Getting Started in The Sinking City 2
Everything you need before Calvin Rafferty steps into Arkham.
The Sinking City 2 is a third-person survival horror game developed and published by Frogwares. You play as occult investigator Calvin Rafferty, who travels to a Roaring Twenties port city drowning under a supernatural flood. A botched ritual trapped his partner Faye in the Dreamlands while hostile forces claimed her body. Your job is to push through Arkham’s districts, manage dwindling supplies, and reach the source of the catastrophe before hope runs out.
The game launches August 18, 2026 on PC (Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. A free Steam demo covering roughly the opening hour is available now and is the best way to learn mechanics before buying.
What kind of game is this?
Frogwares rebuilt the series around survival horror rather than mandatory detective work. Think Resident Evil pacing: safe rooms, manual saves, crafting stations, and enemies that can kill you quickly if you waste ammunition. Investigation is optional but valuable — connecting clues on the detective board grants talent points, lore, and sometimes shortcuts or gear you would otherwise miss.
Exploration happens in a semi-open Arkham. You travel on foot and by skiff through tide-stained streets, hospitals, fish markets, and flooded basements. Map rooms turn from red to blue once you have looted them clean, which helps completionists without forcing checklist gameplay on everyone.
Platforms and how to access the demo
PC players should open the Steam store page and scroll to the demo section. Console players can wishlist on PlayStation and Xbox stores; the demo is PC-only at the time of writing. Full audio is English-only, but the interface supports French, German, Spanish, and twelve other subtitle languages — see our Platforms and Stores page for the complete list.
Before you install, compare your hardware against the System Requirements article. The demo is still in active development and can demand more than the final build, but Frogwares targets 1080p/30 on minimum specs and 1440p/60 on recommended settings with SSD storage required.
Your first objectives in Arkham
The demo introduces core loops in a deliberate order:
- Learn movement and interaction — wade through flooded streets, climb ledges, and interact with doors, crank wheels, and fuse boxes.
- Discover a safe room — look for rooms marked with a strange symbol. Inside you will find a gramophone for manual saves, a stash suitcase shared across all safe rooms, and a crafting desk.
- Open the investigation board — press the investigation key (C on PC) to pin notes and connect evidence. Linking related clues often awards a talent point.
- Fight your first monster — aim for glowing weak points, stun with gunfire, then finish with a melee attack to conserve bullets.
- Solve the floodgate puzzle — collect electrical fuses, restore power, and align fuse placement to raise the gate and exit the demo slice.
None of these steps require perfect detective work. If you prefer pure survival, you can still finish the demo by exploring carefully and reading environmental cues on walls and desks.
Controls you should memorize early
On PC, movement uses WASD, dodge is Space, interact is E, flashlight is F, and aim/fire follow standard shooter bindings. Inventory opens with Tab or I; quick slots use number keys 1–4 so you can heal without opening menus mid-fight. Full default bindings for keyboard and controller are listed in our Controls guide.
Resources and safe room habits
Ammo, healing herbs, and crafting materials are limited. Pick up Emergency Relief Crates when you find them — they expand your inventory permanently. Store excess items in the safe room stash so you can retrieve them later from any other safe room you unlock.
Save manually at the gramophone after every major fight or puzzle. Autosaves exist at key story beats, but dying can still send you back to the start of a lengthy combat arena.
What to read next
Continue with the Demo Walkthrough for puzzle solutions and collectible locations. For long-term survival strategy, read How to Survive and Combat and Weapons. If you enjoy optional detective work, the Investigation System explains how clues translate into gameplay rewards.
Pre-order bonuses, edition differences, and launch timing are covered in Pre-order and Release Date FAQ.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
Do I need to play The Sinking City (2019) first?
No. The Sinking City 2 features a new protagonist and setting in Arkham. Lore references enrich the experience but are not required.
Is the demo the same on all PC stores?
The playable demo is currently distributed through Steam only. GOG and Epic listings cover pre-orders for the full game.
Does the game have multiplayer?
No. The Sinking City 2 is a single-player experience with no cooperative or competitive modes.