Big news for fans of Lovecraftian horror as The Sinking City 2 nears its launch window: Frogwares kicked off their Kickstarter campaign, and they revealed gameplay for their sequel to 2019’s The Sinking City.
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Following a contract dispute over publishing rights with French publisher Nacon (formerly Bigben Interactive), Frogwares finally revealed The Sinking City 2 in March 2024, just months after resolving the legal conflict. Now self-publishing the re-release of The Sinking City and its sequel, Frogwares has continued their practice of allowing consumers to directly financially support their games through Kickstarter campaigns. Frogware’s move into independence was acknowledged in their Kickstarter page wherein they state, “In the last few years, we have fought hard to become a fully independent studio who develop and publish our own games on our own terms. The creation of The Sinking City 2 is our next big leap to further secure our future.”
In a gesture of goodwill, gamers have responded with overwhelming generosity as the campaign goal of $108,035 was met and surpassed in only a few hours.
This method of funding had been paramount in supporting the Ukrainian-based studio since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. They further detailed on the game’s Kickstarter page, “For those of you unfamiliar, our dev team is based in Ukraine, and these past few years have been tough, for obvious reasons. It’s been three years since the start of the Russian invasion, and we even had enough time to kick off, develop, and release a game during this period, but it’s not really something you can get used to. Even in Kyiv or Western Ukraine that is generally considered safe-ish, everybody still has to deal with daily drone strikes, regular missile attacks, power outages, and more. For the lack of better words, it’s a terrible situation, and for many of us creating games is not just our passion — it’s our way of clinging to normalcy.”
In addition to the news about their latest Kickstarter campaign, which is presumably meant to lead to the previously announced 2025 release date, Frogwares also released a “Developer Direct,” wherein they exhibited updated game mechanics, enemies, and the new setting of the city of Arkham.
Frogwares’ persistence with their creative vision demonstrates industry resilience amid market pressures that often push developers toward more conventional designs. Their distinctive combination of compelling visuals, narrative depth, and investigative mechanics serves as the studio’s signature approach. While The Sinking City and their Sherlock Holmes games didn’t receive unanimous critical acclaim, the studio has cultivated a dedicated audience, highlighting an alignment between Frogwares’ direction and player preferences — a notable dynamic in an industry where developer actions and consumer expectations are frequently in opposition to one another.