The Sinking City 2

For the score!

Very atmospheric even if more combat heavy than 1st game.

The game was great until this IDIOTIC unkillable enemy showed up in chapter 2. I absolutely hated this mechanic. It ruined the whole thing for me. Good luck Frogwares.

Baita jogo de survival horror, temas lovecraftianos no ponto. É um jogo incrível, mas totalmente diferente do primeiro, que era muito mais focado na investigação e história. Esse aqui puxa muito mais para um RE2, o que pode ser uma coisa boa dependendo do seu gosto.

A strikingly good step-up from the original. The genre-shift from adventure investigation to survival horror is both a blessing and a bit of a curse. the writing isn't as deep as the first game, but the gameplay is massively improved. my experience was bug-free, which is somewhat of a miracle in today's market. there are some performance issues - mainly some texture pop-in and stuttering - but nothing that can't be fixed with a patch or two. if you like modern Resident Evil or Cronos: The New Dawn, you will find a lot to like here. if you were hoping for more depth to the mystery and investigations, you might be disappointed. but hey, at the least the ending is pretty satisfying this time.

Really liked it and must play for Resident Evil fans.

RE 1 with a Lovercraft skin.

Most of the negative reviews come from people who didn't appreciate the change in direction compared to the first game — and despite that, the game has maintained a [b]"Very Positive"[/b] rating since release. That's a pretty good sign if the opinion of people like me isn't enough: I just wanted something to scratch that Resident Evil itch, and I found exactly what I was looking for. [h1]LEVEL DESIGN[/h1] Despite a lot of people saying Resident Evil was the main inspiration, the level design reminded me much more of Silent Hill — and not just aesthetically, but mechanically as well. If you're familiar with the hospital in Silent Hill 2, a lot of these levels work almost exactly the same way, especially when it comes to how rooms are interconnected. Places that look like they should be reachable in a straight line usually aren't, because you're forced along specific routes by the usual [i]"doesn't open from this side"[/i] doors, missing connections, and keys you don't have yet. Whenever you find a new item, its actual use is very often somewhere physically far away, resulting in a lot of backtracking. It frequently came close to crossing the line into [b]too much[/b], but never quite got there. My friend who watches me play on Discord often starts singing [i]"and forward, and back, and forward, and back."[/i] Hopefully that gives you an idea. I absolutely loved the map, which works like Resident Evil's: completed rooms turn blue. This massively reduces the need to wander around already-explored rooms again whenever you feel stuck. [h1]GAMEPLAY[/h1] [b]Shooting:[/b] it's basically Resident Evil, down to the little aiming dot that appears after holding your aim steady for a couple of seconds. The game heavily rewards shooting specific orange weak points, while dealing very little damage to non-vulnerable body parts. [b]Melee:[/b] shamelessly ripped straight out of Dead Space, except much less polished and satisfying, both in terms of hit registration and overall impact. It will often just whiff for no apparent reason, but it's still essential for finishing enemies on the ground without wasting more ammo. If you're expecting Silent Hill-style melee combat, you're going to be extremely disappointed. [b]Dodging:[/b] it doesn't have Souls-like invincibility frames and is mainly there to create distance from attacks. Definitely better implemented than melee. Once you learn how to use it properly, you can pull off some genuinely cool stuff, especially with a mouse. I played on the third difficulty level, and I have to say the challenge can get pretty intense at times. During boss fights or lockdown encounters with lots of enemies, the game infinitely respawns supply crates so you can never truly run out of healing items or ammo. In fact, I think you could deliberately stall some boss fights just to farm supplies. There isn't a huge amount of enemy variety, but honestly, I never really felt like the game needed much more. [h1]PROGRESSION SYSTEM[/h1] The weakest part of the game for me. It's one of those games where the developers seem terrified of letting the player become too powerful, so most perks are bland and situational. And then there's the worst part: [b]There are no numbers.[/b] [i]"Deal more melee damage after a kill."[/i] Okay... how much more? [b]20%? 50%? 200%?[/b] Nobody knows. You can't respec, either. Skill points are obtained either by solving optional puzzles or by correctly connecting clues in your inventory — which I assume is basically the only real mechanic they kept from the previous game. Skill points are fairly scarce, and a bunch of them will be wasted just buying [b]SLOTS[/b] to actually equip your skills in. [b]Completely unnecessary and annoying.[/b] [h1]STORY[/h1] Most of the lore is delivered through notes, which are a pain in the ass about 90% of the time, while the actual cutscenes are mostly reserved for the most basic plot developments. [h1]PUZZLES[/h1] Genuinely interesting and very well done. It's the classic case of: [b]"I copied other games, but I copied them really well."[/b] Then there's my personal [i]"unlucky Italian problem"[/i]: I played the Italian version, and some of the less-than-great translations make interpreting certain notes more annoying than it should be. [h1]OPTIMIZATION & TECHNICAL SIDE[/h1] This is one of those games where the performance cost simply isn't justified by the visuals. It's also one of those games where changing graphics settings without restarting can cause major visual bugs. And then we get to one of the things I hate the most: [b]the Ray Tracing boiling effect[/b], which apparently can't be mitigated in any meaningful way. The image often looks [i]"dirty,"[/i] and not even 4K can save it. [h1]CONCLUSION[/h1] If you're a fan of the first game and you don't like Resident Evil: [b]Skip it.[/b] If you want a good RE-like: [b]Absolutely buy it.[/b] [h1]SIDE NOTE[/h1] There's a paid DLC that gives you a new level and access to the Magnum. I'd like to think of it as some kind of optional extra for people who want to support the developers. But realistically: [b]I just think it's cringe.[/b]