During the Xbox Partner Preview, Ukrainian studio Frogwares announced a partnership with Microsoft and presented The Sinking City 2. The development team at Frogware hopes that The Sinking City 2 will be able to turn the studio’s work in a new direction when the game is released on PC and consoles in 2025.
«The original Sinking City is still one of our most successful games, most likely because of its stronger horror leanings and location, — said Sergey Hovhannisyan, Frogwares Publishing Director. —In the past, we’ve done a lot of detective adventures, so now we’re going to mix things up to continue doing what people like about us, which is to do a lot of stories, and still be able to grow. It’s exciting, but it’s also risky. We are a completely independent studio that has become known for detective games over the past 24 years. But we need to start taking bolder steps. The industry is changing around us, and we want to secure the future of».
Newcomers won’t need to play the first The Sinking City to enjoy the sequel, which will feature a completely new, standalone story. Sinking City 2 also puts more emphasis on combat and exploration than its predecessor. Set in the 1920s in the United States, the game showcases Lovecraftian horror in a city that is being overrun by floods.
Frogwares hopes to put horror at the forefront with The Sinking City 2, although the game will still feature some of the gameplay elements the studio is known for. Most notable is the detective gameplay that Frogwares fans can expect in The Sinking City 2. While the game includes some optional investigation gameplay, it is not the primary focus of the title. Investigations can reveal secrets that the player won’t know about if they skip this part.
The Sinking City 2 is being developed on Unreal Engine 5; the studio hopes that the leap in technology with the new engine will help focus the game on combat and survival in a horrific world. To help with customization, Frogwares’ executive producer Denis Chebotarov said that there will be features available.
Wael Amr, CEO of Frogwares, shared his opinion on how the war with Russia has affected the Ukrainian team: «At this stage, we have learned and adapted to our reality, but the ongoing war adds an ominous layer of uncertainty». He said that Frogwares’ previous game, Sherlock Holmes: the Awakened, was developed and released during the war.
Amr credits the studio’s community and Kickstarter backers for making the release possible: «This financial safety net has proven invaluable to us, from power outages as our electrical infrastructure was targeted for months to having to relocate team members at very short notice». Frogwares will turn to Kickstarter again to fund the completion of The Sinking City 2.
Sources: IGN, Windows Central
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