The Sinking City - Explained

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Hello everyone, and welcome to a video where we look at another game which is HEAVILY inspired by the works of HP Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos. Welcome to a video explaining the story behind Frogwares 'The Sinking City'.
CHAPTERS:
Intro - 0:00
A Frosty Welcome - 2:35
Lost At Sea - 10:09
Quid Pro Quo - 14:57
Fathers and Sons - 18:56
Nosedive - 22:53
Deal With The Devil - 28:20
Self Defence - 32:04
Fleeing Phoenix - 34:28
Into The Depths - 37:40
Endings - 39:23
The King in Yellow - 41:02
PATREON - / gamingharryyt
ALL MUSIC IN THIS VIDEO FROM @epidemicsound
ALL GAME FOOTAGE CAPTURED BY MYSELF ON PS5
Please enjoy, subscribe, and leave a like/comment!
Check out some of my other videos:
The Medium - • The Medium - Story Exp...
Bendy ATDR - • Bendy and the Dark Rev...
Callisto Protocol - • The Callisto Protocol ...
Resident Evil 4 - • Resident Evil 4 - Stor...
Resident Evil 8 - • Resident Evil: Village...
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Equipment;
PC Specs (for those that are interested):
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X (8 Core)
- GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6700XT (12GB)
- RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro (32GB - 2x16GB)
- Elgato 4k60 Pro Mk. 2
- Built by PC Specialist in the UK
#atlasVPN #bestVPN #hplovecraft

[@GamingHarryYT]

Grab the AtlasVPN Deal here! - get.atlasvpn.com/Harry

[@slades111]

Ooo

[@tomasrolter6729]

Fun fact: while doing one of the side missions (related to mirrors) you can come across a photo of the owner of the manufacturer of these items, who can be recognized by people who have played The Witcher 3.

[@aiup5710]

The spoon lover?

[@tomasrolter6729]

@@aiup5710 Yes

[@andrefilipe9042]

The Gaunter O'Dimm

[@tomasrolter6729]

@@andrefilipe9042 Thats the one.

[@dudewithtude4476]

lies...pure lies

[@Sasorilolo]

My friend and i played this game together. After some time, it devolved into us constantly grumbling about "they need a shoveling" and other such "shoveling" things because we started to kill the enemies using only the shovel

[@envyxreaper6163]

Lmao that's fucking hilarious, now I'm definitely going reinstall the game just to try that. 😂

[@thundergunner4284]

Bro I think the madness got to you too

[@peculiar_mortal4976]

I remember the old days.. They all need the shoveling

[@Sasorilolo]

@@peculiar_mortal4976 A good Shoveling really lightens the mood.

[@-Commit-arson-]

@@Sasorilolo a good shoveling in the morning is good for the humerus

[@jonathancampbell7798]

35:45 Resurrecting someone from ashes or their "essential salts" is a major thing that occurs in Lovecraft's story "The case of Charles Dexter Ward"

[@hunter17835]

One aspect that's overlooked is the Fecund Mother, who's actually a manifestation of Shub-Niggurath, an Outer God way beyond the power of any of the Great Old Ones.

[@antemiuenteri]

"Shub-Niggurath" H.P.'s racist ass aint slick lol

[@Richardwells3]

@@antemiuenteri His form of racism was ANYONE NOT FROM RHODE ISLAND.

[@TheVincenzoGaming]

@@antemiuenteri Don't look up the name of Lovecraft's cat

[@TheVeiledMonarch]

@@antemiuenteriyeah, and apparently she only the flesh of black people

[@rishg134]

@@antemiuenteri “Hurr durr Wovecwaft wacist.” What an original thought

[@simonwoods2169]

If I recall Cthulhu Mythos correctly, if Cthulhu awakens it means that Apocalypse is already begun, is not directly responsable for it.

[@natonecandostuff1921]

his awakening causes all humanity to go mad

[@simonwoods2169]

Yeah, basically an eldritch horror is so beyond human comprehension that even just knowing that exist is enough to break a person mind.

[@bencoates7618]

I'm not going to lie, the way you framed shooting Usha made me laugh so much more than it reasonably should have. But that timing and dry delivery was outstanding. Real 'So anyway I started blastin' type energy. Havn't had a good chuckle like that in a while.

