to investigate the disappearance of Throgmorten's heir who was last seen embarking on an expedition to discover the source of the flood.

From here on, Reed will have to make choices, investigate, loot, craft and even fight nightmarish creatures. The Sinking City is an open-world investigation game but falls into the same trap as many other open-world games. Although you get to explore any part of the city right from the beginning, apart from the rare loot houses and side quests, Oakmont feels empty.

Ironically, you get to experience some of the best Lovecraftian moments in the more linear areas of the game. However, if you keep to the script and follow the narrative without adventuring by yourself in other areas of Oakmont, The Sinking City offers a rich experience that mixes elements of investigation and combat.

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Combat is clunky, but it works

One word of advice though, the combat mechanics are rudimentary, to say the least, but, surprisingly, they work. As you complete cases and advanced in the main story, you'll receive enough experience that will allow you to gain Knowledge points and level up your character. You can then put these points into three skill trees: Combat proficiency, Vigor and Mind.

Encounters with the so-called “wylebeasts,” supernatural creatures that take various shapes and sizes, will always put a strain on your sanity, so the longer the fight, the higher the chance to commit suicide. To counter the sanity loss, developer Frogwares included special drugs that can be crafted from resources found throughout the city.

Although ammo is very limited, you can easily solve the issue by putting some points in the melee combat. Also, there are plenty of crafting resources around to allow you to replenish your ammo reserves anytime.

By far the main focus of the game is the investigation mechanics. Charles Reed is equipped with special abilities like Mind's Eye and Retrocognition, which will allow him to see past events with no evidence to go on. However, these abilities, when used, will quickly deplete Reed's sanity meter, so you'll have to use them in short bursts.

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Once Reed has enough clues regarding a case, he can then make deductions using his Mind Palace. There multiple cases that can be solved differently, but bear in mind that each choice has a consequence.

Technically, The Sinking City is a triple-A wannabe. It's got decent visuals, but there are some weird issues with the way the game decides to populate the streets with NPCs. More often than not, when I'm quickly turning my character 180-degree, the game spawns another set of NPCs around me.

I'm not sure if this is a game feature, but every house that you can enter is an instance which resets the moment you go out. Basically, you can enter a house, loot everything before you're attacked by wylebeasts, get out to reset the instance, enter again, loot, get out, rinse and repeat.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion