In 2019, Frogwares released the Lovecraftian adventure game The Sinking City. And while the game earned somewhat mixed reviews, it still managed to develop a dedicated following of players. Soon The Sinking City will be getting a second lease on life, as the game will be making its next-generation debut tomorrow. Frogwares has officially announced The Sinking City PS5 release date for Friday, February 19.

Frogwares made the announcement with a new trailer for The Sinking City that compares some of the gameplay to how it looked on the PlayStation 4. As can be seen in the trailer, The Sinking City on PS5 is making some big upgrades to the game, upping the visuals to 4K resolution and hitting 60 frames per second. Unfortunately for those who already own The Sinking City on PS4 and want to check out the new next-gen features, though, Frogwares has confirmed that there will be no free upgrade.

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This is unfortunate, but it's out of the developer's hands. Frogwares has confirmed that the ongoing legal issues with The Sinking City is preventing it from providing a free upgrade to fans. Basically, the PS4 version of The Sinking City had a different publisher and is therefore listed on the PlayStation Store with a different game ID. This makes it impossible for Frogwares to provide a normal free next-gen upgrade at this time.

Being unable to upgrade to the next-gen version for free may keep some fans of The Sinking City from trying the PS5 version of the game. However, those who haven't played the game yet or who haven't played its DLC may want to give it a shot. It's been confirmed by Frogwares that, along with the graphical upgrades and PS5 DualSense support, the next-gen version of The Sinking City also includes the Merciful Madness DLC.

The Sinking City reviews were mixed, as previously stated, but some of the improvements in the next-gen version could go a long way in addressing complaints people had about the original game. Plus, people who are big into Lovecraftian mythology may be able to overlook some of The Sinking City's flaws and enjoy the game more than others. Others may want to wait and see if The Sinking City legal situation is ever worked out and keep their fingers crossed that there may one day be a free next-gen upgrade option available.

Meanwhile, fans of Frogwares' games have a lot more to look forward to this year. Besides the PS5 version of The Sinking City, Frogwares is also publishing a new Sherlock Holmes game at some point in 2021 as well.

The Sinking City is out now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One, with the PS5 version launching on February 19.

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Source: Frogwares