The Wandering NPCs

There is something which I must confess before we proceed with this review. I am an idiot man. I have never really indulged in the puzzle game genre besides numerous playthroughs of my darling Portal and its not-quite-as-sublime sequel. I’ve also only played one of Frogwares’ previous releases in 2014’s Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments, for which my patience grew thin and I stopped playing early on.

So, with my video game idiocy thoroughly laid out, I can now tell you that I have been adoring most aspects of Frogwares’ recent release The Sinking City, an open-world mystery adventure game which cherry picks many supernatural elements from the Lovecraftian Mythos. It’s a release with a whole host of rough edges and questionable design decisions, but also a game with genuine ambition and some brilliant atmospheric and narrative direction. But, more than that, it’s a game that’s made me feel smart and baffled in equal measure, much like a slightly incompetent detective. And while I’ve only experienced 10 or so hours of this presumably quite lengthy title, I have to say that the critical lashing which this game has received from some outlets seems, for the moment, to be somewhat unjustified. Allow me to explain.

Playing as private eye and gruff human male video game protagonist Charles Reed, the player comes to the flooded hellscape that is Oakmont, Massachusetts in order to investigate its outbreak of madness and cases of outsiders being drawn into its murky depths for some mysterious, likely Eldrich horror-related, reasons. Beyond this, I don’t want to disclose much more for fear of ruining what has, so far, proven to be a thoroughly engaging narrative full of fishy twists and turns. However, I will say that, while Reed is fairly generic, he has more character in his left pinky than the protagonist of last year’s Call of Cthulhu, whose name I would Google if not for the fear of falling asleep at my keyboard after being exposed to his boring, beardy face for more than half a second.

So let’s just change gears and break down the title’s mechanical makeup, which is unfortunately where it sees its most significant pitfalls. You’ll spend most of your time in The Sinking City navigating the labyrinthine network of sodden streets and stagnant waterways that makes up Oakmont in order to find locations of interest and subsequently scouring their every surface for objects and clues which will eventually amass to reveal the bigger picture. And while the game may frame its structure as being very player-driven, you’re given the general area in which to look for each of these locations, with the player’s only real input being the placement of the marker on the in-game map. Despite this only being a fraction more involving than being led around by the nose by pre-set quest markers, it remains emblematic of the developers’ intent to make the player feel more intelligent than a lobotomised chimpanzee with a controller, which is more than I can say for most recent “triple-A” releases. You gain a real understanding of the game’s geography by exploring (and, unfortunately, doing a lot of backtracking through) each of Oakmont’s regions and key locations.

Also, on detective work, some of the puzzle segments are limp in their execution to the point where it’s hard to figure out how someone could get it wrong. For example, a central puzzle mechanic in the game involves the player being able to see disparate events from the past that have occurred leading up to a crime, which they must piece together in the correct sequence in order to understand how particular altercations went down. However, these events often start with someone entering a building, subsequently committing a crime, and then making their escape. Thus, the only questions the game asks the player to answer in these sections are “How do doors work?” and “Did the man die before or after he was shot?”. Not the most compelling detective-work. Thankfully, the other ways in which the game asks you to investigate and research crimes are more demanding and thus fulfilling.

In respect of control, land movement is serviceable if a bit rigid, contrasting with the slippery and imprecise boat handling which is only slightly remedied by the presence of some generous anchor points which allow the player to hop out quickly to continue exploring on-foot. However, the most mechanically egregious traversal system the game chucks at you is the fucking diving suit. This drove me up the proverbial wall, with its sluggish, thumping steps making Reed feel less like an ace detective racing towards the truth and more like a fat, semi-aquatic infant with stunted limbs. Not to mention, the combat in these mercifully brief segments is significantly more floaty than its terrestrial counterpart.

Which brings us neatly onto the combat, which is fine, but not without its own irritations. Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve only experienced 10 hours of what the game has to offer, so things like weapon and enemy variety are bound to expand as the runtime goes on, but what I’ve played so far has been fairly standard third-person shooting for the most part. Thankfully, it’s not cover-based so it’s not the worst, but two things pervade what could’ve been a very enjoyable part of the game. Firstly, the game’s most common enemy type is a chore to fight, with their erratic movement, spindly bodies and tendency to side-step your shots quickly and without warning. Secondly, the guns behave and sound like they’re made by Nerf, resulting in your shots feeling about as impactful as literally anything from that last season of Game of Thrones (I know, low-hanging fruit and all that). Additionally, the game tries to make ammo and other combat resources seem scarce early on, but don’t fret, the crafting ingredients required to make such things can be found spilling out of every chest, drawer and rubbish bin in town.

Graphically, the game is hamstrung by some technical issues such as framerate dips, texture pop-in, and buggy NPC animations, but there are certainly highlights that reach beyond the visual mediocrity typically associated with a mid-tier release like this. For starters, the general art design for Oakmont and its multiple, mostly distinct regions is fantastic. There’s an admirable level of environmental detail on display that gives the world a tangible quality games of this ilk struggle to achieve. Moreover, certain character models are surprisingly well-done, with Reed, in particular, looking remarkably lifelike aside from his stiff facial animations.

Furthermore, there are myriad little graphical details which consolidate the game’s oppressive and moody atmosphere, such as the teeny specular highlights that line Reed’s array of stock detective jackets when it rains, and streetlamps which struggle to spit out their warm haze amid the desaturated mist of Oakmont’s more affluent neighborhoods. And of course, it couldn’t be a Lovecraftian piece of media without those pesky hallucinations, which I think are handled quite well here. Flashing images and distorted projections of spooky dudes doing spooky things permeate the screen when the player’s sanity meter is being affected. So, while it’s no Eternal Darkness making you think your console has gone beddy-byes, these audio-visual elements can nonetheless be spine-chillingly twisted.

However, one technical issue which I never expected, and which may well be unique to my personal experience, is that the game makes my console sound like a busy day at Heathrow, with the constant high-pitched whirring of the system’s fan being abnormally distracting in volume. So, this may be something to keep in mind if you don’t have a pair of noise-canceling headphones handy.

To wrap this rather bloated critique up, I like The Sinking City thus far. Quite a bit more than I thought I would, actually. The game’s potent mixture of exploration, investigation and slightly wonky combat make for an experience that’s wholly unique in the current landscape. While it’s true that the game could end up taking a wrong turn and ending up on the corner of Shit Game St. and Repetitive Quests Ave. (you’ll get it if you play the game, I promise), so far it’s only encouraged me to delve deeper into its warped narrative and definitely stinky world. So, if you’re a fan of the genre, Lovecraft’s unique fiction or just Fish Food ice cream, Frogwares’ creation is more than worth your time.