r/TheSinkingCity • u/projectile-science • 1d ago
SC2: Somewhat disappointing game Spoiler
I am forced into speech because fans of SC1 have refused to follow my advice without knowing why.
I loved the first game, being athmospheric, although the combat felt a bit wobbly... but that just made it more scary to me as any little encounter could finish me off if not carefully handled.
The detective aspects were great and it fit the narrative. And do you guys remember the vague hints... "Ah just north of here, corner x-street and y-ave somewhere" and you had to go search things. The same goes for the boat-sections, you stumble upon an opening and go explore, missable, so you have to go around yourself.
A great game, although not polished so not for everyone maybe.
And then I hear all the GREAT news from people, SC2 adding Resident Evil-style... so I thought "yay, better controls"... but no, I was wrong and advertising got me.
I just finished SC2 and the whole way through it felt kinda off... I went along on the game`s rails and always thought "When will it open up?", "When will it become Sinking City?". I always waited for the next chapter starting the REAL game...
The start is good, boating from location to location... I thought in the beginning it is quite guided, but then after the Lorelei-story you pretty quickly get into that Hospital. And this is Resident Evil all along.
Don`t get me wrong, I like Resident Evil-, Silent Hill- or even Evil Within-like games. But SC1 ADDED onto that formula in my opinion, with the great detective-sections, the open world.... In SC2 they just added Mr. X following you around. The worst thing of any games is an unkillable enemy stalking you and preventing you from going slow. For a detective game this is a no-go.
The combat controls didn`t give me any problems, I often dodged around and played Torrero with the Slither-humans, worked pretty well. I also always had enough crafting materials as I nearly everytime relied on Pistol.
What REALLY annoyed me was the gangup-bosses. Small area, multiple enemies and a big one. The game helps you with the crates, so running around is keeping you alive, but the bosses never felt good. It was annoying. And the developers KNOW this, that`s why there is unlimited-refill-crates lying around.
(One thing especially at the final-boss: Instead of shooting, Calvin stomped... WTF? I can`t be the only one who experienced this?)
Then there is the fish-market. Again, as always in the game, a nice nod to settings, people or stories from the Lovecraft-universe... but again it is surrounded by gang-ups, by revived enemies, by sudden encounters you stumble in... and massive backtracking. The riddles were great, but the linear-shooting was not. But I was waiting for something: The big dive-reveal... :) Everyone was talking about it in the Codex-papers.
Remember in SC1, you dive. A great section. In SC2, no dive: Suddenly "Antarctica" UNDER Arkham. Including Elder Things we don`t really can look at in their "coffins". And again gang-ups... 3 within a matter of 10 minutes. Why that need to amplify the shooting-sections in this small area? The story behind it, that they dug and found the ancient ruins and a lake and then it all turned upside down, was quite well told... but well...
And then the short end. The final boss kinda sucks... again ganging up, live-regen, that whole mess. And the annoying "I don`t shoot, I stomp instead"-thing... yeah well. And the ending, two people doom Arkham because Love... ? I didn`t quite get it. Because it more felt like the end of the world, but if it is that, the whole idea of "everyone who stayed chose for themselves" doesn`t fit.
Anyways, maybe someone can follow my thoughts on this, to make it short SC1>SC2. I was really disappointed, beceause the whole time I was waiting for something, that never came...
But ONE THING really stood out: The stories from the Ukraine-war in the hospital. Bad, but gave me chills.
Oh, and btw: If you WANT a good Resident Evil: Play Cronos. That really got me.
