The Sinking City 2 demo — free, and it's good
Frogwares put a free demo of The Sinking City 2 on Steam, and it stayed up right through launch — until Steam pulled it. As of September 26, 2026 the demo is gone: the game page carries no demo button and store search returns nothing. What follows is what it contained, which is still the best preview of this $49.99 Lovecraftian game.
Frogwares confirmed the demo on the game's official site ("Launches August 18 — Plus a Free Demo Available Now"). It's the demo players have been talking about since June.
Why people are hyped about it
When the demo landed in early June, the reaction on r/survivalhorror was basically a standing ovation. The thread title that keeps getting quoted: "The Sinking City 2 demo is shockingly excellent." One of the top comments: "just beat it, what a ridiculous step up in quality compared to the first one."
That's the key thing to understand. The 2019 Sinking City was a detective game with horror seasoning. The sequel is a survival horror game proper — slower, meaner with resources, and apparently a big leap in production quality. The demo is where people actually felt that shift, and it's why the pre-launch buzz is unusually concrete rather than just hype.
In early August a "are you looking forward to it" post in the same sub pulled 323 upvotes and 55 comments. On the day before launch, the devs did an AMA on r/Games. There's real momentum — and you can test it for free.
What's in the demo
- The opening stretch of the game: arriving in the flooded 1920s Arkham and the first survival-horror loop — explore, scavenge, manage your state, get out before it gets worse.
- A proper look at the tone: tide-stained streets, dead speakeasies, and the sense that something under the water is watching.
- Enough of the combat and inventory systems to tell whether the resource-lean style clicks with you.
How to grab it
- Open the Steam store page for The Sinking City 2 and hit the demo button — it's a separate free download on the same page.
- It's PC-only (Steam). The demo hasn't been announced for consoles.
- Progress doesn't carry into the full game unless Frogwares says it does — treat the demo as a taste, not a head start.
Full game releases August 18 at $49.99. Get the demo / pre-purchase on Steam →. Still on the fence after the demo? Here's the honest worth-it read →