The Sinking City 2

Ich Liebe sieses Dpiel. Einzigster Wehrmutstropfen das es keine offne welt ist aber sonst nichts auszusetzen jeder der dieses Genre mag sollt es sich holen.

The Sinking City 2 does, very quickly, have an eldritch elephant to address. It is not the same type of game as the first, and the Curse of Expectations can do a lot of damage. Instead our second flooded life is focused almost singularly on telling one story. This becomes a second eldritch elephant in that The Sinking City 2 is much like the Resident Evil remakes. A little too much. The Curse of Comparison. It is easy to understand being thrown off by both of these things. It is strange. I have played games inspired by other games before. I have played games that copy near the entire of their inspiration. I have played games explicitly trying to recreate and capture the essence. It's not necessarily a bad thing to do any of these things. I just can't tell .. which this is? Perhaps none of these things, and perhaps it shouldn't matter. It is however an inescapable comparison point that quite aptly sums up the feel of the game. One reason for this is the base enemy being zombies. The idea behind them, the way they work, needing an ever present potential threat that can be a part of the environment and death and destruction without just having a creature pop into existence. It makes sense. It's a wonderful horror concept on paper. Whether lacking some key aspect, delivery, or via the Curse of Comparison .. they're just zombies. They even mutate similar to Resident Evil later on when they lose their heads. Then there's an enemy to stomp around after you menacingly for a while.. It's fine. They are perfectly fine enemies, it's a solid horror survival game. This brings us back to comparisons to the first game. The Sinking City 2 is much more of a pulp eldritch adventure than a tentacle nightmare noir. The combat and moment to moment gameplay is much more engaging. Worry about ammunition, worry about health, fight or avoid the monsters. How to navigate where you need to go, what trouble to expect along the way. Certainly the game doesn't waste of much of your time bumbling back and forth across an open map and can develop the areas it does have more fully. This change of focus has also lost the investigative aspect along the way. A fragment of it is still kept around by having a little note board and some puzzles, but a lot of this is dedicated to 'the locker code is split into three pieces; link them together' or similarly simple conclusions you might be reaching just through playing the game. I think this expectation to be more than running and shooting may be the bigger hurt in the switch from 1 to 2. The Sinking City, while with many of its own flaws, had the draw of trying to be a detective. Considering the information you find, considering motives of other people. Not always, but it was more than other Lovecraftian games have gone for in the genre. That isn't to say you shouldn't consider the information in front of you: there is still a solid story to The Sinking City 2 and I think this connection to the first game holds more than just the curses of expectations and comparison, I think it also gives it more depth. A lot of Calvin's story in Arkham is.. the opposite of what goes on with Reed in Oakmont. On his best day I did not get the impression Reed found living life easy. He struggles while dealing sometimes with the worst in people and motivations all over the city. Calvin on the other hand seems to have energy and hopes and dreams, even if things aren't great right now. He would rather avoid most of the city, and is more focused on the one task at hand. The games reflect the nature of their characters and stories. Overall I enjoyed The Sinking City 2. It took some time to dispel some of the curses, but it is a good game underneath the fog. Detailed environments and background information. Some silly easter-eggs that also aren't blatantly out of place. I appreciated the conversations we did get, and it was nice to see that Innsmouth and Oakmont were still on the map. There are flaws in execution in some parts, the ending at first had me.. upset with some aspects; but with further thought it became ok. It's difficult to think of other ways to convey the required information and not make it too obscure, but it does come across as a bit too.. straight-forward and expository. While I liked her company I would appreciate if Faye didn't backseat to tell me I've just been punched in the face. I'm well aware, honey~