


But in an area where you’ve got multiple enemies, all out to get you, survival becomes difficult. You’re better off using a melee attack on them one good whack and they’re down. Those arm creatures are small and agile, and getting a shot on them without any sort of lock-on function is hard. But none of them are particularly fun to engage in combat with. You’ll eventually become used to them, as you will with the other, larger foes you find yourself facing off against. You’ll come across the first of the game’s numerous foes fairly early on a stringy, fleshy creature that seems to be made only of arms appears out of nowhere and will likely frighten the life out of you. That’s perhaps probably the most disappointing thing about The Sinking City: its combat and gun play. You’re going to want to have bullets in stock when you do come upon an enemy, but having a fully loaded arsenal in The Sinking City is little more than a pipe dream. You’ll need to craft your own bullets, and for those, you’ll need to find gunpowder and casing. The buildings you can explore are cleverly marked, and sometimes you might want to go exploring simply to stock up on resources. It’s in these side missions that you’ll find the most freedom to explore Oakmont. You can focus on The Sinking City‘s main story if you like – a twisting tale that involves murder, sabotage, prejudice and more than a healthy dose of the supernatural – but if you want to go at your own pace, there are plenty of side missions to indulge in. It’s a great feeling to slowly get to know Oakmont, with a map filled with useful information that you’ve gathered all for yourself. You can link one directly to a mission, and you can also mark your own points of interests, or dead ends, and more.

There’s a variety of markers available, too. You might be given an address, or vague location that’s of interest, but you’ll need to use your map to seek it out yourself, placing your own markers. You need to gather and place those yourself. But unlike other open world games, your map won’t be filled with various markers and points of interest.
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There’s an open world feel to The Sinking City after a short opening mission, you’re free to move around Oakmont at will. The lack of hand-holding goes further than that, too. Progressing through a game and figuring out a case has never felt so rewarding. The authority given to the player here is definitely jarring at first, but once you get used to it, it’s incredibly refreshing. Heard that a crime was committed in a particular area and need to track down the perpetrators? You’ll need to work for that information by visiting the police station and searching their records.
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Like a true detective, you’ll need to figure out for yourself how to use the information you’ve collected. What really stands out about The Sinking City is that it doesn’t hold your hand in any sense of the word. But for the most part, your time with the game is uninterrupted, allowing you to get completely immersed in the dark and twisted Lovecraftian-inspired world.Īnd get immersed you will. At most, you’ll have to wait two or three seconds when starting a new chapter or loading a new area. The power of PS5 also means that The Sinking City has practically no loading times. Their facial animation might not quite be perfect, but their features – particularly their eyes – are so realistic it catches you off guard. The character models, too, are striking in their realism. Puddles on the floor reflect light beautifully the detailing on broken and dilapidated buildings is crystal clear. It’s a grim sight, yet in 4K it’s brilliantly brought to life. The areas that aren’t submerged are filthy and run-down desperate and destitute residents walk the streets begging for help. Oakmont’s several boroughs are far from picturesque it’s a city half underwater thanks to flooding that just won’t subside. Set in the miserable town of Oakmont, “beautiful” is a strange word to describe The Sinking City. I can’t tell you if it’s 100% locked at those, but it feels consistently smooth to play – and looks absolutely beautiful.

On PS5, the game now runs at 60 frames per second with a 4K resolution. What we didn’t particularly comment on was how the game looked and performed. We reviewed it, giving it a 6/10, but praised it for its excellent storytelling and detective work. When it first released in 2019, The Sinking City was a decent game. Despite being a fairly small studio, Frogwares has done an incredible job of enhancing The Sinking City for next-gen.
