The Sinking City may not have been huge critical hit, but action-adventure title was nonetheless a successful one for developer Frogwares, and at the recent Xbox Partner Preview, it announced a sequel- though one that’s taking a different approach from its predecessor.
While The Sinking City was a game focused primarily on investigations and detective work, The Sinking City 2, which is being built on Unreal Engine 5, is going to be a full-fledged survival horror game, which should be more appropriate for the Lovecraftian setting.
The sequel will feature a new protagonist in a new setting, the semi-open world city of Arkham. The setting, however, is once again going to be a 1920s American city that’s been flooded, while the gameplay will be much more focused on combat, finding and managing resources, solving puzzles, and exploration.
Frogwares has also confirmed that it will be seeking partial crowdfunding for The Sinking City 2 through Kickstarter (similar to Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, its previous title), with the studio still dealing with the ongoing war in Ukraine, where it is based.
“At this stage, we have learned and adapted to our reality but the ongoing war adds an ominous layer of uncertainty, and the additional funds will help us deal with potential disruptions on top of helping fund various extra features we would love to implement,” said Wael Amr, CEO of Frogwares. “Our previous game, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, was fully developed and released during the war. Through Kickstarter and our supporters, we built ourselves a safety net that saved us more than once. From power cuts as our electrical infrastructure was targeted for months to the need for team members to relocate at very short notice, this financial safety net proved invaluable to us. So we need to do the same now with The Sinking City 2 as this game is vastly bigger and more complex.”
The Sinking City 2 is due out in 2025 for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.