As The Sinking City 2’s hugely successful crowdfunding campaign nears its conclusion, Ukrainian developer Frogwares has announced a fresh bit of business for its Lovecraft-inspired open-world detective series: the original game is being remastered in Unreal Engine 5.
Frogwares’ first The Sinking City instalment released in 2019, telling the story of private investigator Charles Reed as he travelled to the flooded city of Oakmont, Massachusetts, in search of a way to quell his hellish visions. As you might expect, cosmic horrors ensued.
Six years on and Frogwares’ newly announced The Sinking City remaster will take the Unreal Engine 4 original and shift it to Unreal Engine 5, promising an “upgraded visual experience alongside some requested quality-of-life features”. It will, for instance, be fully relit in the new engine, with locations gaining “additional levels of detail and objects”. There’s also a new Photo Mode, 4K textures, improved reflections, and support for DLSS, FSR and TSR upscaling.
The Sinking City Remastered (as it’s officially known) doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’ll be available for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC when it does arrive. Additionally, all owners of the original can upgrade to the new version for free. Comparions shots between the 2019 original and upcoming remaster can be found below.
And that’s not all; fans are being invited to lend their vocal talents to the remaster by submitting a voice recording saying “yes” in whatever manner they choose. 100 randomly selected entries will be transformed into a chanting choir – one with a particular fondness for Yog-Sothoth – and will see their names featured in the credits.
As for The Sinking City 2, it’s crowdfunding campaign is set to draw to a close this Friday, 4th April. At the time of writing, it’s sailed past its original £83K pledge target, raising over £347K. Frogwares has said the survival horror sequel will shift away from the investigation focus of its predecessor, with combat and exploration said to be the core mechanics this time around.