The sinking city modes series#

To defend himself, Reed can use firearms and traps to drive them back into the depths.Īmmunition isn’t easy to find, but crafting components are. These are dangerous areas that can easily get Reed killed, or drive him into madness, summoning ghostly apparitions that will leave him consumed by insanity. Occasionally, Charles Reed might find himself accidentally wandering into an infested area where lumbering humanoid monsters and arachnid crawlies roam. On the occasion, Reed will even be able to use his Minds Eye to find magically hidden rooms or follow a culprit’s day old path through Oakmont, leading him to a hideout. Using this mode, clues are easier to spot and Reed can get glimpses of the past and visually piece together events that took place before his arrival. And in The Sinking City, Reed can activate his Minds Eye. In Call of Cthulhu, it was a visual reconstruction of past events. In Batman: Akrham Asylum, it was detective mode. Real investigations take a keen and observant eye, but games that depend on investigation frequently include an additional optic mode.

But for all the unique investigation components, many of the game’s biggest downfalls come from mirroring more common game mechanics which ultimately become a distraction from what makes The Sinking City good. Player independence and freedom of exploration are what make The Sinking City feel more like a horror themed Sherlock Holmes than anything like what we’ve seen in previous Lovecraftian games. Clues can come in many forms and be hidden anywhere within the crime scene so thorough exploration of each area will be crucial if Reed is going to solve each case. Then, it’s up to the player to mark the map and explore the narrowed down area until they find what they’re looking for.īut the real work doesn’t begin until Reed arrives on the scene of an investigation.

The sinking city modes series#

If Reed needs to find a particular landmark, he’ll need to follow a series of clues until he learns the landmark’s cross streets. The in-game map details the districts and streets of Oakmont and marks primary locations as they are uncovered. Similarly, the HUD compass will never direct players toward a location that they didn’t input themselves. Perhaps there was a witness who spotted the burglar and their identity will be revealed to you by looking in the right place. Should Reed ever need to track down the culprit behind a string of robberies in a particular district, he could find the information he needs in the police archives, or look for reports of burglaries in the same area. Within the walls of Oakmont lie resources such as the police station and newspaper where Reed can browse through archives any time that he’s stuck on a case. It is entirely up to the player to take the clues they’ve been provided and determine what the next steps to take are. One of the big selling points of The Sinking City is its lack of handholding. Frogwares spent a lot of time creating an open city comprised of several districts to hide clues across and it’s in the player’s best interests to use the tools spread throughout. Learning the secrets of this dark flooded city requires Reed to thoroughly explore every inch of the condemned structures and cult invested neighborhoods. You’ll grow to become incredibly familiar with these dank streets. But Reed’s arrival only throws him into the belly of a twisted city that has more mystery than answers. Rumor has it that these visions are becoming more commonplace and not only have they been drawing strangers to Oakmont, but there’s someone there who has been researching their cause. In recent months, Reed has been plagued by vivid and confusing nightmares of floods and aquatic horrors. The story opens on protagonist Charles Reed, a former Navy man turned private investigator, who’s made his way from Boston to Oakmont, Massachusetts in search of answers. This week we finally got to dive into The Sinking City, stop dreaming, and start having horrific tentacle filled nightmares. I had high hopes for it and came up with my dream wishlist of what we’d experience within the sinking city of Oakmont, MA. I began seeking out other games that might fill that cosmic void and I stumbled across The Sinking City. I was reminded of how much I enjoyed Lovecraftian horror and the dingy fishing villages of my home state of Massachusetts, but it didn’t completely scratch the itch. Shortly after we reviewed Call of Cthulhu last year, I got Lovecraft fever.