[@maboilaurence8227]

What I really love about this game is that the whole picking a choice thing is extremely smart in how it deceives you into believing it's a stupid good vs evil choice, but instead it goes way deeper than that and you are rewarded for actually using your brain and finding out about what's the right thing to do without artificial clues, but more thanks to enviromental storytelling. Case in point: in A Frosty Welcome, those who aren't really paying attention to the plot might think it's a shallow "Let poor guy go or have him killed for shits and giggle"... but when you listen carefully to the dialogues you realize the guy WASN'T hallucinating at all, and he didn't kill for hatred, he killed because he is part of the Esoteric Order of Dagon and was instructed to kill whoever left the expedition (if you are familiar with Lovecraft's stories, you know damn well Innsmouthers and Dagon are a big red flag), as explained by a letter later in the game. But guess what? If you decide to (rightfully) tell Throgmorton about him, a full blown race war starts, because the monkey guy is a bigot! And there what a shallow "save good guy vs kill good guy because I can" choice turns into a good dilemma. It's absurd to me how many people in threads and forums keep claiming the game has "poor writing" and "no brainer good choices" when the developers clearly intended for the player to fall for the easy apparent choice as a red herring. EDIT: So I replayed the game again and I totally forgot about most stuff. I was wrong about Lewis being part of the OED, it's heavily implied but never officially revealed. Billy Drummond hired someone simply referred as A. to sabotage the expedition, and this A. hired Lewis to kill whoever managed to get back to Oakmont. Billy is also part of the Yellow kings (big forshadowing with his yellow scarf)... so the whole thing was orchestrated by Johannes van der Berg since the very beginning.

[@GamingHarryYT]

The games achievements are even based around, and awarded when the player does what is considered to be the ‘bad thing’ (helping Cavendish poison the fish, etc)

[@sage1682]

TLTR

[@WallNutBreaker524]

​@@GamingHarryYT Sheriff Harden would've helped Cavendish and also ratted out that Innsmouther that Killed Albert to Throgmortin. Sheriff Hardin for the Win. 💪😎👌

[@Pippa87]

I don’t play ANY video games but I’ve been binging all your videos. I think it’s the English major in me: video games are an underrated form of story telling.

[@oatjuice5921]

underrated?

[@BeboptheGamingLoyer]

Underrated?

[@arrakeenmerchant]

@@oatjuice5921 Especially in academia, video games are not really recognized as a worthy storytelling medium. It's a damn shame

[@dannooooooo]

@@arrakeenmerchant to be fair, most aren't. But there are quite a few by now that do suuuch interesting things with narrative that deserves study

[@questionsayer]

Maybe for most of us "gamers" the media isn't underrated at all because we actively partake in it. But from an outside perspective video games barely get mentioned except when someone is upset about them (mostly). It's getting more and more recognized but certainly not by a wider crowd.

[@tylerpetersen6226]

The IRL story of The Sinking City and the shenanigans that went on behind the scenes is almost as wild.

[@GothPaoki]

Yea production was hell and dragged on for years.

[@tylerpetersen6226]

@@GothPaoki Actually aside from some license issues production was pretty tame the main issue is publishing partner legal issues and straight up piracy after.

[@V01DG0D]

@@tylerpetersen6226nah

[@themachoechidnaugandarandy7583]

Wait didn't the "usual" crowd wanted to scrap the game due to discovering the Lovecraft dude not being a nice man?

[@thereseemstobeenanerror1219]

​​@@themachoechidnaugandarandy7583 Not this time. It was a case of the publisher actively trying to steal the game from the developer. Being rebuked by the legal system, they said screw that and actually pirated the game. And tried to sell that instead.

[@613aristocrat]

From what I saw and hear, the atmosphere and love for the lore is incredible. The nested side quests are a drag.

[@androthsatyr]

Indeed. I am a huge Lovecraft fan and I definitely enjoyed the atmosphere and the storytelling, but the gameplay itself and the fact there was SOOO MANY SIDE QUESTS was kinda obnoxious. Still, pretty good game to be frank!

[@gonkdroid9325]

Some of the side quests are okay, when they actually have a story and some investigation. Most of them however are "go hear, kill everything, get the thing (maybe)" I finished all the major side quests but didn't feel any motivation to do all the tedious minor ones.

[@Mintetea]

As someone who has no time to play video games these days its nice to listen to you break them down as you play though them. Thanks for these.

[@christinepowers2282]

"...towards a man named Robert Throgmorton" Me: My cousin Throckmorton the skateboarder???

[@AndrewTheZ]

For the record, Cthylla is Cthulhu's daughter, but in the Mythos, Cthylla can give birth to her father.

[@guybrush1701]

Unless I missed it, I hate how "Cthylla" is never said in the game. Because of this and because I barely know anything about the Cthulhu mythos, I thought "Cthygonnaar" was her name and not the name of the place, so i kept wondering how you were supposed to enter her to free her.

