The Sinking City

 PlayStation 5
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. PlayStation Country
    Mar 4, 2021
    70
    The Sinking City is a good Lovecraftian detective game with uprated PS5 visuals and massively reduced loading times from the PS4 version. Well worth picking up if you fancy something a bit different. Just a shame that haptics are underutilised outside the usual rumble.
  2. Screen Rant
    Feb 28, 2021
    70
    This leaves the PS5 version of the game in a similar place to its original release. The Sinking City is one of those flawed but sometimes brilliant games that has a huge amount of ambition. It might not reach the heights of other recent cult classics like Greedfall or Vampyr, but its blend of cosmic horror and detective pulp is infectious.
  3. Multiplayer.it
    Feb 27, 2021
    70
    The Sinking City offers a very simple upgrade: higher resolution and frame rate, some additional visual effects and faster loading, as well as features unique to PS5, such as DualSense haptic feedback.
  5. CGMagazine
    Apr 14, 2021
    65
    If you can look past a plethora of bugs, backtracking and glitches, there’s an interesting game hidden here.
  6. Push Square
    Feb 25, 2021
    60
    While it's great to see The Sinking City return to PlayStation consoles, the PS5 version does little to make this worth an additional purchase for existing owners. DualSense support and shorter load times are nice additions, but performance and gameplay are still on the rough side. For newcomers, the lack of direction in particular can turn the engaging story into a backtracking slog very quickly. There's a great and engaging detective game buried here, but there are much better offerings out there to scratch your itch.

Awards & Rankings

63
#63 Best PlayStation 5 Game of 2021

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 52 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 52
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 52
  3. Negative: 16 out of 52
  1. gamezn_ru
    Feb 28, 2021
    8
    Несмотря на то, что это довольно маленькая студия, Frogwares проделала невероятную работу по улучшению The Sinking City для следующегоНесмотря на то, что это довольно маленькая студия, Frogwares проделала невероятную работу по улучшению The Sinking City для следующего поколения.

    Когда она впервые вышла в 2019 году, The Sinking City была достойной игрой. Мы рассмотрели её, дав оценку 6/10, но похвалили за отличное повествование и детективную работу. Что мы особенно не комментировали, так это то, как игра выглядела и выполнялась. На PS5 игра теперь работает со скоростью 60 кадров в секунду с разрешением 4K.

    Расположенный в жалком городке Окмонт (Oakmont City), “красивый” — странное слово для описания The Sinking City. Несколько районов Окмонта далеко не живописны; это город наполовину под водой из-за наводнения, которое просто не утихает. Районы, которые не затоплены, грязные и запущенные; отчаявшиеся и обездоленные жители ходят по улицам, умоляя о помощи. Это мрачное зрелище, но в 4K оно блестяще воплощено в жизнь. Лужи на полу прекрасно отражают свет; детали разбитых и полуразрушенных зданий кристально чисты. Модели персонажей тоже поражают своей реалистичностью. Их анимация лица может быть не совсем идеальной, но их черты – особенно глаза – настолько реалистичны, что застают вас врасплох.

    Мощность PS5 также означает, что The Sinking City практически не имеет времени загрузки. Самое большее, вам придется подождать две-три секунды, начиная новую главу или загружая новую область. Но по большей части ваше время с игрой не прерывается, позволяя вам полностью погрузиться в темный и запутанный мир, вдохновленный Лавкрафтом.    … Full Review »
  2. Gapinszczak
    May 2, 2023
    3
    Im very disappointed, because I love games from Lovecraft universe but here developers gave me some archaic stuff. The graphics look bad, likeIm very disappointed, because I love games from Lovecraft universe but here developers gave me some archaic stuff. The graphics look bad, like game from 2013 not from 2019. Gameplay and movement are wooden. You can forget about aiming, the aiming system is coarse and ineffective. But what about detective mode and cases. They are good, maybe not pretty good, but still funny. You roaming in the city, finding clues, suspects. It's the best part of game, and the only good things. I totally dropped out in a middle of game… Full Review »
  3. Lother
    Nov 7, 2021
    0
    The more I played, the more it devolved into pandering, progressive woke nonsense. Every checkbox is ticked here and shoved in your face:

    -    The more I played, the more it devolved into pandering, progressive woke nonsense. Every checkbox is ticked here and shoved in your face:

    - oppressed illegal immigrants that did nothing wrong? check
    - rich individuals who wont share their wealth with the poor? check
    - charitable individuals redistributing the rich one's wealth to the poor? multiple check
    - secret homo relationship heavy handedly shoved as an afterthought you discover from a photo and never mentioned again? check
    - women's rights movement? check

    The game also clearly bashes you over the head with what the creators think is the correct moral decision(the PROGRESSIVE one) in each instance. You're given stupid choices like: expose a clearly evil person part of a dark cult by poisoning the food they distribute to the poor in order to gain members or simply leaving her alone. I mean, seriously, what the actual F?

    Oh and the gameplay is pretty clunky and just annoying. You run out of ammo so damn fast then have to scrounge for more. It's not like you can AVOID monsters, most of the time you do have to fight them and they take so many hits to go down. What's the point of giving the player supposedly better and better weapons if those don't 1-shot weaker enemies? 4-5 shotgun blasts to take down a giant, same for rifle rounds.....huh?

    I only gave this a chance because it really did start out very promising and had SOME elements from H.P. Lovecraft done well. I should have suspected the level of wokeness when the game went exclusive to Epic for so long.

    Don't play this, play Eternal Darkness, a perfect adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft themes. Oh how I wish they would just make a remaster of that instead.    … Full Review »
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