The Sinking City Remastered Review

A Mystery Worth Losing Your Mind Over

My girlfriend and I played through this one together and we had a blast! It’s like Resident Evil meets LA Noire with some Silent Hill and Eternal Darkness thrown in for good measure! It certainly has its rough edges, I can’t say the remaster has done an awful lot about the poor visuals or clunky combat, BUT the atmosphere, narrative and investigation systems more than make up for it! Overall, this game is underrated and I would actually consider it a masterpiece of its genre, if it wasn’t for some glaring issues with the visuals and clunky combat/character movement. This is a genuine must play for any survival-horror fan, especially if you also have an interest in detective games or Lovecraft’s works. I wholeheartedly and enthusiastically recommend it to anyone even remotely interested and I think it may well surprise those of you that are on the fence!

The Detective’s Descent

The Sinking City’s gameplay can be broken down into three core elements that tie in together quite well, these being investigation, exploration and combat.

The investigations were EXTREMELY ENGAGING, this game does a brilliant job of immersing you in the role of Private Investigator Charles Reed. Although the character interrogations aren’t anywhere near as in-depth as something like LA Noire, there’s no accusation mechanic per se, the writing and apparent player agency keep you invested and intrigued. Majority of the individual cases you come across throughout the game, both main and side, give you a choice of at least two conclusions. Although these choices can often be broken down into your typical “good or bad/ right or wrong” moral choice, the nuances and otherworldly elements of the overarching plot add genuine depth. This game will make you question the logic of your own morality given the exceptionally disturbing circumstances.

The Mind Palace was a cool element that served to enhance the investigative experience, having the player manually put clues together to make deductions. The focus on actually using the map was an equally immersive decision, you have to use clues to deduce where to go next and put down your own custom markers. I really thought this was going to get annoying at first but it was actually really well executed.

This game doesn’t offer everything up to you on a silver platter, this is where the focus on exploration comes in, you really have to search the environments for clues and come to conclusions for yourself. There are also a plethora of hidden resources, side content and extra details to make the exploration even more addictive and rewarding.

I really enjoyed the sanity system, they made Charles’ sanity a legitimate threat. Not being able to look at the monstrous enemies/creatures, otherworldly imagery or disturbing crime scenes without it affecting your mental health was genius! It added to the tension, and the visual effects on the screen, from losing sanity, really made me as the player feel dizzy and uneasy. Not to mention that if your sanity metre drops too low the creatures you hallucinate can damage your health bar too. This lined up really well with the Lovecraftian theme and the survival horror tone.

Clunky but Cathartic Combat

The combat is your typical, modern survival horror fare. It imitates the third-person shooter mechanics popularised by Resident Evil 4 and perfected in the modern remakes, Resident Evil 2 etc. Combat encounters are fairly frequent and Charles feels a little sluggish. Although this may be intentional it lacks the polish to make it still appear smooth, as it is instead rather jarring early on. This does add to the feeling of dread during combat encounters, however, and encouraged me to avoid combat wherever possible at the beginning of the game. Enemy variety is fairly limited but still varied enough to keep the player engaged whilst still introducing new threats as the narrative progresses. I did find the combat experience improved as I progressed, gaining better equipment and weapon proficiency. I also felt myself becoming naturally accustomed to the apparent awkwardness the more I played.

The game features a fairly rudimentary progression system in which you can improve certain stats and attributes, like health and weapon proficiency. This provided further incentive to explore

I do feel that the whole experience could have benefitted from a more visually stimulating, stylised and engaging UI. The fairly basic, mundane visuals and functions of the UI can make navigating it, and thus the game’s systems, feel almost boring at times.

Madness in Oakmont

Brilliant writing, world building and characters! Having read some of Lovecraft’s literature I was really impressed by the accuracy and loyalty to the inspiration. The lore was detailed and the game offers a decent amount to learn and discover about the source material, for those unfamiliar.

The main story revolves around protagonist Charles W. Reed exploring the fictional sinking city of Oakmont, Massachusetts. Drawn there by creepy, cryptic visions being sent to him in a dream. The plot offers a genuinely intriguing hook right from the beginning, balancing well that innate sense of intrigue with that familiar sense of deep tension and megalophobia exclusive to Lovecraft’s works.

