The Sinking City | Review

Quick Facts:

• Release date: 27 June 2019
• Developer: Frogwares
• Genres: Action-Adventure, Survival horror
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PS4

The Sinking City | Review

The Sherlock Holmes games' developer, frogwares has done a very good job this time. The Sinking City is a third-person detective adventure set in a fictional adaptation of 1920s New England, inspired by the works of influential (and, indeed, controversial) horror author H.P. Lovecraft. divers reveal an ancient cavern covered up underneath Oakmont loaded up with otherworldly statues of cosmic demons, and are driven mad by the discovery—a franticness that starts to spread through the city and awakens strange, vicious creatures the local people call wylebeasts. The game is divided between solving crimes and shooting beasts, despite the fact that the gulf in quality between each kind of play is quite wide.

The Sinking City places you in a detailed world loaded up with the incredible and absurd horrors befitting of any Lovecraftian story, yet gives a fresh however reverent take where others may have remained on the tracks laid about a century prior. So, while developer Frogwares' dig into Cthulhu legend has fantastic moments, the monotonous elements of this pulpy 1920s story can be the wrong kind of terrifying.

The Sinking City starts solid. You'll soon find yourself on a beguiling whistle-stop voyage through Lovecraft's tall stories, investigating dammed caves for lost campaigns and managing with genealogy obsessed tyrants. Rather than insensitive map markers you often need to search out street corners yourself, setting pins and connecting the dots to unravel a wider mystery. 

Robert Throgmorton, one of the first people you meet who looks like an ape. Later you find out (which sounds really fucked up) that it's because his literal father went to Africa and literally had sex with a female gorilla. This seems to be inspired by the short story Facts Concerning The Late Arthur Jermyn And His Family, where a man went to Africa, produced kids with a "white ape of some unknown species, less shaggy than any recorded variety, and infinitely closer mankind" and consequently fucked up his whole heredity from that point onwards. Apparently, Lovecraft's skill as an author did not stretch out to nuance.

As one may anticipate from a Lovecraftian game, combat, discovery, monsters, macabre and otherworldly imagery, and the visions that impelled Reed down this path in the first place progressively take a toll on both his health and sanity. This results in some disturbing psychological scenes, illusions, and psychosis. It's a real hoot.

The characters you interact with, however, are intriguing and well-acted, and I was pleasantly surprised by how unique and thematically, suitable each person is written and performed. From mob bosses to cult leaders to crooked politicians and that's just the beginning, every interaction felt interesting and helped to fill out the lived-in feel of Oakmont. unfortunately, this shed a glaring spotlight on the shamelessly recycled character models. It's particularly noticeable that the majority of the dark men you actually speak to have the same cartoonish face (he was racist for damn sure, he once described black people as "semi-human"). I found this very distracting, particularly during some of the most shocking moments that otherwise do a passable job of depicting the racial tensions of the era.

the voice acting is strong and the detective gameplay is the best aspect of The Sinking City. The "Mind Palace" makes an appreciated come back from the Sherlock Holmes games and works well here when piecing together observations and giving you more details on the tough calls you'll have to make. The greater part of the actual detective gameplay comes down to finding clues around the environment and using different archives around the city, for example, police records, the library, city hall, and different others to either find specific people or locations.

There aren't any obvious waypoints to guide you along, you'll constantly rely on your map as you search for specific street names or locations, which to be frank is really tedious and time-consuming. This is especially true in the earlier part of the game when you're forced to tromp all over the map before you've unlocked fast-travel locations. Most games would have quest objectives radiate outward from a central location, however, The Sinking City attempts to show-off its diverse neighborhoods by sending you through every one of them in turn. This felt good at the beginning as I was surprised by the different cultures and immense neighborhood within the island.  Notwithstanding, this immediately turned irritating as I looked for alternate ways around the maze of overflowed streets. I was all the more eager to sit on the long loading screens during fast travel than having to frequently plot routes that required jumping in an out of boats, staying away from infested zones, and getting around a few blocked paths.

The Verdict

Overall, as much as I adore the story and atmosphere of The Sinking City, it certainly feels like a budget title at times. If you can get past the weird Lovecraftian bits, weak combat, harmless jank, tedious and time-consuming navigation, and enjoy compelling stories, exciting environments, memorable characters, and a solid detective experience that won't hold your hand and throw tough choices your way, you shouldn't pass up on it.

Resident Evil 2 Remake | Review

Resident Evil 2 Remake - Review




The best remake of mine is playing the 2002 remake of the first Resident Evil on GameCube with its perfectly refreshed visuals, totally new areas to explore, and unnerving new monsters. Now, in 2019, Capcom has given me another experience I'll recollect for quite a while: this ground-up remake of Resident Evil 2 is an extremely fun, exceptionally frightening experience because of its totally new and modern graphics, controls, and some brilliant quality-of-life upgrades. The two playable characters' stories aren't as different as I've expected, yet I enjoyed every gory moment of my return to Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield's shoes. 

