The Sinking City cinematic teases a 1920s world of shadows and insanity

YouTube

The Sinking City is one of those games that sounds brilliant on paper: An open-world investigative action-adventure set in a gritty 1920s inundated with water and Lovecraft-styled horrors. Austin took it for a spin earlier this year and it came off as very promising, but it's also very ambitious, and that makes me a little nervous. Developer Frogwares has done some pretty good stuff in the past (Magrunner: Dark Pulse is quite good, and also Cthulhu-ized) but this feels like a big step beyond its usual stuff.

The new teaser doesn't serve up any gameplay, but even so I feel a little more confident about what's in store after watching it. It really frames the emotional essence that a game like this needs: Primeval horror, driven desperation, and flat-out dream world weirdness. The audio work is really good too. If nothing else, it certainly suggests that the mood will be right.

We'll get a closer look at The Sinking City at the PC Gaming Show at E3, which kicks off at 3 pm PT/6 pm ET on June 11, one day before the official start of E3.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.