Frogwares, the Kyiv, Ukraine-based studio, officially launched The Sinking City 2 on August 18, 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, marking the series' biggest shift in direction since the original released back in 2019.
Where the first game leaned into slow-paced detective work and deduction, the sequel goes all-in on survival horror in the vein of classic Resident Evil: tense exploration, environmental puzzles, scarce ammo, and several monsters players simply can't kill and have to avoid instead. The setting keeps the series' signature Lovecraftian flavor, this time a flooded, 1920s vision of Arkham.
The protagonist has changed entirely too: former private investigator Charles Reed from the first game is replaced by Calvin Rafferty. The story kicks off when a dreaming ritual goes wrong, leaving Rafferty's girlfriend, Faye, trapped in a supernatural coma, sending him on a survival journey through the sunken city to save her.
Ahead of launch, Frogwares released a 12-minute gameplay trailer and a demo covering the game's entire opening hour, letting players get familiar with the new combat and puzzle systems before buying the full game.
On launch day, The Sinking City 2 scored 79-84 on Metacritic depending on platform and 81 on OpenCritic, with 69% of critics recommending it. Most reviews agreed that ditching the slow detective formula for full survival horror was the right call for the Ukrainian studio, made amid the ongoing war back home.
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Source: Xbox Wire.