The Sinking City - First Reviews
 

Here are the first reviews for the adventure RPG The Sinking City:

Twinfinite - Score: 4/5

Tech Advisor - Score: 4.5/5

PC Invasion - Score: 7/10

True Achievements - Score: 3/5

Bloody-Disgusting - Score: 3/5



More information.

Another Epic Game Store game that's so easy to ignore.

For the moment, but I will definitely be playing this.

Even if the game sux, as long as it's on PC I'm buying. Because:
No I don't care they stole Hitchhiker's Guide idea and advertised Lovecraft whatever, everyone does that anyway.

Anyone dismissing this before playing it obviously isn't a fan of Lovecraft. This will be a day 1 purchase for me. It's not as if June has had much to offer us anyways.

I'm not that type of fan. Being fan of his actual works is something that stays on it's own, every second game waving his name is seriously getting on my nerves.
At least this time it's not ESRB teen crap.

I'm not the biggest Lovecraft fan, but I'm a pretty hardcore DnD fan and that doesn't mean that Sword Coast Legends wasn't shit. I don't have time for 3/5 rabble, much less that come with forceful Epic Game Store cancer.

Looks like trolling is in the air today. :)

I'm currently playing Vampyr at the moment and I like it so far (I'm only 3-4 hours in, though). This game gives me the same feeling, I'll be sure to check it out once I finish Vampyr.

I bought it in the Epic store and have invested a few hours - I am a Lovecraft fan and play desktop CoC, so perhaps I have overly high expectations. My feelings are mixed at this point…
+ atmosphere is great
+ the investigation mechanic is interesting
+ story is interesting
~ combat is OK (I didn't expect anything complex)
-exploration….most of the buildngs cannot be entered…and reward for exploring (so far) is not that great
- city is populated by walking, silent non-respnsive NPC's, seems very ''dead".
- dying has no real consequence - you just respawn
- sanity losses seem a bit arbitrary (but you can munch a pill and get sanity back).
- skill tree is boring. Nothing really 'mythos' related.
- NPC's sometime pop into existence ….I thouht that was an hallucination, but I think not!

I was hoping for someting like CoC: DCotE…it shares similarities, but that game was just vastly better (based on what I have seen so far).

I'm surprised how we're able to start the game, even though it releases tomorrow? Weird.

One thing that surprised me was how big the city map is. Pretty huge for an adventure game.

What?

I love Lovecraft. Still waiting for an isometric, turn-based, non-adventure-style Lovecraft game. (might be waiting for a long time)

There's a few of those

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2…e_Wasted_Land/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/7…_the_Old_Ones/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/8…hulhu_Tactics/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/9…RLD_OF_HORROR/

probably more..

Not sure that last one fits the bill. :)

ACG is pretty good at reviewing, so he seems to like it, except for technical glitches and limitations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRNrli3XezM

Coincidentally, I just watched that a little while ago. It sounds like it's a little rough around the edges, but it might be one of those flawed gems if you dig the setting.

yeah it's only turn based not isometric, might be adventure-like as well so..

If you pre-purchased on the Epic store you got access 48 hours earlier.

The city map is big, but feels rather empty since only the streets/waterways can really be explored (with a few key buildings that are plot relevant and others there for looting). That coupled with the silent crowds makes it feel very odd.

Sounds like it could have done with a bit longer in the oven. Still, if we're saying the atmosphere is great, and it's likely to be enjoyed by Lovecraft fans, I'll definitely give it a whirl.

I'm always a bit skeptical of Lovecraft adaptations, as I think the nameless ineffable horrors are best conjured in the mind, from the page, and physical representations never quite do it justice.

I agree. I also think that's exacerbated by the fact that most of the video game adaptions we've received so far were a bit heavy on the jank.

His recommendation was: Wait for a sale.

His comments about the game are very similar to @booboo 's.

I've followed Frogwares since the beginning, played a lot of the early titles and, for me, it was always a case of enjoying them until I didn't and I never completed one of their games. Quite a strange and unusual situation, liking the idea of the game but always getting turned off by the sheer chunkiness to the point of quitting, but more from disappointed rolled eyes than rage.

Since then I found a Youtuber who specialises in Frogwares titles, and who also specialises in Cthulu (Frogwares have been teasing Chtulu in most of their games for years and have already made a fully Cthulu themed game called Magrunner, which I bet barely anyone here has even heard of?), and I've found that I can enjoy watching him play them all so I can get the sense of joy their games give without the torment of actually having to play them.

And this game looks to me like classic Frogwares. The extent you like it will probably rely more on your ability to enjoy Frogware games than your love of Cthulu. It looks like another fun game imprisoned in a frustratingly awkward, semi-soulless adventure that one would buy, in the olden days, as a deep sale curiosity. The little things you take for granted in most other games will be noticeably absent.

As for supporting them in the hope that they'll one day make a good game, they kinda already did with Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments in 2014, a game which finally seemed like they'd found a way to make what they do mass appealing and non-janky. Unfortunately, the follow-up showed this to be a false hope and they completely failed to build upon their success nor seem to get what it was that made C&P more popular than their other games.

There'll be enjoyment to have, but it will come with many little niggles dragging you down the more you play.

ACG did a pretty good review of this one. I don't like the graphics style at all. The game is ugly (to me). It looks very clunky to me as well. Specifically watch how the main character appears on the screen in front of you. The perspective looks weird. To me, something seems…off about it.

I would recommend watching his review because it shows a lot of game play and what it looks like….https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRNrli3XezM

Edited: Oops, I posted without reading the above posts referring to the ACG review. Glad to see others are also talking about it though! :blush: (how embarrassing)
(Hey - you guys made several good comments about the ACG review, rpg watch is right on target, as usual!)

I think the game looks pretty good from an artistic standpoint (ACG said something similar), but a few things ACG pointed out are a little immersion breaking - like random NPCs repeating the same actions in the same locations too often.

The atmosphere seems solid though. I'm looking forward to jumping in tomorrow albeit with slightly lower expectations now.

I wonder if it's the sort of project that might get significant work done on it after release.

Jim Sterling finds himself trapped within a Frogware's game:

Watched (wasted time?) till cca 6th minute. It didn't look so bad.

Then JS noted - respawns. Everything respawns.
Turned off vid. Money saved. Buh-bye.