The Sinking City 2 Release Date, Platforms and Editions

Where to buy it, platform by platform

There is no last-generation release and no handheld version. Everything Frogwares has announced is current-generation and PC only — see PS4 and Xbox One and Switch 2 for the detail.

The three editions

The Chthonic Arsenal — the Shale Mary handgun, The Breakwater shotgun and the Tektite Tommy SMG — was the pre-order bonus. Whether it is still bundled with a given edition depends on the store listing in front of you, so check there rather than trusting a guide. What those three guns actually do.

Was there a demo?

Yes. Frogwares put a demo on Steam before launch covering roughly the opening hour of the game. Whether it is still available depends on the store page at the time you read this — the demo page covers what it contained and whether progress carried across.

PC requirements at a glance

The minimum spec is Windows 11 x64, a Core i7-8700K or Ryzen 5 3600X, 16 GB RAM and a GTX 1070 or RX 5700 with 8 GB of VRAM, targeting 1080p/30 on Low. Recommended is a Core i5-14600K or Ryzen 5 7600X, 32 GB RAM and an RTX 4070 Ti or RX 7900 XT for 1440p/60 on Medium.

An SSD is required and the install is 70 GB. Full breakdown on the requirements page, and settings advice on the PC performance page.

How it was received

Metacritic sits at 79 on PS5, 84 on Xbox Series X and 75 on PC, with OpenCritic aggregating to 81 and Steam user reviews at Very Positive. The consensus is that the survival-horror rebuild works, with PC performance the most common complaint — which is also why the PC score is the lowest of the three.

More on the scores page and whether it is worth buying.

Launch timing and time zones

August 18 was a global date rather than a staggered rollout, with the Premium Edition's 24-hour head start beginning on August 17. Unlock behaviour followed each store's normal regional rules, so the practical experience differed by a few hours depending on where you bought it.

That early-access window is the main reason the Premium Edition sold as well as it did in week one, and it is also why the first wave of puzzle and safe-code searches appeared a day before general release — the players asking about the trident obelisk on August 17 were Premium buyers.

What you are actually buying

A five-chapter, 8-to-12-hour Lovecraftian survival horror set in drowned 1920s Arkham, this is built in Unreal Engine 5 by a Ukrainian studio that made it under wartime conditions. It is a deliberate pivot away from the first game's open-world detective structure — investigation is still here, but as the progression system rather than the core loop.

If you are weighing it up, the three pages worth reading are how long it takes, whether you need the first game and the verdict.