The Sinking City is back, after being taken off all the online stores except for Nintendo. After continuing legal battles between Frogwares, the developer, and their publishers, Bigben Interactive (now Nacon), the game was removed from most online stores. But as a sort of middle finger to their previous partner, Frogwares has now released a Playstation 5 version of their original game. Now, from what I have seen of the Playstation 4 version, this update was greatly needed. For a rundown of the previous game in general, let me guide you to this link right here.

First things first, if you have the game on the PS4 then unfortunately now because of the current war, there is no PS5 upgrade for it. However, you can now pick up the PS5 version for a little less than the PS4 version. For the content you get, it’s not a bad deal, and if you are a fan of H. P. Lovecraft, this game might be right up your alley.

As a PS5 version, I always think there will be more to the upgrades but there are three in general; graphics or the overall look and feel, the new controller functions, and lastly but definitely my favourite, faster loading times. Straight off the bat, the game now runs at 4K with 60FPS which is a great step up from the original, that looked like it was made 10 years ago not only two. The lighting has been adjusted to making manoeuvring around the vast, dark city a little easier. Don’t get me wrong I think it looks pretty good, however, I do wish they made more of an effort on the individuality of the backgrounds. Walking down a street you can travel past three of the same stores. I mean how many top hat stores does one city need?

The haptic controller functionality is lacking which I was pretty disappointed about, they missed a real opportunity here, but who knows maybe a patch will be made in the future. For me, it just felt like a normal dual shock controller, with standard vibrations.

The trigger system is really good taking photos and firing your guns has that squeezing the trigger feel though so that is a plus. The resistance you get is great, the only letdown is the combat is still very clunky and throws off the ambiance and flow of the game.

Load times are annoying in general but not anymore; the wait for me felt almost non-existent. The only thing that had me waiting was myself when I would constantly forget to push any button to continue. This makes travel and fast travel so much better and less tedious; I do recommend finding as many fast travel locations as you can early on to make the game even easier. The only other thing that I haven’t heard anyone else talk about is the progression of the game shows up as trophies like the PS5 version of Control. This doesn’t do anything, but it is just a nice little add-on and just looks nice on the screen.

If you do get the deluxe edition, you also get both DLC’s, ‘Merciful Madness’ and ‘Worshipers of the Necronomicon’. Both DLC’s add three extra cases to solve, giving a deeper look into the lore that H. P. Lovecraft has created. To gain access to these extra missions you have to complete the main mission up to a point, as well as a couple of side quests. It is a bit arduous but worth the time to check out. The easiest way to find out how to unlock the quests is to look online, but you will be able to start them pretty early at least. I kinda wish they were a little more impactful, they feel just like any other side quest. Nonetheless, they add some extra content and that’s never a bad thing.

I love these types of games, what I also liked was the fact that it is not sugar-coated. They even explain when the game loads up that it follows the work of H. P. Lovecraft. This includes all of the gritty themes as well as racism, sexism, and classist tones. They apologise but state that they are sticking to the themes of the original work and that they included it rather than pretend it never existed. I am a big fan of things sticking to the source material especially when it is things I’ve read or grew up with, it gives it that nostalgic feel. Another aspect of the game that I found interesting is the choices you have to make rolling with the themes. It feels as though every choice you make be it good or bad always has moral complications, blurred to the point that there is no pure good or pure bad choice.

Overall, I highly recommend this upgraded version for all those who can get it, if you can’t yet, then definitely keep it in mind when you do have the opportunity to back catalogue it.

Written by: Adam Brasher