They aren’t shy about it either, and will point-blank tell you that they are, “blessed by the sea,” and happy to be fish-people. Refugees from the now destroyed city Innsmouth, the Innsmouthers are fish-people. ![]() He asks you to investigate the disappearance of his son, who he believes was killed by Innsmouthers. Not five feet from totally-not-Hastur, you’ll meet Robert Throgmorton. I wouldn’t even bring up this little detail, but it’s just the first elder sign of things to come. If you’re making a Lovecraft game and over-explain things out of fear that people will miss the subtlety, you’ve wildly misjudged your market. Not only that, but they happen to maybe be related to a gang called, “The Yellow Kings.” Look, Frogwares. This would be a pretty cool illuminating detail for fans of Lovecraft, but not three lines into conversation does the character mention how they just happen to love the color yellow. Then you gain control of Charles, walk off the boat, and are immediately greeted by a man wearing a yellow suit and hat. The game kicks off with a spine chilling surreal nightmare sequence that sets the tone perfectly. The Sinking City is genuinely chock full of classic ghoulish weird tales details and inspiration. With half the city being flooded, you’ll spend a lot of your time boating about. It’s up to Charles to investigate the origins of the madness, cure his nightmares, and possibly save the world. Upon arriving, you find the town and its inhabitants striving to eke out an existence in the wake of a cataclysmic event known as, “The Flood.” Leaving much of the city submerged and the streets teeming with ghoulish monstrosities, a collection of gangs, cults, and noble families of questionable genetic origin all control the various districts. These nightly visions from beyond beckon you to the town of Oakmont, Massachusetts, which is mysteriously absent from normal maps of the area. You play as Charles Winfield Reed, a private investigator and WW1 veteran dually plagued by PTSD and otherworldly nightmares. ![]() Thematically, The Sinking City is an original work that nestles snuggly in the upper echelons of the Lovecraft extended canon. Never has the clash between practical game design and source material concept been on better display than in Frogwares’ new Cthulhu title, The Sinking City. Good thing I put all those points into lockpicking… When the big baddie is supposed to be some unfeasible devourer of the cosmos, maxing out your fencing skills should be of little consequence. Whether this is some kind of final boss or just the most difficult Sudoku equivalent is just a matter of genre. Games are about overcoming obstacles, growing your skills and power until you can overcome the penultimate challenge. I’m of the opinion that the entire concept of Lovecraft mythos just doesn’t fit well into the typical dynamic of a video game. Even the much-beloved Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is only a “Classic” when looked through the most bewitching of rose-colored glasses. So far, all games that try have fallen far short of their promise. Yes, it might just be true that our feeble human brains cannot possibly give proper shape to the eldritch horrors of beyond the stars. Which is one explanation for why-despite there being hundreds of millions of fans-we have yet to see a truly great Cthulhu Mythos video game. Regardless of where you stand on the overhyped-hack/visionary genius debate, the murkiness of the source material must make it an absolute nightmare to comprehensively adapt. The reader is free to let their imagination fill in all the holes, which has led to countless personal reimaginings and an extensive extended canon. There’s a fair argument to be made that this ambiguity is what makes Lovecraft’s stories endure. I mean, he would love to tell you EXACTLY what the unearthly horror burrowing through the reality of space looks like, but it would totally snap your mind! Best leave things as vague shapes, lest the Mi-Go’s bore holes into your feeble human concepts of reality. ![]() You have to admit, he has a certain tendency to lean on the limits of sanity to gloss over the finer details of monstrous horrors. Available on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC (Epic Store Lir mited Exclusive)
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