Imagine you’re waking up on a ship after one of your worst nightmares. You’ve seen a flooded city in your dreams, a city where no man could ever survive. Nobody knows why it’s flooded but in your dream, you’re not alone. There’s something lurking in the depths of the water, a giant monster, a monster that wants end your existence. After you woke up, you realize you just entered the city of your nightmares… Welcome to Oakmont.
Welcome to Oakmont
Oakmont is a desolated city that’s hard to find on the map. Since it got flooded, people tend to ignore the place since it’s simply too mysterious. Charles W. Reed, the protagonist of The Sinking City is attracted to the city due to his visions. Charles suffers from mysterious visions, blurring the line between what is real and what isn’t. His search for answers led him to Oakmont, after finding that one ship with a crew brave enough to do business with the creatures of Oakmont.
I said creatures and not humans because of the city’s unique population. Humans and Deep Ones (hybrids of the human race combined with all sorts of other creatures) live together and created an economy that seems to work rather well. The atmosphere of Oakmont is certainly one of the game’s strengths. This isn’t like anything you played before, this is a truly unique setting and just wandering around in the mysterious city, getting to know those colorful characters will result in many interesting hours. The developers wanted you to discover everything at your own pacing and since you’re giving a lot of freedom, that’s exactly what you’ll do. Using the acclaimed H.P. Lovecraft lore as the main inspiration of your world, the team really managed to put down one of the most impressive virtual worlds we’ve seen in years. The city of Oakmont never cared for a warm welcome but its mystery was reason enough for us to continue our exploration. Needless to say, it’s far more than just an exploration game.
Detective W. Reed
As a private detective, Charles came to the city to find answers for his own condition, he got a lot more than just that when he arrived. Right from the start, you’ll be confronted with a lot of characters and new cases. You’ll learn that you’re not the only one suffering from those visions and the answer might be found somewhere in the city. In order to get closer to the key, you’ll need to solve cases so that the creatures around you trust you and give you access to key information. During these cases, it’s clear that the developer worked on Sherlock Holmes games in the past since The Sinking City plays like a Holmes game set in a Lovecraft universe.
Most cases start at the crime scene where you’ll have to investigate the scene in order to find the right clues. Talking to potential witnesses and retrieving essential information is also part of your routine. To spice things up a little, Charles has access to some neat little tricks. Thanks to his dark vision, he unlocked a certain sixth sense in his brain. Enabling him to highlight important clues and even see the past to find out what was going on during the crime. This is a crucial power and toying around with it, finding the right clues, connecting the right dots, is extremely satisfying.
Not only will you have to find the right clues in the field, during the entire game you can solve tasks for the inhabitants of Oakmont. These side-missions have an impact on the main story since they’ll give you access to important items if you handle things correctly. Be warned, however, some of your decisions will impact the main story so you might want to think twice before you act. This freedom is a nice addition for a detective game and thanks to it, you’ll always wonder what the next step will be. The game doesn’t hold your hand, it’s up to you to connect everything and set your own new goal. Finding the right connection between the information you gathered is done in your Mind Palace, an important place in the game where you’ll spend a lot of your time if you want to discover everything this interesting world has to offer. As far as investigation gameplay goes, this one can be considered as a pinnacle in the genre.
A little more action
Where the game would certainly pass as one of the better investigation games, the developers thought it simply wasn’t enough. That’s why you’ll also have to fire a gun from time to time. In all honesty, I understand why the team decided to add a bit more action. The enemies you’ll face are extremely well designed and will send chills all over your body. Facing some of the more powerful enemies in the game will certainly leave its mark as combined with the dark atmosphere, it isn’t something you’ve done before. The problem with the action however, is the fact that it’s all a bit too rough around the edges.
Frogwares isn’t your big budget triple-A developer so you simply can’t demand the same amount of polishing you’ll see in big budget games. Where they truly nailed the investigation part, they missed some elements in the action scenes. The animations aren’t as fluent as you would hope for and the gun gameplay has been done by others a bit too much. That doesn’t main it isn’t fun. The atmosphere and suspense of facing off with those deadly creatures certainly helps to elevate the global expierence but it’s a bit of a shame that technical limitations and a couple of bugs stand in the way of some truly amazing action-orientated gameplay. It’s not a bad experience but the investigation scenes certainly have my preference while playing this unique game.
Conclusion:
The Sinking City is one of the best open world investigation games I’ve played in years. The world of Oakmont combined with the lore of Lovecraft result in a truly unique atmosphere and a city worth discovering. It’s a bit of a shame that the combat is still a bit too rough around the edges and the game suffers from some small technical problems. That being said, this is the ultimate game if you’re interested in the Lovecraft universe and are looking for a fun new detective game.