[@flaviomonteiro1414]

Alabaman Eldritch Horror 😂

[@mikeoxlong1395]

@@flaviomonteiro1414 Sweet home R'lyeh

[@Cosmic_Corpse22]

Your videos, in particular the "Explained" videos are generally clear and easy to follow and you got a subscribe out of me and at least 15 views so far.

[@neurohack9038]

Wrong

[@SoffyChannel]

I don't have the time to play games but I absolutely love your breakdowns of the stories! I really hope your channel will grow even more, you deserve it, Harry!

[@GothPaoki]

I'm amazed this game was released so good. I've seen some of the issues the devs had with bugs etc which dragged it's production for years i didn't expect it to be so good and it also came around the same time as the call of chulthu game which was also very good but i prefer this one. The devs really paid attention to the hp lore and created a perfect atmosphere and narrative for this game. You really felt immersed into another universe,it was very unique for some of us that are long time fans of hp Lovecraft to see his creations come to life and be part of it. It's very rare to see a writer's universe represented so well in modern gaming or tv stories . We Lovecraft fans are very lucky in terms of gaming most of the games regarding lovecraftian universe are very good.

[@GothPaoki]

Should also add the much older but excellent dark corners of the earth which first got me into hp Lovecraft. These three games are like the holy trinity of lovecraftian games.

[@UndadZombie]

Wow...300k in 20 mins...as expected After finding your videos recently I've basically had you one background all throughout the day,i love lore and I love how in depth you go and naturally the jokes too

[@adrienazie]

Been waiting for you to cover this one. Have not and probably will never play this game but was curious about the story. Thank you.

[@123123boobies]

Its worth a playthrough. Iirc its free on PS Plus. Or atleast pretty cheap

[@JackkaPakka]

Another brilliant video man so much respect for what you do

[@tremenari4240]

Great as always. I’m astounded at the frequency of videos without ever dipping in quality. Make sure you don’t burn out. Love the content!

[@fridgebotmeg]

Dude I LOVE your videos. They are so high quality, so full of atmosphere and yet condensed enough so I don't loose track of all the details. You're becoming one of my favorite channels on youtube and I can watch your content for hours continually withouth any problem :D Pls keep up the great work

[@elifriedman8812]

Thank you for finally making a video that comprehensively explains this game! This is why I love this channel!

[@b2k_tekoni212]

This is awesome! You're the only person I've been able to find that's done and explain video in this game

[@silvermyr3268]

Very happy with these consistent uploads, and since I just started reading some more of Lovecraft's works this video and Dark Corners could not have been timed better. Love to see more of these sort of games covered as I would not find the time to play them myself, and you sure know how to spin a story. Always looking forward to hear another one.

[@ambroiseagnoletti937]

Hmm… I don’t really think that Van Der Berg is an avatar of Hastur since Hastur and his half-brother Cthulhu aren’t really in "good terms" in the Cthulhu Mythos. He’s probably more an avatar of Nyarlathotep which can explain why he try to help releasing Cthylla from the depths.

[@X-SPONGED]

Yeah, Hastur ain't exactly rubbing shoulders with his sleepy half bro in the mythos but it's kinda undeniable. The gang is named "The Yellow King's". Van Der Berg is wearing full on yellow and can live on even though his physical body is destroyed. All traits of the king. I'm not that familiar with Nyarlathotep so I would appreciate some insight into this particular old one. I know it's older than both Hastur and Cthulhu but that's pretty much all I got.

[@Entropy3ko]

They are not even half brothers. Some authors make them so, and some make them enemies, but it's basically just speculation over the mythos which has no definitive canon

[@tamiruiz2766]

“You wanna fishy” sits in my brain forever because of this dang game…

[@mister93547]

I asked for this back during your call of cthulhu video, great series, great channel, thanks harry, love your work.

[@philipplortz7548]

At min 30:11 the gang name " The Yellow Kings" might be inspired by Hastur who also comes out of the Cthulu myth

[@AmaryInkawult]

Because their boss is Hastur. Devs dropped a lot of hints that he is and that killing his "physical" body wouldn't stop his machinations.

[@AmaryInkawult]

In fact certain side missions hint that the gang is actually a sophisticated cult

[@AmaryInkawult]

Hastur's Sign is even used in their ritual sites

[@Tiltigo]

You might want to watch the whole video before commenting, my friend.

[@debrabarber3483]

I couldn't resist asking the "imperial wizard" to show me a magic trick. He is claiming to be a wizard 😂😂😂. This led to me killing everyone with a shovel. This game does have some funny moments😂

[@diamondhamster4320]

The MSQ in this game is direct reference to all of the Cuthullu and his daughters HPL and adjescent authors stories while side stories are based on HPLs many other stories.

