Frogwares' The Sinking City 2 Launches August 18 on PC, PS5 and Xbox After Years of Wartime Disruption and an Engine Overhaul

Frogwares released The Sinking City 2 worldwide on August 18 across PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S — seven years after the original Lovecraft-inspired detective RPG launched on the previous console generation. The release marks the end of a multi-year development cycle that included a Ukrainian wartime disruption, a last-minute engine overhaul, and a protracted legal battle over the franchise's first game. The Sinking City 2 starts at $49.99 for the standard edition, $54.99 for the deluxe edition with the Arkham Field Kit, and $59.99 for the premium edition, which adds The Holloway Manor side mission. The game is not on Xbox Game Game Pass at launch.

How Frogwares Got Here

The sequel was originally built on a different engine before Frogwares decided, late in development, to overhaul it for current-generation hardware. The studio is based in Ukraine, and the wartime disruption added both a logistical and a creative cost: parts of the team were displaced, and the game's Arkham-inspired 1920s setting drew on art direction that could be completed in fragments. The result, by TechTimes' August 17 pre-launch coverage, is a survival-horror RPG that targets 1080p at 30fps on GTX 1070-class or RX 5700-class hardware with 16 GB of RAM, and 1440p at 60fps on recommended hardware — with current-generation consoles only, dropping PlayStation 4 and Xbox One entirely.

What Else Is Releasing This Week

August 18 was a packed launch day. Along with The Sinking City 2, Capcom brought Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 worldwide, Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire arrived on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Chinese developer Seed Sparkle Lab launched the cozy life-sim Starsand Island on Steam, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S (with the physical edition for Switch 2 at $39.99 and for PS5 at $39.99, opening November 12 pre-orders), and Ready or Nowhere debuted on Nintendo Switch. The week also includes S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Cost of Hope, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2, Tekken 8: Bob, and Once Human.

Why the Pricing Matters

The Sinking City 2's $49.99 entry price is a deliberate signal. Frogwares has positioned the title as a sub-AAA-priced survival-horror RPG, with a development cost story that justifies a budget tier: a Ukrainian studio that rebuilt the engine mid-cycle, displaced part of its team, and shipped a current-generation-only title with no Game Game Pass inclusion. The original game's protracted legal dispute with Nacon — which Frogwares ultimately won back the rights to in 2024 — gave the studio direct control of the IP for the sequel. That ownership is now doing real work in pricing, marketing, and platform relationships.

What the Reviews Are Saying

Early reviews on launch day were broadly positive on the survival-horror and detective-craft elements, with PlayStation LifeStyle highlighting the semi-open-world Arkham exploration and the continued focus on deductive clue-matching that defined the original. The game's smaller footprint — and the fact that it is not on Game Game Pass — also makes it one of the clearest examples of an AAA-quality mid-budget title shipping exclusively on purchase at a moment when subscription services are absorbing more of the release calendar. August 26, when Gamescom opens in Cologne and Nintendo's Switch 2 lineup starts its playable-demo run, will be the next inflection point for the genre.