And so, the school year is underway, as we sink back into our daily routine, rushing from class to class.

Although our lives are not the only thing getting hectic this September: The Sinking City, developed by Frogwares, was released at the end of last June. TSC is a Lovecraftian horror game whose plot is set in a 1920s Massachusetts city named Oakmont. Charles Reed, an ex-Navy private eye, arrives at the docks following a bout of recurring nightmares and hysteria. Thinking he can find help to solve his problem, Reed inevitably tangles his destiny up with the residents of Oakmont. Working for the rich, dealing with a crime boss, and killing ancient creatures are just a few of the things that our hero will experience during his stay in the cursed dwelling. The culture of the city runs deep as you meet Innsmouthers, the people of the ocean. The cultists come out of the shadows to shake you to your core. And witnessing the Leviathans of the deep as you scuba dive under the murky surface of the water is nothing but mind-blowing. 

This is a single-player adventure: you delve into the city of Oakmont, meet strange characters, and uncover a horrible curse. For people who are interested in story-oriented games, this is one of the best of its genre, and while there is player-versus-environment (PVE) combat, where you can kill different classes of enemies with an array of weapons, players looking for player-versus-player (PVP) combat won’t find much to enjoy here. The graphics are fairly okay, although many of the game’s NPCs may experience glitches from time to time, allowing for hilarious and strange encounters. The missions are designed so that the player can experience self-deductions and pick your path of gameplay, while still allowing for more staged boss fights that are included with both paths to serve as checkpoints during gameplay. The controls can be janky from time to time, and somewhat confusing, but the game offers a wide range of abilities that Reed can use, along with a controls glossary, in case anything isn’t clear.

Obviously, I’m reviewing a video game here, and in order to give it a fair score, I have to take into account multiple factors: Story, Controls, Abilities, Style, and what I’m going to call an Opinionated Variable Fun factor (OVFF).

Each factor can get four different scores: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, which is somewhat like Overwatch.

• Story: Platinum, due to the hours of the main plot, with interweaving components and side quests to explain the game’s lore.
• Controls: Silver, for the extreme amount of buttons that are used to play.
• Abilities: Gold, for offering a wide amount of weapons to use, different forms of finding clues, and a make-your-map option.
• Style: Silver, because, while the graphics are not directly pixelated, the effort in details for the game’s NPCs is not obvious, and the glitches are sometimes annoying, but the world’s textures and details balance the score out.
• Lastly, OVFF: Somewhere between Gold and Platinum. My taste in games is branching out, and as someone who’s beginning to appreciate a good story in a game, TSC dominates the field, and I suggest it to anybody looking for a laid back, non-tryhard game to enjoy and have fun with.

The medals tally up to one Platinum, two silver, one gold, and one gold-point-five. Numerically, for those of you who don’t feel like doing some math, the score is 15/20. so all in all, The Sinking City receives a Gold Medal.

Don’t care for my advice? No problem, I suggest watching Angory Tom and Simon Clark play through it on their Youtube channel, which can be found above. The game is available on PlayStation, XBox, and PC for $60. DLCs, which expand the story of Oakmont, do exist.

This has been our first Play of the Games. Thanks for playing!