Next-Gen The Sinking City Launches on 19th February for PS5

I'd love to hear some comments from anyone who has played this game. I wanted to get it, love the mythos, but I heard it had problems. I can't remember what they were. Is it something a faster console could fix? Or were they more gameplay related problems?

@get2sammyb 😃
Thanks Sammy!

@LordSteev it’s a bit rough around the edges but it has a great atmosphere. I was able to get the platinum using a guide (lots of missables). Overall I enjoyed it.

@get2sammyb
Don't mean to pester you, but do you know if they ever did patch the 'technical hick-ups' Liam spoke of in the review? Great review, btw, makes me want to try it.

Its got the classic Frogwares kind of jank but you can tell they love their work. Its a good game to just dive into and explore.

@fR_eeBritney Thanks! Was it creepy/Lovecraftian, or more hard-boiled detective story? Hey, what was your final impression of Werewolf?

I see that picture of the game and I see Rick Grimes from season 1 of walking dead

Its a game with a lot of very cool ideas that falls a bit short. If it appeals to you, then you will probably find something to enjoy.

It's quite unique, but its ambition far outreaches its execution.

Maybe they can redesign some of the comically over-repeated interiors.

Does anyone else see listing Dualsense support on a ps5 game the most redundant thing? Obviously developers have seen dualsense is popular but this doesnt mean they've made good use of it. what they've said is "...and you can use your controller to play the game"

The combat absolutely ruined this game for me. If that's not tweaked I'll have to take a pass.

@LordSteev As a fan of both Lovecraft and Sherlock Holmes games, I really wanted to love this game, but couldn't and stopped playing after something like 7-8 hours.

The positive :

• good ambiance
• interesting story (as far as I've got into the game)
• nice detective gameplay (taken from the Sherlock Holmes games if you know them)

The negative :

• horrendous and completely unnecessary combat
• very static world (what I mean is that you really get the feeling every prop is fixed, and not part of a living world)
• meh performances from actors
• stiff and unwieldy movement

All in all, it's a game that could have been great if they had focused on the detective part, and entirely skipped the combat, and with more interactivity with the world.

@LordSteev
Kind of a janky game but the setting and game play makes up for it even if sometimes progression through some cases can be just a tad too cryptic for my liking (no shame in getting a walk through i had to do that a few times) so overall at a reduced price its worth a look and funnily enough its one of like maybe 10 games I've actually platinumed

i enjoyed my time in this game, went and explored everything it had to offer , will play again if i ever get a ps5 at rrp lol

I quite enjoyed this one. It's janky af and a bit limited, but worth picking up in a sale if you like Lovecraftian things.

@LordSteev playing it now. It has 2 difficulty sliders, one for story/puzzles/research the other is combat. You’re a detective not a marine. You do get guns, but the monsters repeat to the point it’s cake to kill them late game. I just run from them, saves ammo.

Very disturbing game. Lovecraftian lore galore. Diving is limited but freaky. Tons of different ways to handle things, ally with whom, and so on.

Fun. Definitely a good time waster. The hero walks a tad too fast, but city is big.

This looks like a strange game. Bring this one to ps plus

@LordSteev not played it myself but Jim sterling said it was one of the best worst games he's ever played ,he didn't know why he kept playing it because its broken garbage ,hope that helps😁

@smythelove I wouldn't be suprised if its march ps plus ,sonys been plugging the hell out of it for some reason.

@Olmaz I couldn't agree more. As a Lovecraft fan, I had to leave the game after 7-8 hours.

• Unbelievably bad, unnecessary combat.
• Repetitive, unnecessary open world. If you can't do it, just don't put an open world element.

I wanted to continue for the sake of the story but it was IMPOSSIBLE.

Well I’m playing cyberpunk so no hurry lol

@Olmaz Thanks for the great information! The combat must be truly horrible since it seems everybody shares that thought. I really like Lovecraft, and it should be such a perfect mythos for a game, and yet nobody seems to be able to do it right. Unless you've played something good I haven't heard of?

Thanks again for the info, really appreciate it. 😃

@PegasusActual93 Thank you! You know, I'm kind of weird in that I really don't mind jank, unless it's a high-speed shooter. If it's a good game that captures the imagination, I'll put up with all kinds of quirks. Atmosphere and being able to forget I'm sitting in my living room is what sells me. Appreciate that you took the time to answer, have a good one!

@Bunchesopuppies

Thank you. I was very curious about the level of disturbance. I'm not a huge fan of jump scares, I don't mind them, but they feel cheap. Instead I like atmosphere that slowly goes to work on you and leaves you chilled without you ever knowing how it really happened. The more Lovecraftian lore, the better!

@vapidwolf Hahaha! That's me and Cyberpunk! I think a game can sometimes be great and capture you even if the devs didn't technically 'stick the landing'. Thanks!

