The Sinking City 2 / Frogwares
The Ukrainian studio Frogwares has returned with a gameplay trailer for The Sinking City 2 after years of fighting for the rights to the series.
The developers have also launched a Kickstarter campaign for The Sinking City 2, and in a few hours they reached the goal. But let’s start with what was shown in the trailer. We’d like to warn you right away that beginners shouldn’t bother if they don’t know the plot of the first one — the game will be a separate story.
The first part of The Sinking City took players to the fictional city of Oakmont, which was literally sinking underwater. But the sequel takes place in the flooded ruins of Arkham, another iconic place in the works of Howard Lovecraft. The setting of the game resembles America of the 1920s, but with a gloomy atmosphere of a constant nightmare
Very little is known about the plot — the main character finds himself in the ruins of a flooded city. He is quickly encountering creatures that could live in Lovecraft’s nightmares. This time, the game’s focus is shifting from investigations to survival and resource-limited action. Although the detective elements familiar to fans will remain, they will not be the main part of the game.
The developers have recognized that the combat system of the first The Sinking City was its weak point, so they are rebuilding it from scratch. It seems that the studio is inspired by classic survival horror titles to create a tense gameplay
For the first time, Frogwares is powered by Unreal Engine 5. That’s why the trailer features improved lighting quality and location design. The game will be centered around a smaller but more detailed map. You can move on it both on foot and by boat, which will not be a novelty for fans of the first part
To support the development, the studio asked the fans to join in. In just a few hours, the team has raised Kickstarter The project has raised the required amount of $100 thousand, but has now crossed the threshold twice. At the time of writing, the amount has reached more than $225 thousand. It is likely that this amount is not final, as there are still 29 days of fundraising ahead.
«After 3 years of this terrible war hanging over our daily lives, we have learned to adapt, although it has never been easy. In 2023, when we released Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened “With the help of Kickstarter and our fans, we created an airbag that has saved us more than once,” says Frogwares CEO Wael Amr.
Players might not have seen The Sinking City 2 at all, as the studio faced long court cases in addition to the war. In 2020, the first part was removed from Steam because the developers terminated their contract with publisher Nacon due to intellectual property rights violations. A year later, Nacon republished the game without permission, which Frogwares called a «cracked» version.
The legal battles ended in 2023, when Frogwares officially regained full control of the franchise. Already a year later, the studio announced The Sinking City 2 but many doubted its release. But now it became clear that Frogwares were just working in silence.
There are no specific release dates yet, but The Sinking City 2 might be released in late 2025. The game will be available for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S
Source: Games Radar