[@weavingfates]

I really loved this game, it was soooo satisfying piecing stuff together and the archives system was STELLAR. I think my only gripe with the game was wanting More from the endings

[@danielramsey6141]

I feel there should’ve been and Option to Seal “The King In Yellow” away. Honestly it would be interesting to have seen Ancient Magic to capture this god-like entity since he’s not only an Instigator of these events, but also had been using the main Character throughout the whole game! The endings I feel would be far better, knowing you removed this Neutral Evil from the World! Because it’s more than clear that as much as he doesn’t lift a finger to kill anyone, he is still using the MC to try and open the Prison to free his niece and his Evil Half-Brother into the mortal realm! Sealing Hastor (The King In Yellow) would keep the world safe and banish his influence.

[@autumnno8290]

Thank you for this!!! ive been waiting for you to cover this game

[@tayntp]

The game did great by not implementing GPS system like other modern games. It took days, or weeks just to explore the map entirely. There are so many accessible locations and rooms to discover outside the main storyline.

[@gadielphilip]

Your videos are literally miracles coz the power just came back on

[@RuvikWithers]

Enjoying the subtle humour/music, thank you for your work :)

[@niveditakapoor550]

So happy you made a video about this amazing game!!! Thank you, you made the story more clear to me :)

[@VivaLosLockos]

Great video! I played it a couple years ago and remember enjoying reading the notes of the (poor) town residents. They were so well written and interesting, I rarely enjoy reading screens of text as I did here. Apart from a few bugs I really liked it, guess it's just not for everyone.

[@danielzakaria194]

always happy to see you upload.

[@mdragon12]

One of my favorite games. It takes more than just looking at documents. You can actually feel like a detective.

[@GARRYSTIRLING]

I have been looking forward to this video for awhile

[@613aristocrat]

Wow, that was a really complex story with a lot going on. It kinda makes sense, since its a whole city, but wow.

[@JackAsmo]

Thank you for the video, very interesting.

[@ravenglebsky9404]

I loved this game so much, it is great to see your video on it ☺️

[@HeVn7LaO]

Been waiting for this for awhile…finally…

[@RavenousDevil]

I've replayed this so many times and still learned new things today.

[@ChillinwitTi04]

I’ve been waiting for a sinking city explained video🤩

[@lswritings3340]

Awesome video! Thank you for explaining! Also, if you're looking for another cool horror game I'd recommend Sally Face! Great story, great characters, great art style!

[@potatosandwitch]

The more I hear Oakmont the more it sounds like POKÉMON to me for no reasons 😂😂😂

[@ZcCampsoup]

I loved this game, would love for a sequel learning from mistakes made

[@117TheKill]

Great job as always. Hopefully one day you want and can make a video of Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened Remake and Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game (2018)

[@journeytolife9617]

nice video man

[@robert.e.speedwagon]

Still no Barrie and her sister puppy rescue I’m dying over here

[@dantauche7917]

YESSSSSSSS! BEEN WANTING THIS THANK YOU!!!

[@apple8464]

That twist on the Yellow King is awesome

[@denizsoul7366]

I would be really thankfull if you would do the entire Story of Doom the lore is so big and it goes so deep if you could do that one day that would be awsome👌🏾

[@DaLordIsBack1]

Your production work ethic is inspiring!

[@SleepyDrummer]

Cool video. Why the Dredge spoilers though?

[@BAlex-xc5xd]

Feels like you had fun doing this one. Any plans on doing Song of Horror?

[@szymonk.7267]

My Favorit chuthulu game Nice to see you Cover it thanks

[@Natsun195]

Ooh thank you Harry, this is one of my favorite Lovecraft games.

[@ehrenschnitzel]

I seriously had so much fun playing the game. I play the Call of Cthulhu TTRPG a lot so this was a blast. Thank you for covering the game :D i played it on the Switch and was pretty annoyed by the shooting mechanics so i religiously avoided shooting lmao

[@batiany4091]

Love it. You the man

[@silent_stalker3687]

One thing I hate is the ‘oh lovecraft Ian is secret society’ Like… it isn’t secret 90% of the time, it’s there and people are aware of it but none of them really put a finger on it until it basically is just at their door step. Some games like blood borne cover this: everyone knows about it except for one or two secrets.

[@radiks2008]

The new Call of Cthulu next please. Love your videos as always.

[@Raidon484]

Throgmorton really does look like his family tree is "robust". Especially the gene pool

[@vexile1239]

Like a wreath?

