Frogwares presents first look at The Sinking City 2's gameplay

Frogwares has had a difficult few years, as has every Ukrainian developer due to the ongoing conflict with Russia. But this hasn't stopped the creative folks at the video game company from continuing to produce new projects, and one such idea that is on its plate is a fully-fledged sequel to The Sinking City.

It is known simply as The Sinking City 2, and following its former announcement, Frogwares is now ready to show off more of the game and even launch its Kickstarter, where it's searching for individuals to help fund the project.

The short gameplay snippet takes us back to the flooded and desolate world and sets up a creepy survival-horror mystery set in the city of Arkham. The Lovecraftian sequel will feature combat, little portions of exploration, optional investigations, and we get to see this and more in the new gameplay clip below.

But this isn't all. Frogwares has even published a developer diary about the game, where it discusses these elements even further. We get to hear more about the firearms and melee weapons that will be present in the game and meet some of the various Eldritch-inspired horrors that litter the streets. We get to explore flooded mansions, hospitals, and markets, and even see how the looting and resource management elements work in this sequel. As per the investigations, the diary shows how these optional extras add another narrative layer, and how all of this weaves into the morally grey story that focuses not only on Lovecraftian mythos but also personal loss. You can see the longer dev diary below.

Looking at the Kickstarter, Frogwares is looking to generate €100,000 worth of funding to help complete the development of The Sinking City 2. As you would expect from a campaign like this, there will be rewards for those who back the game, including two physical collector's editions that will only be made available to Kickstarter backers.

Speaking about why Frogwares has gone down the Kickstarter route, CEO Wael Amr has said, "After 3 years of this horrid war hanging over our daily lives, we've learned to adapt, though it has never been easy. In 2023 when we released Sherlock Holmes The Awakened with the help of Kickstarter and our loving fans, we built ourselves a safety net that saved us more than once. From power outages and the need for team members to relocate on short notice, to having to pause development for days, this safety net was crucial. Given that The Sinking City 2 is a far more complex and demanding game, we've decided to take the same route as before."

Publishing director Sergiy Oganesyan touched on this further and how The Sinking City 2 will be taking Frogwares in a slightly different direction.

"When we announced The Sinking City 2 back in 2024, we stated this is going to be our chance to shift our studio into creating games that are more "horror first" focused and the results we're all seeing internally are extremely promising. We're not ditching our investigation roots entirely but the chance to spread and challenge our norms has really helped the team grow. We've placed combat and exploration first while still keeping an air of investigation that adds depth but is entirely optional."

Are you looking forward to The Sinking City 2? The game is currently scheduled to launch on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S in 2025.