Game of the Week – The Sinking City 2 is my Silent Hill-loving brain’s new survival horror obsession
The Sinking City 2 is a survival horror title that places players in flooded Arkham as they aid protagonist Calvin Rafferty in his quest to locate occult artefacts capable of rousing his lover from a Lovecraftian supernatural entrapment. The journey involves navigating maze-like environments, solving arcane puzzles, managing diminishing resources, and contending with creatures spawned by entities known as the Slither, which shift their vulnerable points unpredictably.
Developer Frogwares positions the game as a contemporary survival horror experience that channels the design philosophy of recent remakes—particularly Resident Evil 2 and Silent Hill 2—rather than pursuing purely nostalgic, retro-inspired gameplay. The studio's track record in detective-focused narratives and atmospheric storytelling, built through its Sherlock Holmes franchise and the original Sinking City, informs its approach to environmental puzzles and tense resource allocation mechanics.
- The Sinking City 2 is a survival horror game where protagonist Calvin Rafferty navigates flooded Arkham to rescue his partner trapped in a Lovecraftian supernatural realm
- Developer Frogwares emphasises modern survival horror mechanics — puzzle-solving, resource scarcity, and unpredictable enemies — drawing from contemporary remakes rather than retro styles
- The game builds on Frogwares' expertise in detective-driven narratives and atmospheric worldbuilding
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The Sinking City 2 is a survival horror video game developed by Frogwares, a studio best known for its Sherlock Holmes detective series and the original Sinking City. It is set in a flooded version of the fictional town of Arkham, a setting drawn from the horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, and follows a character called Calvin Rafferty as he searches for occult objects to free someone he loves from a supernatural trap.
Survival horror is a video game genre built around limited resources, tense exploration and unsettling enemies, rather than fast-paced action. Well-known examples include the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series, both of which have had newer versions released in recent years that reworked older games for modern audiences. The Sinking City 2 is being discussed in relation to these because its developers say they have drawn on the style of those newer versions rather than simply recreating old-fashioned horror games.
The game matters within the games industry as an example of a smaller studio attempting to compete in a genre currently dominated by big-budget remakes, while also drawing on its own established strengths in atmospheric storytelling and puzzle design.