The Sinking City Reviews
An occasionally entertaining detective game blighted by poor writing, rote combat, and a dreary open world.
Frogware's most ambitious title to date sees it take on the Cthulu mythos, but unfortunately it makes for one of its most flawed games too.
While occasionally frustrating, The Sinking City's compelling stories, exciting environments, and memorable characters make for one of the better Cthulhu lore games around.
The Sinking City is yet another Lovecraftian horror game that fails to live up to expectations, largely thanks to a flood of technical issues and tedious gameplay.
The Sinking City invites all the horror of a lovecraftian tale, with the balance to know more of what is happening in the city of Oakmont, all the while as you struggle to keep your sanity. There are quite a few places to explore, cases to take on, and discovering all its secrets could take you a while. If you're looking for a game that doesn't spoon feed you the answers and are looking to challenge your investigative abilities, this one could be for you. While not perfect visually, with bugs here and there, gameplay is enjoyable and brings a mix of combat and deduction. Definitely worth the price tag.
The Sinking City's engrossing premise is ultimately betrayed by counterintuitive systems and bleak monotony.
The Sinking City succeeds at creating a memorable world and twisting narrative that pulls players beyond its mediocre gameplay
Great investigations and ancient horrors are hidden by frustrating action
Clumsy design, tedious storytelling, and often game-breaking technical limitations sap The Sinking City of any real terror or intrigue.
Goodness, I was very interested in The Sinking City. I really wanted to love it. But I’m afraid rain may have stopped play this time.
While it's carried over its fair share of clunky elements in the transition to Nintendo's console, The Sinking City on Nintendo Switch is a fully-featured and mostly well-optimised port. The mixture of psychological horror and detective skills is a positive step beyond the developer's previous work on Sherlock Holmes titles, and while its sanity mechanic doesn't quite hold up to the likes of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, and it's not without bugs, it offers an enjoyable if not particularly scary descent into madness and delirium.
If you can ignore The Sinking City's technical failings, set the combat difficulty to easy and stick to getting embroiled in the story
If you're looking for something action-packed you'll be better served elsewhere, but for fans of Lovecraft's universe or head-scratching detectathons, The Sinking City is more than worth a shot.
The Sinking City is well worth playing for the initial rhythm of its casework and the freshness of its setting, but its mechanics, like its mystery, end up flooded.
Despite featuring elements from many video games that I love, The Sinking City still fell flat for me.
Despite the technical disaster that it is, The Sinking City knows how to capture the essence of H.P. Lovecraft's work to create their own story in an interesting place like Oakmont, full of details and mysteries to discover.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Overall, as much as I adore the story and atmosphere of The Sinking City, it definitely feels like a budget title at times. If you can get past the weak combat, harmless jank, and enjoy a solid detective experience that won't hold your hand and throw tough choices your way, you shouldn't pass up on it. Even more so if you're a fan of Lovecraft. Because as the Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be and that's a good enough reason for me!
If you’ve ever been a fan of Lovecraftian horror or just mystery stories in general, The Sinking City is one stop you’ll want to make a little time for on your trip down the rabbit hole.
The Sinking City is a faithful adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft´s universe, and has some interesting mechanics, but the game has many technical flaws and the open world structure feels "empty".
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The enjoyable Cthulhu detective story is enough to be worth seeing through, but it’s a mystery why the other parts of the game couldn’t be as strong.