Back in 2023, I had a blast with developer Frogwares' remake of Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. Its blend of detective work and Lovecraftian horror felt like the studio fully in its element. I enjoy its straight Sherlock Holmes games, but increasingly they have this undercurrent of dark strangeness—particularly noticeable in most recent entry Chapter One—as if the team are straining to stop themselves slipping a tentacle and a cult sacrifice into the middle of the mystery.
All of which made it particularly sad to look back on the original fate of The Sinking City, Frogwares' full-on, mask-off Lovecraftian detective game. It felt rough on launch, and then owing to a dispute with the game's publisher, has existed in an awkward limbo for years that has prevented post-release support. Players on Steam couldn't get the latest patches, including basic features like achievements as well as serious bug fixes and even DLC.
