The Sinking City 2
A Lovecraftian survival horror sequel built by a Kyiv-based studio between 2023 and 2026, during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, that shifted the series from open-world investigation to focused Resident Evil-style survival horror.
- //Built by Frogwares, a Kyiv-based studio, between January 2023 and August 2026 -- development ran the entire duration of Russia's invasion of Ukraine so far.
- //The game opens with a splash screen documenting the real human cost of development: 14 staff drafted, 17 homes damaged, 8 children born, 11 weddings, and 85,183 air raid sirens, power cuts, and water shortages.
- //Frogwares fought a multi-year legal battle against publisher Nacon over unpaid royalties and misrepresented IP rights for the original Sinking City, pulling the game from sale in 2020 and winning sole publishing rights in January 2024.
- //A genre pivot from the original's open-world investigation format to focused, linear survival horror -- new protagonist, new setting (Arkham replaces Oakmont), standalone story.
- //Launched at 95% Very Positive on Steam within hours of release, alongside strong critical reception including comparisons to Resident Evil and Silent Hill.
The Sinking City 2 is a standalone follow-up to Frogwares' 2019 detective game, trading that game's open-world investigation for a tighter, linear survival horror built around genuine resource scarcity. New protagonist Calvin Rafferty wakes to find his partner Faye Bennett in a supernatural coma after a ritual involving the Book of Dreaming goes wrong, and spends the game fighting through a flooded, worm-infested version of Arkham, Massachusetts in 1929 trying to save her. It's Frogwares' first real attempt at the survival horror genre after two decades of Sherlock Holmes detective games, built without outside financing or the ability to hire genre veterans, and shipped after a legal fight to win back its own IP and three and a half years of development disrupted by war.
Built in Kyiv between January 2023 and August 2026, through 85,183 documented air raid sirens, power cuts, and water shortages, with staff conscripted mid-project and homes damaged along the way. That story alone doesn't make the game good. The game is good on its own honest merits -- excellent atmosphere, real scarcity-driven combat, a standalone story that doesn't need the original to land. The exploration is more linear than the original's open world, and some reviewers found Calvin and Faye's writing thin in the opening hours. Buy it because it earns the praise. The rest of the story just makes buying it feel like it matters more.