The Sinking City 2 Review — Safe Code

The Sinking City 2 review picture is positive but not unanimous. Wikipedia records Metacritic scores of 76 on PC, 78 on PS5 and 75 on Xbox Series X/S, with OpenCritic at 80 percent recommend, and the ResetEra review thread logged a launch aggregate of 79 and 81. The recurring verdict is that Frogwares built a convincing survival horror game and a very different sequel.

Score summary

The spread of individual scores is wide, from 9/10 at DualShockers and Console Creatures down to 3/5 at The Guardian. That range is the honest signal: the game does some things very well and others poorly, and which side dominates depends on what you wanted from it.

Outlet	Score
DualShockers	9/10
Console Creatures	9/10
IGN	8/10
WCCFTech	8.5/10
Worth Playing	8/10
COGConnected	8/10
Push Square	7/10
PC Gamer	70/100
The Guardian	3/5

What the game does well

The atmosphere and the central relationship are the two things almost every review praises. Analog Stick Gaming says the sound design is top tier and the creature designs invoke real dread as they shuffle out of the dark, and it calls the shooting a clear improvement on the first game. GameLuster singles out the hub design, comparing the hotel, hospital and fish market to the Raccoon City police station in how they fold back on themselves.

The other thing reviewers consistently mention is the context. The game was developed during the war in Ukraine, with Analog Stick Gaming reporting that nearly a dozen team members were drafted and left the project, and GameLuster noting that Frogwares operates from both Ireland and Ukraine. Both reviews treat the finished product as remarkable under those conditions.

Where it falls short and the safe code problem

The criticisms are consistent too. The detective identity is gone: Analog Stick Gaming says the mind palace became a menu-driven Investigation Space and that the side characters are means to an end. The safe code puzzles illustrate the loss, because the clues are simple enough that you can guess the digits before you find them all.

• The finale is thin; PC Gamer asked whether that was all there was.
• Combat is divisive; several outlets call it bland despite improved feel.
• Late-game enemy gauntlets turn into circle-strafing rather than tension.
• Visual inconsistency, camera zoom problems and stilted animations are repeated complaints.

Read the fuller verdict on the is it worth it page, or the plot summary on the endings page.