The Sinking City Reviews
The Sinking City features a genuinely interesting story and setting but is let down by performance issues and very poor combat controls. Traversing the city is often a chore and will have you hitting more dead-ends than a night of speed-dating. The Switch port is the worst way to experience the game and I can only recommend it to the most die-hard Lovecraft fans.
The Sinking City on Nintendo Switch is an excellent port with an intriguing narrative hook and Lovecraftian visual style let down by clunky combat and an empty open-world.
The Sinking City is the type of game that will appeal only to the most hardcore of H.P. Lovecraft, or noir fiction fans. Everyone else will be left wondering how so much could go so wrong in what really is an excellent idea for a game.
The Sinking City might be worth looking into for anyone who enjoys using their noggin to solve investigations. It may be even more intriguing if you enjoy getting sucked into Lovecraft atmosphere. You might even say we can never have too much of either of these and that's probably true. This game shouldn't be overlooked at all, but what lies here is potential drowned in a sea of mishaps. If only the optimization and performance on Nintendo Switch was a little better and the controls didn't feel like it was borrowed from a previous console generation, it could've been smooth sailing to a full recommendation.
It’s no pleasure to be so critical of a title which innovates on the third person adventure genre while offering an engaging plot. The Sinking City was clearly created with a strong vision in mind, and its failings are largely technical. There is much to love, and I will be going back to experience more of the story, but given the current state of the Switch port, I cannot recommend it. Wait to see if Frogwares release a patch before sinking any time into this one. I’m giving it the Thumb Culture Bronze award.
It does some interesting things such as using bullets for currency, causing the player to have to weigh the options of fleeing from or killing a threat. The sanity effects caused by being in disturbing situations or using Reed's investigation abilities too much are cheesy but mainly unobtrusive and add a charm to the game I did not expect. Nonetheless, even with these fun aspects, the significant technical problems and boring traversal of Oakmont make me hesitate to suggest the Switch be your chosen platform for visiting this doomed town.
Rough but still great
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.
The Sinking City both sinks and swims. Delivering a good mystery within a picturesque yet grotesque hellscape, while also held back by visual ramifications and tricky combat engagements.
The Sinking City is a faithful adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft´s universe. As in other versions, some mecanics are pretty interesting and make it an interesting adventure, but this port to Nintendo Switch has many technical flaws and the open world structure feels "empty", long loading times aside.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
At time of writing, this feel of roughness coating what is otherwise a good experience at core, holding it back on Switch as much as on the other platforms, even if some extra work went into the audio department to make things feel more authentic.
The Sinking City is an intriguing idea weighed down by frustrating bugs, unpolished game mechanics, and a lackluster narrative.
After looking at all the evidence, I must say I almost enjoyed The Sinking City. There is a solid game here buried under technical problems and tedium. The interesting characters and quirky protagonist were almost enough to keep me interested, but sloppy combat and plentiful walking eventually wore me down. This is a paranormal call I recommend walking away from.
The Sinking City is an intriguing game that is sadly let down by its many glitches and lifeless combat.
There has been a real run of Lovecraftian horror titles coming to the Switch of late, no doubt making horror fans quite happy, and among them The Sinking City is the one doing it's best to swing for the production values fences...
It's the kind of game that starts with its best foot forward before petering out over the course of ten hours.
Despite its shortcomings, the story and the oppressing atmosphere of The Sinking City recommend it as one of the best Lovecraft inspired game to date. If you can get past the clunky combat and technical issues, there's much to like in The Sinking City.
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 yea
The Sinking City is an ambitious game with a great story which was bigger than what the small team at Frogwares could deliver. The final result is a moderate game with many mechanics that are lower that today’s standards. On the other hand, the numerous bugs throughout the Oakmont city and the full-priced tag don’t help this game at all. Nevertheless, the Lovecraft-inspired story, great characters and engaging in-game cases make this game a worth-trying experience.
Review in Persian | Read full review
A brilliant concept with some excellent ideas, let down badly by the game engine, inconsistent writing and plotting