During today's Xbox Partner Preview event, Frogwares unveiled The Sinking City 2 following a lengthy legal battle over publishing rights for the first game.
The Sinking City 2 is a survival horror game set in the 1920s in the United States, and made in Unreal Engine 5. Players will explore a semi-open world and fight off Eldritch monsters while a rising tide changes the landscape of the city of Arkham.
In a press release, Frogwares stated it intends to pivot its studio to a "horror-first" focus with The Sinking City 2, after years of being focused on detective games, such as its Sherlock Holmes series.
“The original Sinking City is still one of our most successful titles, most likely because of stronger horror genre leanings and setting," said Frogwares publishing director Sergiy Oganesyan. "We created quite a few detective adventures in the past, so now we’re going to mix things up to keep doing what people love about us - meaning story-rich experiences - while still being able to evolve. It’s exciting but at the same time risky. We’re a totally independent studio that for the past 24 years has become known for detective games. But we need to start taking bolder moves. The industry is changing around us and we want to secure the studio’s future.”
In addition to the reveal, Frogwares is planning to open a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the game's development, as the Ukrainian team continues to reckon with the impact of ongoing war with Russia.
“At this stage, we have learned and adapted to our reality but the ongoing war adds an ominous layer of uncertainty, and the additional funds will help us deal with potential disruptions on top of helping fund various extra features we would love to implement," said Frogwares CEO Wael Amr.
"Our previous game, Sherlock Holmes The Awakened, was fully developed and released during the war. Through Kickstarter and our supporters, we built ourselves a safety net that saved us more than once. From power cuts as our electrical infrastructure was targeted for months to the need for team members to relocate at very short notice, this financial safety net proved invaluable to us. So we need to do the same now with The Sinking City 2 as this game is vastly bigger and more complex."
The Sinking City 2 is a follow up to the first The Sinking City, which IGN called "occasionally frustrating" but said its "compelling stories, exciting environments, and memorable characters make for one of the better Cthulhu lore games around." The publishing rights for the first game were in limbo for some time between Frogwares and the original PC publisher, Nacon. The game was even pulled from some platforms back in 2020. However, Frogwares won full publishing rights earlier this year, and announced it had settled its disputes.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
