The Sinking City (PS4)

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DaHeckIzDat
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The Sinking City (PS4)

Postby DaHeckIzDat » March 29th, 2021, 5:59 am

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Being a huge HP Lovecraft fan, I've had my eye on The Sinking City for a long time now. Unfortunately, physical copies are so hard to come by they're practically a collector's item and the game was removed from the PS4 online store for some reason. Well, I just so happened to check in on it today, and found out that not only has it been put back on the store, it's on sale for $11.99! I've got it downloading now, and will post some more details after I've played it for a while. And if anyone else is interested in giving it a go, hurry because the sale ends on Friday.

DaHeckIzDat
Posts: 1997
Joined: April 9th, 2015, 1:41 pm

Re: The Sinking City (PS4)

Postby DaHeckIzDat » March 29th, 2021, 10:41 am

So far, I'm loving the atmosphere here. Oakmont is so moist and damp, with mold growing on the walls and floors, moth eaten curtains, and grimy windows, that I can practically smell the wet, rotten wood and saltwater winds.
The gameplay is about what I expected, competent with just enough janky to put it in that hard to define category between Indie and AAA. I feel like the monsters take too many bullets to kill, but running away does usually seem to be an option.
The main draw (besides the Lovecraftian setting) is the detective work, and I'm enjoying that so far. You can tell the developers have made mystery games before. They're very good at leading you in the right direction while still making you think of the solution yourself. The mind palace is an interesting touch (even if the title is a little misleading) allowing you to piece together theories by connecting bits of evidence you've already found.
The load times are horrible, though. They can last up to a minute, which gets really freaking annoying if you're stuck in a combat section. Sometimes the game will cut to black for ten to twenty seconds when you go through a door just to load whatevers on the other side. I know they didn't have a big AAA budget to work with here, but there are no excuses for load times like this in this day and age.

DaHeckIzDat
Posts: 1997
Joined: April 9th, 2015, 1:41 pm

Re: The Sinking City (PS4)

Postby DaHeckIzDat » March 30th, 2021, 4:33 pm

I love the concept that since Oakmont is sinking into the city that huge sections of roadways are completely underwater, forcing you to get around using a motorboat. However, I think they should have gone all out with this idea. Which parts of the city are flooded and which aren't almost seems random, meaning you'll have to constantly dock your boat, run across dry land, and then get back into your boat again (which has inexplicably teleported to your new location). Fast travel does speed the process up once you unlock the ability, but the minute-long load times make me reluctant to use them.

DaHeckIzDat
Posts: 1997
Joined: April 9th, 2015, 1:41 pm

Re: The Sinking City (PS4)

Postby DaHeckIzDat » April 7th, 2021, 5:15 pm

I like the mechanic of looking up information in city archives. I even like that you have to go to different places to look up different kinds of information (police department for criminal records, the hospital for medical records, etc) though some might find the journey between them tedious. Having to combine three variables to locate something that includes all of them is a cool and innovative way of making us use our brains to find our own way through a puzzle. I just wish the game would have made it more clear that you have to have the correct file in your case book pulled up. It doesn't matter if you have all the right subjects, if the document isn't there in the corner it won't bring anything up.

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BlasteroidAli
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Re: The Sinking City (PS4)

Postby BlasteroidAli » April 7th, 2021, 8:56 pm

I have it on Xbox 1. I am totally useless at it. I also love HPL since the 70s. I found a copy of the Lurking Fear and other stories and never looked back.
I may put the disc in and give it a go. Frogwares the company who made the game are in dispute with the distribution company on Steam and possibly everywhere. Frog are claiming they got no money from the distribution company and have taken their game back. It has been like this for a while.
Look on Steam for more discussions about it.

DaHeckIzDat
Posts: 1997
Joined: April 9th, 2015, 1:41 pm

Re: The Sinking City (PS4)

Postby DaHeckIzDat » April 11th, 2021, 6:34 am

(Spoilers)
I reported back to my employer's house. This whole time, he's been having an open casket funeral for his dead son. I come in this time, and the body has been replaced by a lifesize cake of my employer's recently deceased son. Nobody mentions it or brings it up, it's just...there.

This being an adaptation of HP Lovecraft's work, I'm surprised but at the same time not surprised.

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: The Sinking City (PS4)

Postby VideoGameCritic » April 11th, 2021, 4:47 pm

Is this a full motion video game?

DaHeckIzDat
Posts: 1997
Joined: April 9th, 2015, 1:41 pm

Re: The Sinking City (PS4)

Postby DaHeckIzDat » April 11th, 2021, 5:24 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:Is this a full motion video game?

You mean something like Night Trap? No, it's just a normal game. A free roaming, survival horror, detective mystery game with elements from several of HP Lovecraft's stories in it.

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BlasteroidAli
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Re: The Sinking City (PS4)

Postby BlasteroidAli » April 12th, 2021, 9:19 am

VideoGameCritic wrote:Is this a full motion video game?

Fortunately for me, it is not. That as DaHeckIzDat says it is a detective game set in the Lovecraft universe. Very interesting. You may think about investing in.

DaHeckIzDat
Posts: 1997
Joined: April 9th, 2015, 1:41 pm

Re: The Sinking City (PS4)

Postby DaHeckIzDat » April 12th, 2021, 9:36 am

BlasteroidAli wrote: You may think about investing in.

While I'd love to hear the critic's thoughts on this, he'll probably have a hard time tracking it down. Like I said, physical copies are somewhat rare. If he was willing to download it, that'd be a different story, but we all know he prefers physical games almost exclusively.

For me right now, the game is sitting at a solid "C". But then, I'm a Lovecraft fan. I'm willing to look past the jank and clutter for the sake of the story. Someone who isn't as interested in his work might not enjoy it as much.


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