Reliving familiar frights can often make for a less than exciting horror experience. But, with the remake of Resident Evil 2, Capcom shows respect for the original while additionally putting forth an admirable attempt to give the macabre atmosphere and tense gameplay a recognizable upgrade. In doing as such, this revamp of the classic survival horror game shows that the series can still offer an terrifying experience like no other.

Resident Evil 2 takes place in the zombie-infected Raccoon City. The story follows rookie cop Leon Kennedy and college student Claire Redfield, who is searching for her brother, Resident Evil protagonist Chris Redfield. Leon is drawn into the path of a mysterious femme fatale. Claire takes responsibility and tries to protect a kid. Their stories intersects - players experience one story, then play the other character's perspective—making an tapestry of one night's event in Raccoon City.

Resident Evil 2 is terrifying, and in an effective way that few other games manage to accomplish. The game is astonishing in the manner in which it fills players with fear, building anxiety with splendid sound design, cunningly placed jump scares, and overwhelming darkness. Players spend vast majority of the game fumbling through the dark, often running low on supplies and constantly having to deal with variety of undead horrors like zombies, lickers, and that's only the tip of the iceberg. Even standard zombies are a threat this time around, making each experience tense and meaningful.

Out of all the freaky monsters in Resident Evil 2, the scariest is by far the Mr. X Tyrant. Mr. X's appearance in the first Resident Evil 2 earned him a frightful reputation, but in the remake, he's a true force to be reckoned with. Whenever he shows up, Mr. X relentlessly stalks players, following them room to room like a slasher movie villain. Hearing his relentless footsteps getting louder and louder, knowing there is nothing you can do to stop him, fills you with a true sense of dread. With Mr. X breathing down their neck, Resident Evil 2 players will understand the horror movie trope of people tripping or committing mistakes when running from the villain isn't as outlandish as it appears. Players will fumble with their inventory as they attempt to rapidly solve puzzles before Mr. X arrives, or they may make a wrong turn and end to up at a dead-end, leaving them no choice but to confront the hulking monstrosity head-on.

Both Claire and Leon have two different versions of the campaign, and subsequent to completing the first run for the one, you'll be incited to begin a follow-up with the other. Called Second Scenarios, they allow you to see the larger story from a different perspective. Both scenarios are completely isolated from another, and decisions in that won't affect the other, however what makes these second runs a bit worthwhile are some experiences and sub-plots that don't happen in the first. It's an exceptionally fascinating approach to encounter the story, and with four versions of the campaign between the two leads - with the initial two averaging 11-14 hours - you always uncover new details and events that were absent in the previous playthroughs.

Resident Evil 2's more serious tone is additionally improved by the upgraded, fantastically atmospheric presentation, which gives familiar details from the classic game to a greater extent an articulated look and feel. Moving away from the static camera angles of the original, everything has been redesigned in light of over-the-shoulder gameplay, giving to a greater extent an unmistakable and obtrusive feeling of fear while exploring, This is increased significantly more by the flawless audio and visual design of the game, giving a creepy, isolating vibe all throughout the game. In number of cases, you'll just have the light of your flashlight as you walk the dark hallways of the bloody and ruined police headquarters, with the ambient rain and distant monsters sounds ramping up the tension. You feel safe in RE2, even when you really are.

Now, talking about the zombies, I must say these are the most terrifying and at the same time most perfect zombies I've ever seen in a game. And rather than pixelated characters running from pre-rendered background to pre-rendered background, Resident Evil 2 is a completely 3D, over-the-shoulder affair with atmospheric lightning effect, noteworthy facial animations, and the most terrifying looking zombies I've ever seen in a game. They're juicier than ever and I love the way in which they lurch around and respond when you blow off very specific chunks of their heads and hands cordiality of the satisfyingly detailed dismemberment system.

As always, inventory and ammunation management is still a key part of Resident Evil 2's gameplay. This is a real survival horror, where it generally appears as though you're barely scratching by with enough ammunition and medification. You can't carry all that you find with you, so what you should store and what you should carry is a fight continuously being waged in your mind.


The Verdict

Capcom did a fabulous job of resurrecting all the best parts of the classic Resident Evil 2 and making them look, sound, and play like a 2019 game. It's simply a strong horror game that delivers anxiety-inducing and grotesque situations, toping some of the series' best entries. But above all, the remake is an impressive game for the fact that it bets everything on the pure survival horror experience, unquestionably grasping its frightening tone and rarely letting up until the story's conclusion. The only disappointment you will find is the two characters stories' which aren't different enough to