“I have looked upon all the universe has to hold of horror, and even the skies of spring and flowers of summer must ever afterward be poison to me.” – H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu (1928)
After last year’s Call of Cthulhu from Cyanide S.A. (check out my full review here) it seems horror titles based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft are going through a bit of a renaissance period, which has the potential to usher in a new golden age of horror video games if done correctly. The Sinking City is an investigation-based horror adventure game inspired by the works of the man himself; the game will place you in the shoes of Charles W. Reed a private detective sent to investigate the cause of an unprecedented supernatural flood in the haunted town of Oakmont, Massachusetts, after months of being tortured by otherworldly visions, knowing that insanity is slowly but surely creeping it’s way inside his mind.
Within the heavy and murky atmosphere of Oakmont, the player will investigate the town and it’s inhabitants to discover the nature of the supernatural entity that has taken hold of the minds of the town, dealing with the dregs of mankind, following clues they wish they had never found, and ultimately unveiling a cosmic horror threatening the the very existence of the world itself. Developer: Frogwares has put the detective experience at the core of The Sinking City’s gameplay, with no clear instruction as to where the next lead will take you, no quest markers, and zero hand holding, just your intuition when it comes to deciphering clues and evidence, all of which can be analyzed within your casebook. The ‘mind-palace’ feature from Frogwares’ Sherlock Holmes series is also making a return, allowing you to piece together evidence to try out different theories; but as the gameplay trailer below states: “The Sinking City has no right or wrong answers, just different shades of black.”.
Originally planned to release on the 21st March 2019, publisher: BIGBEN and developer: Frogwares announced yesterday via press release that the game is being pushed back to the 27th June 2019, to allow the game to release within a less crowded period, allowing for the best possible gameplay experience, with extra polish and tweaking that the game will no doubt benefit from due to having the release date pushed back for a few months.
