Review for The Sinking City. Game for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 27/06/2019 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 12/09/2019
The myth of Cthulhu and the tales of Lovecraft are now one of the most loved topics in the world, prompting many other writers and enthusiasts to tell them and create real literary bibles. Some wanted to pay tribute to him by bringing him to the big screen, others have brought him back to the timeless comics, while others have even had the courage to turn the myth into a video game: Cyanide brings this brave and frightening tale to The Sinking City, a multimedia work set in the dark Lovecraftian world already available for a few months on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The French company wanted to pay homage to the myth of Cthulhu with an original and rather courageous story, obtaining a more than satisfactory result.
As just mentioned, a few months after its release on home consoles, the Cyanide title is ready to land on Nintendo Switch with exclusive features designed just for the small hybrid from Nintendo. Will The Sinking City be able to surprise and scare us equally on the small screen? Let's “dive” together in this gloomy and gloomy review!
What's going on in Oakmont City?
In this adventure we will play the role of Charles Reeds, a private investigator who has dedicated his life to serving his beloved homeland; now, after years of dutiful service, he begins to accuse some psychological problems that will torment him for the duration of the game plot. Our investigator is visually disturbed and psychologically insane and we will notice this detail from the first game sequences: insomnia, visions and whispered voices plague the protagonist's mind, almost driving him mad. It will be these "strange voices" to bring the investigator to Oakmont City: this town is gloomy, foggy and abandoned to its fate; degradation will be the lesser of the evils that you will face, when compared to the criminals and racists present in this new adventure. You will notice how the city is slowly dying, continually plagued by unusual unexpected threats and phenomena: after a flood that destroyed the entire urban area, some mysterious disappearances begin and, at the same time, monsters never seen before appear.
These creatures are slimy, frightening and above all aggressive: our Charles is about to face one of the most disturbing events of all time, without having the slightest idea of what will appear in front of him. The investigator somehow manages to connect his visions to the events that afflict the city, leading him to investigate the mysteries that are affecting Oakmont City. As soon as we arrive in the city we will immediately understand that things are not going well at all, on the contrary: the city is hostile and invaded by crime of all kinds, but this aspect will be oxygen for our Charles W. Reeds. The settings that we will find in this title perfectly reflect the Lovecraftian mythology: the work done by the software house is excellent, managing to perfectly replicate the scary atmospheres created by the author of the myth of Chtulhu (which is not at all easy). 
In the world of The Sinking City we will find ourselves in a huge city full of things to do, starting with crafting and ending with the infinity of tasks available: in this title we will be able to investigate, question and look for clues for the duration of the adventure which, we remember, will take us away over twenty hours for the primary quests. In addition to the latter, we will be able to complete many secondary missions that, at times, will win us over for their longevity: the secondary activities are well structured and we will come across cases that, on some occasions, will relate to the main story enriching the plot (do not let them escape). In The Sinking City it is essential to explore, investigate and reconnect the missing pieces of the great puzzle: the player will be pushed to analyze the various crime scenes and will be forced to investigate to find clues that will lead him to solve the mysterious cases.
One of the fundamental things of this title is to collect all the objects scattered around the game world, which will be useful to discover the other thousand secret behind the scenes present in Oakmont City: the registers, the various documents, the abandoned letters and anonymous tickets - all well hidden - will lead us to new mysteries and disturbing backstories, so remember to collect as many as possible.
Iron gameplay
Unfortunately the combat system leaves a lot to be desired: Despite the not-so-stellar budget of production, The Siking City's combat system is frighteningly rigid, both with firearms and hand-to-hand combat. We happened to die in an absurd way, almost incredulous due to the impossibility of hitting enemies due to the slowness in aiming with long-range weapons. The situation doesn't improve once you open the skill tree which, in our opinion, is one of the more confusing aspects of the game: unfortunately the Skill Tree system is somewhat lackluster and, actually, does not have a real utility pad in hand. The Sinking City, alas, brings with it some problems already seen on Sony and Microsoft home consoles.
Fear is 90 even on Nintendo Switch
We assume that the port on Nintendo Switch is pretty good, and calculating the performance of the hybrid made in Nintendo is a visual and stylistic miracle: in this version we can see how the developers have concentrated the maximum of their efforts, proposing a solid port both graphically and technically. Graphically, the downgrade is perceptible, but not too much considering the Nintendo Switch hardware: The Unreal Engine 4 always gives its best and even in the most "difficult" occasions we were able to witness breathtaking scenes both in portable mode and in mode TV. obviously some textures and some environmental details have been modified properly, but they do not affect the gaming experience in any way.
One of the factors that surprised us most is certainly that of the Frame-Rate, one of the deepest wounds that afflicts the little Switch: the work done by the development team is extraordinary, with the game running at 30fps in any situation, even and especially in the more "noisy" ones. The Sinking City also takes advantage of some peculiarities of the console of the big N on Nintendo Switch and does it in a pleasant and precise way: in this version we will be able to use the gyroscope to aim and shoot, a mechanic that is often useful and fun. Another feature that uses the console is certainly that of being able to use the touch screen during the various dialogues and for navigating the interactive menus. Obviously these few features do not enrich the gaming experience, but we still find the additions included in this version of The Sinking City interesting.
The Sinking City is perfect for everyone, both for those who have never touched the Lovecratian world and for those who have loved literary works of the genre. Despite some problems that the title has brought with it since its release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, we believe that this is one of the most appreciable ports released so far on the Nintendo Switch. If you are willing to turn a blind eye to both the technical and the graphic side of the title, we are sure that the experience of The Sinking City will give you a pleasant and gloomy company wherever you are. The title is available on the Nintendo eShop for the modest sum of € 49,90.
► The Sinking City is an Adventure-type game developed and published by Bigben Interactive for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 27/06/2019 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 12/09/2019