@LordSteev
Let's see, looking at recently-ish :

• Call of Cthulhu was good looking, but ended up very boring
• Lovecraft's Untold Stories is more or less a Lovecraft coat of paint on a twin stick shooter, but still fun for a while
• Elder Signs : Omens is a very good game, adapted from the boardgame
• Tesla Vs Lovecraft is not good

That's all that comes to mind, but yeah, it's weird that they never got the right mood and gameplay for a lovecraftian game.

This is my dream Lovecraft game :
VR game (with some of the new tech that tracks your eyes, and possibly some heartbeat tracker too)
You choose your character (detective, journalist, professor, ...) and your motivation (lost a relative, is hearing voices, sent by your boss, ...).
You are sent to Arkham with all the classic locations (library, asylum, university, hospital, factory, port, ...), but there is some procedural generation so that very time you spawn, not every location is there, and the ones that are there are not always the center of any manifestation.
Your goal is to solve the mystery and stop the Old Ones coming back.
The games will keep showing you things and will keep track of what makes you tick throug the eye and heartbeat trackers, and will use this data to make you more and more afraid.
Example : the game notices you jump every time you hear a dog bark, it will put a barking dog in the right place. But sometimes, the dog won't be really there. That will make you question what is real or not.
The more you become stressed and afraid, the more crazy the game will get (therefore the game will not be too much/not enough scary for anyone).
Of course, action is kept to the minimum : if you shoot a gun, it is to kill one enemy, and you better kill it (if it's really there), you won't get another chance.
Or soemthing like that... who knows, maybe on PSVR2?

@Olmaz
Haha! I like it! Sounds like it might be a few years out, though...

In my perfect scenario, I picture a black screen slowly lightening to reveal your character, badly injured, waking up on a rowboat far from land, an Island or Penensula in the distance, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. With nothing else to do, he starts rowing slowly towards the only land he can see as the sun goes down and the light starts to fade.

Stop porting crusty PS4 games to the PS5, we have backwards compatibility now!

@LordSteev Bloodborne my man. It's definitely Lovecraftian even if it's not as related as this. Old Hunters DLC has a full on Fish man town.

Yes, it's the worst third person combat I have ever played. Worse than Elex. It's abysmal. But the atmosphere is fantastic and the story is interesting. Detective mechanics are tremendous. It's Euro jank though, budget. Know what u are getting into.

@Ichiban it's enhanced. 4K at 60 with better textures and DualSense implementation. Far better than playing BC.

Would love to see Larian develop a real AAA game based on Cthulhu Myth...

@iamtylerdurden1

Thanks! I'm sort of playing Bloodborne now, at least in small bits and pieces before getting frustrated. I think as I've aged, I've gotten more into the atmosphere of a game than the combat. Bloodborne reminds me how much slower I am now than when I was a teenager. I don't think I'll finish it until I get a PS5, because lord knows I need some faster load times after dying.

@LordSteev I platinumed this game. It was a great experience. In my mini reddit review I basically said the mind palace (part of the investigation sequences) could have more consequences for failing and that it would be great to dig up more information on cases from archives because there was usually only one piece you need to progress the case and nothing optional. The side quests were ok, but a little collectathon like, if you don't have the DLC it didnt feel long, but I did and so I felt like I was running around for a long time picking things up and then getting the same monsters attacking. If you do skip the Necronomicon dlc, though, there is a unique boss you miss. The underwater combat is basically pointless as you just have to run anyway. The combat itself isn't bad (despite what people say! ...It's not as smooth as say RE 2 remake, but the aiming and shooting works, it's fine) but the monsters could have more range before disappearing and also be able to climb objects! There are only a few parts where the enemy AI noticeably bad but they were there, nonetheless. The story leaves a couple of loose ends about the 2 families at war, particularly the fish type dudes. You don't really find out why they're there or what they do in detail. Those are the only bad parts and they're pretty minor. I don't know why the game has such a rep for problems, it's great fun and provides some scares and an interesting enough plot. I'd suggest it for anything around 20 quid or less.

@blackndark I really don't feel this way. As someone who has played many open world games it wasn't too bad. Putting pins in locations felt a little unnecessary but generally I liked the exploration, it got repetitive, sure, but what open world doesn't? The scenery in some area was great and it was different enough in all the parts of town. The combat was nothing more (or less) than a normal 3rd person shooter, I had no problems playing through on normal setting.

@Jayofmaya
Thanks for the information! I think I'm going to play this one after I clear a few more off my backlog. I like Lovecraft enough that if I don't, I'll be wondering what I missed. Thanks again for the detailed information, and if I can ever do the same, just let me know.

@LordSteev Of course, I like Lovecraft but wouldn't say I'm a big fan, there are some things I didn't understand as well about the plot which you may! I was just looking for a horror game and heard this one was pretty big so thought I'd give it a go, so tbh it should be more interesting for you anyway! And will do

@Jayofmaya