The Sinking City 2 arrives summer 2026 as a full survival horror game
Frogwares has dropped a gameplay trailer for The Sinking City 2, confirming a summer 2026 release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. The Ukrainian studio's sequel to its 2019 detective-horror game makes a clear genre pivot — this is survival horror now, not just an investigation game. If you liked the original or bounced off it for feeling too dated, this one looks substantially different.
The shift
Detective Calvin Rafferty arrives in a flooded, 1920s Arkham searching for his lover Faye. The Lovecraftian setup — cults, unknowable entities, creeping madness — carries over from the first game, but the gameplay has been rebuilt around survival. Combat is slower and more deliberate, with firearms and melee both in play. Monster design leans hard into body-horror territory, which is exactly what this setting calls for. The investigation layer is still there, but per Inven Global it's now optional rather than the spine of every sequence. Unreal Engine 5 powers the whole thing — Lumen lighting and Nanite geometry are visible in the trailer, and the facial animation is a significant step up from the original.
The context
Frogwares is based in Kyiv, and the delay from 2025 to 2026 was direct fallout from the war. The studio cited Russian drone strikes on Ukraine's power grid, overnight air raids, and team members being called up for military service, according to Gaming Debugged. The team adapted with a hybrid remote model to keep production moving during blackouts. The game shipped a well-received remaster of the original in May 2025 as a stopgap — owners of the 2019 version got it free.
What to expect
The finished product competes in a crowded space. Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 Remake launched in October 2024 and reset expectations for what a modern Konami-era horror revival can look like; Frogwares is clearly aiming at a similar audience. Pricing hasn't been officially confirmed, though key shops list a placeholder of around $44 for the PS5 version. You can wishlist the game on Steam now. A firm release date within summer 2026 hasn't been announced — the studio says it won't commit to a specific month until it's certain.