Ukrainian developer Frogwares built a solid reputation with its Sherlock Holmes deduction titles before diving into the deep end of cosmic horror with 2019's The Sinking City. Now, they are looking to expand their fanbase even further with The Sinking City 2, arriving on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S this August 18. While its predecessor leaned heavily into investigative work, this sequel pivots sharply toward survival horror, dialing up the tension and isolation with the help of Unreal Engine 5 to bring the dread of Cthulhu to life.

The Sinking City 2 is set in Arkham, a fictional American port city swallowed by a supernatural flood in the 1920s. You play as a character on a quest to rescue a loved one whose body has been claimed by a malevolent entity through a mysterious ritual, leaving their soul trapped in the Dreamlands. You will have to explore the depths of the flooded city and fight for your life against monstrosities ripped straight from the Lovecraftian mythos.

The biggest shift in this new entry is the move from pure investigation to combat-focused survival horror. The Arkham you explore is a place of tide-stained streets, crumbling Art Deco architecture, and dark, flooded speakeasies. Every district is etched with the remnants of humanity and water damage, traversable by foot or small boat. There are shortcuts behind broken seawalls and secrets tucked away in boarded-up hotel rooms; you must scour this decaying urban sprawl for supplies to survive against the terrors lurking within.

Arkham is largely a derelict wasteland, offering a much more intense and desolate atmosphere than the previous game. The few survivors left are even more unstable and twisted. To survive against the bizarre creatures roaming the ruins, the team drew inspiration from genre heavyweights like Resident Evil 2, The Evil Within, Alone in the Dark, Alan Wake, and The Last of Us.

The enemies you face are formidable. The Slither reanimates the dead, while the Deep Ones crawl out from the dark, murky waters. You will also encounter shadows that warp reality itself. While you cannot avoid direct confrontation, sometimes discretion is the better part of valor; you may need to retreat, adjust your loadout at a safe house, and try again. Alternatively, taking on side missions to secure better weaponry might be your best bet.

The creature design prioritizes a faithful adaptation of Lovecraft’s original descriptions. When the author’s text was sparse, concept artists referenced existing lore to create new designs, carefully considering where each creature fits into the Lovecraftian hierarchy and what role they play in the game. This was followed by a collaborative process with the narrative and design teams to ensure a final, chilling result.

The studio’s signature investigative mechanics haven't been completely discarded, though. In this title, deduction is an optional layer. Investigating clues yields lore, supplies, safer routes, and hidden secrets. It is designed to be rewarding for those who engage with it, though you can technically progress without this knowledge—it just makes the journey considerably easier and more immersive if you do.

Frogwares is using The Sinking City 2 to pivot the studio toward a horror-centric identity. Sergiy Oganesyan, the publishing lead at Frogwares, explained in an interview posted on the Unreal Engine website last October: "For the past 25 years, we’ve been known as the studio that makes detective games. That’s great, but it’s also a limited image. The industry changes, and so do player tastes. We want to secure the future of the studio by expanding our capabilities and our player base."

The Sinking City 2 leaves Oakmont behind for a new story in Arkham with entirely different characters. The team chose this route because players had such varied 'true endings' in the first game, and they wanted a cleaner slate to craft a freer narrative. Existing fans get to experience a familiar world from a new perspective, while newcomers won't feel like they have missed out on any crucial backstory.

The city of Arkham is more than just a backdrop; it acts as an isolated, claustrophobic environment designed to heighten player immersion. The team built Arkham by synthesizing all of Lovecraft’s works, from staples like The Shadow over Innsmouth and The Call of Cthulhu to lesser-known tales like The Nameless City and The Whisperer in Darkness.

In Arkham, you will experience an inexplicable sense of isolation and psychological pressure. The developers drew inspiration from films like Shutter Island, Get Out, and Forgotten. To capture the authentic vibe of the era, they also referenced 1920s-set films such as Babylon, The Aviator, and Changeling.

Frogwares made the jump from Unreal Engine 3 to Unreal Engine 5 for this project. By switching engines early in development, they were able to clean up legacy code and streamline their workflow. Notably, Unreal Engine 5’s World Partition feature allowed the team to build their semi-open world much more efficiently with multiple developers working simultaneously.

Lumen is used to render the damp, water-logged surfaces of Arkham and dynamic light reflections, while Nanite allows for highly detailed models without performance hits. Furthermore, the introduction of MetaHuman and MetaHuman Animator brings realistic facial expressions to characters, fixing the stiff, awkward animations that plagued their previous work.