[@Raidon484]

@@vexile1239 exactly! Of course, only because of how sturdy they are

[@th_defenestrator]

Loved the videos. Have you ever considered playing the two Resident Evil Revelations games? It’d be interesting to see how the lore connects with the main series.

[@Notfakeultra]

There’s dozens of videos on that already

[@th_defenestrator]

@@Notfakeultra And Harry hasn’t recorded any about them yet. Hence the feedback.

[@Jan-oe4cc]

I was waiting for this one, I have a slight memory of seeing this game years ago and that it was reality bending from what I can recall! :D

[@krusnik94]

Thank Cthulhu that you made this video because I was never going to finish this game

[@theflyingdutchman1301]

Interesting, seen this game come by but had absolutely no knowledge about it what so ever. Expected it to be mainly underwater with a city there and such.

[@luna3966]

This game was in the back of my brain! Tysm for doing this game

[@tutto9232]

"The door won't budge"

[@DinoFights_JWE2]

Watching again just cant stop😶

[@ad_chilidawg69420]

Great content!

[@MintyCow101]

This game was such a goddamn blast, i adore and am obssesed with everything HP Lovecraft

[@pristinepastel]

23:20 WELL. didn't see that coming

[@michaelk8860]

Thanks for the vid.

[@ferrievanvliet8043]

I love cthulhu mythos games. It just always feels like low-budget/small companies that do release them. Wish a bigger company would spin their own take on it.

[@Gossokingdom1290]

Damn, Captain Sanders is frikkin ripped, serious case of old man strength there

[@villings]

whoa hey I'm early have a good friday everyone

[@NGMonocrom]

You need a Program and a Score-card to keep track of everyone and what they do. Enjoyed this upload. But now I need to find a comment-less Walk-through on YT to truly understand the story.

[@jonevans419]

Hey you should do the nightmare creatures series, it's an oldie but goodie.

[@timokakoun4367]

Great video! Always thought it should be called "The Stinking City" with all that eldritch guts on the ground. Liked the game though!

[@TheOneGreat]

Thanks for the random Dredge spoiler I guess. I literally started playing that game yesterday. 🙃

[@degatagauwatie4073]

I have this for the Switch, as well as Call of Cthulhu. Gameplay is similar, with this one being a tad more complicated. I haven't finished either one, and haven't played them in so long that I'll just start from the beginning.

[@SkinnyFatMan]

Awww yeah, time to get me that lore fix.

[@rofflesvanwagon]

Always down for more lovecraft

[@PlayNiceFolks]

I thought they gave Cthulhu a daughter just for this game. But it turns out that she first appeared in 1975 in The Transition of Titus Crow.

[@darkblu117zcrookedneck8]

Can you do the story of Stasis and Cayne, Stasis 2.

[@snoo333]

cool video. thank you

[@boblob3509]

I freakin love this channel

[@Nosnibor90]

So, as someone who loves video games, but was too frustrated with the mechanics and pacing of this game, I‘m gonna absorb this video essay and build upon my Lovecraft knowledge. I previously read At the Mountains of madness and absolutely loved it. Really eery stuff though and with 80% being eery dialogues in this game I will happily miss out on the gameplay here and focus on Alan Wake 2. 👌🏼

[@Gigamegachadlad]

GAMINGG HARRY POSTEEED

[@blumiu2426]

I wonder why it's so hard for people to make a good Lovecraft story without trying to add their own "touch".

[@ravenglebsky9404]

It is already done, you know. By Lovecraft himself. He wrote, you know, books. You can read them, you know? It is not so hard

[@blumiu2426]

@@ravenglebsky9404 I have no idea how your comment was relevant to what I said. He, the original author and creator, has nothing to do with other writers making competent renditions of his work without turning it into a hodgepodge of usually Innsmouth remixes.

[@AngryDadGaming]

Yes! This was one of your ‘Stories Explained’ that I was looking forward to! This game was a lot of fun, but definitely freaked me out. The ammo seemed pretty limited at times, and combat was so tough that exploring hostile areas was really nerve-wracking! Also, those underwater parts were pure terror for a guy like me…👀 Awesome stuff, Harry! I didn’t even know there was three endings! I thought there was only two!😅

[@ODSTxHeLLxJuMpeR]

any chance down the line you could play through “Moons of Madness”? 🤞🏻🙏🏻

[@tictackywacky9445]

Any chance you’d break down “I have no mouth and I must scream”?

[@foamyrocks665]

Cheers Fred! I started laughing 😂😂😂😂

[@StoveToTheFace]

I wasn't expecting much from this game, but if it's anything Lovecraft, I'll give it a shot. I was definitely surprised, I ended up really enjoying the game.