The game starts with a splash screen from devs, saying that while making the game in a country under siege, they believe, that this is their best game. And as someone who doesn't skip a single release from them since at least Sherlock Holmes The Devil's Daughter, they aren't lying.

Frogwares are known for detective games, where you kinda can "fail", by making wrong connections, but not really by dying. They honestly have barely any combat at all, aside for Sinking City 1, which did have combat, but it was the most atrocious shooting I've experienced in a game where you do quite a bit of shooting.

Their games also don't really look fantastic, mostly because of animations being very janky, despite the overall look of these games improving over time thanks to UE.

So what's different here? Well, everything really. The combat while not reaching highs of Resident Evil Requiem, still delivers in intensity and the feel of impact. Visuals also give the game an incredible feel and atmosphere of Arkham. It's not just that the game is pretty looking technically, it's genuinely atmospheric (which isn't a surprise, cause Sinking City 1 also had incredible atmosphere).

Devs went not for detective game this time around, but for a survival horror one, and color me impressed. It's not often you see first foray into a new genre for any dev studio to be such a great and arguably successful attempt. It's not perfect, obviously, but the regular "collect items around the map, while having a limited inventory with looming danger around the corner" approach resident evil games are known for is here and it works. The game seems to be fairly linear, but there's enough to look for off the beaten path to get useful rewards.
There's still a mind palace clue connection "mode" from their other titles, but this one is not really that important for progression, but is important for skill progression, which I think is a great idea.

It's also not connected to the first game, so a safe bet to just play this one, without worrying if you missed something in the story up until this point (although I do recommend first game, just because I think it's a flawed, but good game).

Hard recommend from me.

Well.....I really needed a palate cleanser, after being extremly dissapointed by the Cosmic Abyss this year...And HERE I HAVE IT!.

The Sinking City 2 is a REAL survival horror game, forcing you to carefully manage your resources and remembering every moment that you are just a dude.....Not some jacked up super agent, punching monsters and boulders while "spitting" one-liners. Investigate, READ, kill OR BE KILLED in one of the best Lovecraftian horror games of history.....Made by a small team working in a ACTIVE WAR ZONE.....Well optimized and with top noch visuals and high production values.

Thats all! R'lyeh FOREVER.......¡Iä! ¡Iä! CTHULHU FHTAGN......!

Edit: Raise AIM/Look sensitivity above 50 for better aiming! I find the default settings pretty "slow".

Edit: I shortened and adjusted this review after reading the feedback in the comments. Some people misunderstood my point, so I wanted to make it clearer.

Sinking City 2 is not a bad game.

It looks good, plays well, and if you want a Resident Evil-style survival horror game with a Lovecraft setting, you will probably have a good time with it.

My problem is that I don’t think it is a good sequel to The Sinking City.

The first game was a strange mix of detective game, exploration, story and third-person combat. It had problems, obviously, but I really liked its identity.

The Lovecraft atmosphere also worked much better for me. The horror was often more subtle. You explored the city, talked to people, investigated cases and slowly tried to understand what was going on.

Sinking City 2 feels much more like a traditional survival horror game.

Explore an area, collect resources, find keys, solve some puzzles and shoot monsters.

That’s not necessarily bad. Resident Evil does this extremely well.

But I already have Resident Evil.

What I wanted from Sinking City 2 was more of what made the first game unusual.

The investigation system is now reduced to a very small part of the game, and exploration feels much more linear and mechanical. For me, a lot of the personality of the first game is simply gone.

And yes, I know Frogwares announced beforehand that SC2 would go much more in the survival horror direction.

My criticism is not that they falsely advertised the game.

My criticism is that I don’t like the new direction.

A sequel can change a lot, but I still expect it to keep at least some of the things that made me like the original in the first place.

Also, Steam only gives me two choices: Recommend or Not Recommended.

So yes, I can think this is a well-made game and still choose Not Recommended.

If you loved the investigation, exploration and slower Lovecraft atmosphere of the first game, I would not recommend SC2.

If you mainly want a Resident Evil-like survival horror game in a Lovecraft setting, you probably should give it a try.

For me:

Sinking City 1 was a Lovecraftian detective game with action and horror.

Sinking City 2 is a survival horror game with a Sinking City skin.

That’s why I’m disappointed.