Frogwares, the Ukranian studio best known for its long-running series of Sherlock Holmes deduction adventures, is launching a Kickstarter campaign this Thursday, 6th March, to crowdfund development of its Lovecraft-inspired survival horror sequel, The Sinking City 2.
The Sinking City 2 was announced last year, teasing a “horror-first” evolution of the open-world formula established in the 2019 original. It features a standalone story, albeit one still set in 1920s United States, and its big change is that deduction (previously core to the experience) is now entirely optional – a way to uncover more of the story but never required to progress.
The Sinking City 2’s Kickstarter page is a little light on detail ahead of Thursday’s campaign launch – although it does confirm a PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC release – but the studio previously explained it would be seeking crowdfunding as a “safety net” during development.
Frogwares successfully took a similar crowdfunding approach for 2023’s Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, as it continued to adjust to life during Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The studio shared some harrowing updates during that game’s creation.
The Sinking City 2’s imminent Kickstarter campaign comes after the resolution of Frogwares’ lengthy dispute with publisher Nacon over the rights to the original The Sinking City – a dispute that at one point saw Frogwares urging people not to buy the game after Nacon published an out of date version missing features on Steam. Since last year’s resolution, Frogwares has taken over as The Sinking City’s publisher, updated the Steam build, and released new DLC.