The game features an all original cast, except for the other worldly entities, yet all characters fit perfectly into the Lovecraftian universe and share recognizable traits, features and plot points that are a clear ode to the inspiration. Characters in this game are generally quirky and creepy, both in behavior and visual design, they offer a pleasant juxtaposition to Charles’ blunt, gritty aesthetic.

Beauty Beneath the Murk

This is where it gets a bit ugly…

This game nails the atmosphere and at certain points it can look genuinely good but these moments are fairly rare. The game’s visual appeal is unfortunately often at the mercy of its seemingly warring visual effects. They seemed to attempt the iconic fog of the Silent Hill games at some points and although it did serve to obscure vision and elevate the atmosphere, it was also ugly and obtuse and could have done with some work to make it more subtle, in my opinion. There was also often screen tearing which can really break the atmosphere in a game that relies as heavily on its ambience as this. The perpetual rain was also hap-hazardous in its implementation, sometimes the glistening dampness looked eerily beautiful and the rain genuinely complimented the vibe, at other times random raindrops looked like static on my screen and broke some of that essential and often commendable immersion.

The UI is serviceable, and fits with 1920s setting and theme, but it’s pretty basic and doesn’t do anything groundbreaking. Considering how much time you spend in the menus, tracking investigations on the map, sorting through clues and deductions in the Mind Palace and managing the resources in your inventory, the devs could have made it somewhat more appealing.

The visual effects, tied to sanity, are very well implemented, however! The devs have worked wonders to make the player feel as dizzy and disorientated as Charles when exposed to disturbing crime scenes or other worldly entities, further enhancing that awesome atmosphere!

Character and enemy designs are brilliant, equal parts eerie and alluring. Character designs range from quirky to outright grotesque and do a great job of bringing Lovecraft’s descriptions to life. Enemies, on the other hand, are always pretty terrifying with horrifying, surreal designs that don’t get old quickly at all!

I do think, however, that the game could have benefited from a more stylised approach to the visuals. Take something like Alice: Madness Returns for example. (These two games are comparable in a number of ways but I’ll focus on the visuals for the sake of this segment of the review.) Both games have a creepy/horror theme but Alice’s art style better suits the absurdity of its character design. For The Sinking City however the devs have gone for a more realistic visual style which is generally quite hit and miss. Certain inconsistencies are also more noticeable when aiming for realistic visuals, I feel like the game’s shortcomings would have been easier to hide behind a less demanding visual style whilst also encouraging the audience to cast a less critical eye.

That being said, I found the visuals serviceable overall, just rather hit and miss as earlier stated.

Dread in Every Drop

General sound design is decent! The voice acting and character performances are great. Ambient sounds like weather effects, whistling and howling of the wind and pattering of the rain, all sound good and lend themselves well to that ever-present sense of deep immersion. The eery enemy noises and sound distortion as your sanity metre drops are expertly implemented to elevate that constant sense of tension.

The weapons sound okay but the actual gunshots are found lacking when compared to other modern games featuring firearms. The Sinking City’s gunshots sound bland and generally forgettable, lacking any echo or reverberation.

The chittering, warbling and deep growls of nearby enemies do well to alert you of their presence and set you on edge. But they are also exceedingly difficult to pin down due to lack of audial direction.

The music is unique and perfectly captures the game's eerie deep-sea aesthetic. I can’t say any of the tracks particularly stood out to me but they complemented the games environments and themes perfectly.

A Flawed Masterpiece Sinking Beneath the Surface

The Sinking City is not perfect. Its visuals are dated, its combat clumsy, and its interface uninspired. But beneath those flaws lies a truly special game that nails atmosphere, immersion, and Lovecraftian horror better than most of its peers.

This is a slow-burn descent into madness, a detective’s nightmare told through mystery and myth. And despite its imperfections, it is absolutely worth experiencing. If you love horror, detective work, or stories that challenge your sanity, dive in. You might not surface the same.