The Sinking City: Frogwares' Lovecraftian Investigation

Here's a pleasing combination of words: Lovecraftian open-world investigation. Roaming around a town where something unspeakable is afoot, trying to solve the mystery without ending up a gibbering wreck? That'll do for me. That's The Sinking City [official site], newly announced by Frogwares. The Ukranian studio, best known for their Sherlock Holmes investigate 'em ups, had been working on a Call of Cthulu game for publisher Focus Home but... well, another studio is doing that. But! Now Frogwares have their own Lovecraftian game, and this does actually look more interesting.

Rather than a direct adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story, The Sunken City is "inspired by" his writing. Frogwares explain:

"The player incarnates a private investigator in 1920s, who finds himself in a city of New England, Oakmont Massachusetts. It's currently suffering from extensive waterflood, and its cause is clearly supernatural. The city trembles on the brink of madness. Can you investigate this beleaguered town and untangle the tragic extent of its failings or will you be driven beyond madness yourself?"

But here, check out all this concept art. Sure, concept art isn't a clear indication of what the final game will be like, but I like the look of these things which seem unlikely to appear in more faithful Lovecraft adaptions.

What's under those waves? Awful tentacled things:

Sometimes not even under them:

Floods of lampreys in a sunken subway? And at a Lovecraftian university? You're spoiling me:

I trust these combative fellows are outliers, and most people who see something like this will simply curl up and never stop screaming:

See full-size versions of all the piccies on Frogwares' site.

Frogwares are no strangers to eldritch dimensions and unutterable horror. Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened popped its finger into the Cthulhu Mythos, their puzzle-platformer Magrunner glooped open eyes in places eyes should not be, and we're still not sure what manner of extradimensional being wore the skin of Watson (ah, don't worry, they joined in on that joke too).

No firm word yet on when The Sinking City will launch.