FLOOD OF THOUGHTS.
The Sinking City is an RPG, survival horror, detective game. If that sounds weird that is because it is. Anyone familiar with Frogwares will likely know them for their Sherlock Holmes games (or maybe Magrunner) and for the most part the detective portions of The Sinking City work the same way they do in those titles, down to the deductions being done in a menu called “Mind Palace.” Explore a 3D world, collect clues, then deduce what happened. The other half of this game is survival horror with crafting and plays similar to a Resident Evil clone except the main character Charles can move while aiming. Both parts of this gameplay are tied together by the RPG like leveling system that tallies experience and gives an upgrade point to apply to skill trees that increase the effectiveness of certain abilities.
What I haven’t mentioned yet but is obvious from the box art is that this game surrounds H.P. Lovecraft’s work and therefore has supernatural elements. Not only are large portions of story and combat clearly based in the supernatural, but Charles has a supernatural ability to see the past as well as illusionary walls and strange beings that will point him in the right direction when lost. The longer he uses his supernatural ability or witnesses death and the bizarre creatures of the world the more sanity he will lose. As the sanity bar decreases he will start to see things that are not there and the screen will warp and fisheye and on one occasion when I lost all my sanity the world went black and objects that were not there suddenly appeared and I wasn’t sure if they were real or not (they seemed to be). My explanation is lacking, but I assure the effect is far more effective when in the heat of combat or at the bottom of the ocean in the terrifying dive sequences.
PLATFORMS: XB1, PS4, PC
MSRP: $59.99
PRICE I’D PAY: $49.99
A unique aspect of The Sinking City’s open world is that missions are not just placed as a spot to visit on the map but rather a location based on intersections that the player has to locate on the map and then mark; because of the lack of direct marking on the map I would still have to find the spot once in the general area. There are, however, key places of interest like the hotel Charles is staying at, police station, city hall, etc. These marked locations are generally used to access their archives which is a neat logic puzzle, which brings me to my first minor issue with the game that at times it is unclear which archive to visit. At one point I was under the assumption I needed to visit the newspaper archives to look for an old ad but I really needed to visit city hall.
This leads into my major issue, which is that this game’s world is too big. Much of my time is spent running down streets or driving a boat around doing nothing but travelling as monsters are generally confined to boarded off areas and building interiors. Even with fast travel I spend a lot of time walking to my destination. This sounds nitpicky, but I have to keep running down the same streets to go to the same places over and over. Every time I visit city hall, it is the same run there and back from the fast travel point. The size of the world also leads to a lot of reused assets. The first part of the game has me explore a residence where a murder has taken place and one of the people has fled the scene in pursuit of someone who broke through the wall of the house in their escape. The house’s design is very unique in general, but there is also a very plot specific hole in the front of the house. Imagine how jarring it is to see nearly the exact same house, hole and all, in another part of the city. This is not the only instance of reused locations, but by far the most egregious. A smaller world with more unique environments would have been preferred.
My second minor issue is technical performance. The biggest technical issue was definitely screen tearing, which has been fixed thankfully in a patch (which is what I’m going to use to justify this untimely review). Other minor issues still occur however, such as loading into an area and having the street beggar in a t-pose instead of in their proper laying down position (it did eventually get to this position but it was in t-pose for about 30 seconds). Pop in occurs as well. The most consistent issue now however is the framerate issues when fog rolls in. As the city of Oakmont is a port city and slowly sinking into the ocean, it makes sense to have a lot of fog to build atmosphere, but instead of constantly having fog to hide unloaded world it seems to be a particle effect or something that causes the frame rate to drop. It’s odd to see a horror game run smoother when the sun is out.
A major technical issue I had that I feel is worth noting but isn’t being weighed against the game in any way is that I was locked out of homes and buildings that should have been accessible. I had to save, quit the game, and reload in order to get access. I believe this is an issue with the fact that turning off and Xbox One suspends the game rather than shutting it off as I’ve had issues with it before on other titles as well as issues with the rest mode on PS4. As a player, just be cautious of this fact.
I also want to make note that the game has two difficulty settings for both the detective and combat portions of the game. Those who desire more challenge in detective work can set it to hard while those who are finding the combat a bit unfair (like myself) can set it to easy. I love this option and wish more games did it.
The writing is where this game shines, which is why I left the plot until last. Acted well, the plot is fantastic. Most characters are multifaceted with their morality, never being fully good or evil, making choices difficult at times. The world is brought to life not by the generic citizens that line the streets but by the small letters in the houses that expand upon the demise of the family that once inhabited it. The main plot that follows Charles on his journey to find the source of his visions and the madness that has been plaguing people weaves through multiple stories connected via the Throgmorton family. The clear allusions to Lovecraft’s work feel less like just referencing his work or retelling it, but a direct witnessing of the stories he wrote as if they are real events. There is conspiracy, mystery, murder, cults, arcane magic, and a fair bit of humor. The driving force of the game is hands down the world the developers have written, not the one they modeled.
I get feelings of the first time I played Fallout 3 while playing The Sinking City. At some point the honeymoon ended and I started seeing the reuse of models and the bugs, but the written material was so engaging that it elevated the game entirely. The Sinking City is a fine game that is only brought down by the scale of the world. A smaller, more compact city with more unique assets would have gone a long way to reduce my issues with gameplay and maybe even the technical issues. When the only benefit to exploring an area with monsters and killing them is supplies that I need to shoot more monsters, I question why that is there and why I had to walk four blocks to get there. This is also Frogwares’ first foray into an open world title and maybe their next title will fix these issues. Regardless, The Sinking City is a great game that I am sure will become a cult hit, especially when it makes its way to Steam next year.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
