Never being a Cthulhu fan -- while I still have to rely on google to spell "Cthulhu" right -- I got a slight interest in The Sinking City from an article before its initial release. For many times I was considering to get it but eventually not, $80 was apparently not acceptable judging from that I'm not sure how the actual experience it might be. Then I came to the discount in May for $25 only, and gradually cleared it in the past month.
First impression, environment is great, that I was soon linking it to the Fishing Hamlet. No much memorable BGM though. Still, most building interiors are exactly the same, not attractive and confusing.
However, combat is near rubbish that I didn't want to get mad and quickly set to easy. It's not happy to fight while you can't lock. The character can move backwards while facing the front, in a dashing speed, but he can only climb when right facing a higher object, otherwise he doesn't move (stupid). Comparing with this, Psycho Break's slight aiming delay action is much better (I'm not saying I don't like PB, but its combat sometimes do make me angry). Plus, even though from the tips it says ammo is scarce, when you reload crafting materials will respawn.. meaningless. (Well, it's my fault to play it as doing Silent Hill.)
Riddle (not literally riddle though) isn't hard at all, and turned this game to a 80% map finding one. ... at the cross between X and Y, fine, tedious but still endurable. The collection of hints and evidence is okay, but for a few times it's hard to look past information (which cost me lots of time finding where the cemetery is because I didn't visit it in an earlier chapter -- it's reasonable to just ask a local person but the game doesn't let you do it). In addition, you can't really look for any piece of info at an archive without pin the evidence first on the search page, also it's not possible to visit a place (e.g. church) without searching at the archive first even though you may have known the location when you passed by earlier. This flagging system is too stubborn. Otherwise I have no complaints and liked to track down to the final decision.
About decision, your choice wasn't ending-affecting nor serious at all, kind of dissatisfied. Most cases are fun to run though.
Last, the endings are interesting in terms of content: 1. you sacrifice yourself, and the yellow king welcomes the next newcomer (could be Mr. Reed again?!); 2. you enter the sea anemone-ish thing (can't spell its actual name) and the Oakmont (probably the whole world too) is engulfed by tsunami; 3. you're left the city and a few years ago the yellow king shows you a newspaper front saying "catastrophic flood", immediately after, water enters the bar where you're drinking. which again link me to bloodborne endings. But, the cutscenes were way too short.. shorter than a boss cutscene in DS3. I do like how it saves your time by allowing you saving right before the end. At least give more info, I still don't know what's going on underwater and the difference between endings 2 and 3, except where you end up with..
Finally, the ending credit is a long list of names (that I skipped). It's funny just like when I read a one-column research article. At least divide into who made the story, who made the program, etc.!
However, combat is near rubbish that I didn't want to get mad and quickly set to easy. It's not happy to fight while you can't lock. The character can move backwards while facing the front, in a dashing speed, but he can only climb when right facing a higher object, otherwise he doesn't move (stupid). Comparing with this, Psycho Break's slight aiming delay action is much better (I'm not saying I don't like PB, but its combat sometimes do make me angry). Plus, even though from the tips it says ammo is scarce, when you reload crafting materials will respawn.. meaningless. (Well, it's my fault to play it as doing Silent Hill.)
Riddle (not literally riddle though) isn't hard at all, and turned this game to a 80% map finding one. ... at the cross between X and Y, fine, tedious but still endurable. The collection of hints and evidence is okay, but for a few times it's hard to look past information (which cost me lots of time finding where the cemetery is because I didn't visit it in an earlier chapter -- it's reasonable to just ask a local person but the game doesn't let you do it). In addition, you can't really look for any piece of info at an archive without pin the evidence first on the search page, also it's not possible to visit a place (e.g. church) without searching at the archive first even though you may have known the location when you passed by earlier. This flagging system is too stubborn. Otherwise I have no complaints and liked to track down to the final decision.
About decision, your choice wasn't ending-affecting nor serious at all, kind of dissatisfied. Most cases are fun to run though.
Last, the endings are interesting in terms of content: 1. you sacrifice yourself, and the yellow king welcomes the next newcomer (could be Mr. Reed again?!); 2. you enter the sea anemone-ish thing (can't spell its actual name) and the Oakmont (probably the whole world too) is engulfed by tsunami; 3. you're left the city and a few years ago the yellow king shows you a newspaper front saying "catastrophic flood", immediately after, water enters the bar where you're drinking. which again link me to bloodborne endings. But, the cutscenes were way too short.. shorter than a boss cutscene in DS3. I do like how it saves your time by allowing you saving right before the end. At least give more info, I still don't know what's going on underwater and the difference between endings 2 and 3, except where you end up with..
Finally, the ending credit is a long list of names (that I skipped). It's funny just like when I read a one-column research article. At least divide into who made the story, who made the program, etc.!
Now I quite understand and agree with its overall 6-7 out of 10 marks, it's fair (fairer than the new naughty dog title ¬_¬ [another truth, I never played nor watched "1" either]) even when it's just a $25 buy. At least I don't think it's a waste and really enjoyed it.
Time to run through bloodborne again as a reflected decision!
Time to run through bloodborne again as a reflected decision!