Game Guide Hub
I use this guide to choose my next route, identify the blocker in front of me, manage inventory and ammo, and decide when backtracking is actually worth it.
Recommended Order
Use these guides to find the right The Sinking City 2 walkthrough, solution or next step.
Walkthrough
This is the route I use from flooded Arkham to the ending, including the major story gates, Shoggoth, Fish Market, the wreck, and final boss.
Fuse Box Puzzle & Safe Code
My opening route through Apartment 5 and the radio shop, including safe code 1908, all four electrical fuses, and the completed floodgate Fuse Box.
Church Trident Puzzle
My Redemption Church route covers the Star Key, Trident symbol order, three lightning charges, floodgate code 1672, and The Other Gods investigation.
All Weapon Locations
My route to all five base-game weapons in The Sinking City 2, where each pickup appears in story progression, and when I actually keep each gun in my loadout.
Guide Cluster
This is the route I use from flooded Arkham to the ending, including the major story gates, Shoggoth, Fish Market, the wreck, and final boss.
Read Guide →My opening route through Apartment 5 and the radio shop, including safe code 1908, all four electrical fuses, and the completed floodgate Fuse Box.
Read Guide →My Redemption Church route covers the Star Key, Trident symbol order, three lightning charges, floodgate code 1672, and The Other Gods investigation.
Read Guide →My route to all five base-game weapons in The Sinking City 2, where each pickup appears in story progression, and when I actually keep each gun in my loadout.
Read Guide →My route to Printing Plates A, B and C, how the cursed Red Franklin works, and when I choose the gold shotgun stock or silver Dream Essence reward.
Read Guide →My Devil's Reef Hotel route covers Room 301 code 2137, the Staff Key, three Lorelei Tokens, the Lorelei Lock, generator puzzle, and stage lift.
Read Guide →My route through Akeley Memorial Hospital, including the Prism system, 0297 locker code, face masks, Wireless Room brains, and all three Nightmares.
Read Guide →I use this guide when I know where I am but cannot tell whether a safe, key, Evidence group, mechanism, or investigation is actually ready to solve.
Read Guide →My story-order route to all 10 Mushroom Jack broadcasts, with area checkpoints that let me know whether Mycophile is still on track before the endgame.
Read Guide →My complete Holloway Manor route through the Museum, Medallion, three heirlooms, family memories, Ezra's ritual, tunnels, and final Shadow fight.
Read Guide →If I do not know where the story wants me to go next, I use the full walkthrough.
If I know the area but I am stuck on a safe, lock, Evidence connection or puzzle, I use the puzzles, codes and investigations guide.
For the major area routes:
For longer-term collection progress, I use the base-game weapon locations guide and Mushroom Jack radio locations guide.
The hardest part of The Sinking City 2 is not always the puzzle directly in front of me.
Arkham constantly shows me things before I can finish them.
I see locked rooms before their keys, machines before their missing parts, E.R.C.s before I have an Activator, and investigation clues that only make sense after I find another piece somewhere else.
Trying to solve everything immediately turned my first few hours into unnecessary loops.
What works better for me is simple:
I keep following the active route until the game gives me something that changes an earlier blocker.
A new key is a reason to go back.
A new tool is a reason to go back.
A complete set of puzzle pieces is a reason to go back.
Walking past the same locked door with exactly the same inventory is not.
I separate two problems that feel almost identical while I am playing.
That is a progression problem.
I return to the full walkthrough and pick up the campaign route from my current area.
That is usually a puzzle or investigation problem.
I use the puzzles, codes and investigations guide to identify what kind of blocker I am actually dealing with.
That distinction prevents a lot of unnecessary backtracking.
Sometimes I really am missing a clue.
Sometimes I am standing in front of something the game simply expects me to revisit later.
Apartment 5, the radio shop and the first floodgate are connected.
Once that opening route is complete, I stop searching the residential area for another main objective and continue toward Miskatonic.
If that is where I am stuck, I use the Fuse Box and Apartment 5 guide.
The lesson I keep from that opening area is more useful than any individual answer:
finished but still explorable is not the same as unfinished.
At Redemption Church, I decide whether I only want to open the route forward or stay long enough to finish the larger optional investigation.
If I am working through the church district, I use the Redemption Church and Trident guide.
My decision is simple:
story rush → leave when the required route opens
completion run → finish the investigation while I am already there
The Printing Press is where I stop treating every newly found puzzle piece as an automatic reason to backtrack.
If the game clearly names several parts belonging to the same mechanism, I try to finish the set first.
The Printing Press puzzle guide covers that investigation when I am ready to return to the machine.
I use the same rule whenever I find:
Incomplete set → I keep exploring.
Complete set → the return trip is probably worth making.
Devil’s Reef Hotel becomes much easier once I stop treating every floor as something I must fully clear before moving on.
I pay attention to what access I have just gained and check the doors or machinery that logically match it.
For the hotel route, I use the Devil’s Reef Hotel guide.
I do not restart a full hotel sweep every time one new interaction becomes available.
Akeley Memorial puts several unfinished systems in front of me at the same time.
That is exactly where repeatedly backtracking after every small clue becomes expensive.
I wait until a new key, tool, Evidence set or other progression change gives me a specific reason to revisit something.
If I am inside the hospital, I use the Akeley Memorial Hospital guide for its connected puzzle and investigation route.
The rule I carry out of Akeley is:
backtrack because something changed, not because I am worried I forgot something.
Holloway Manor is separate from the normal Arkham campaign progression.
Once I start that investigation, I follow the manor’s own objectives instead of trying to connect its rooms to the base-game route.
The house also changes what I can reach as the investigation advances, so I do not assume every inaccessible room is meant to open the first time I see it.
If I am playing the DLC, I use the Holloway Manor walkthrough and follow its progression through to the final curse encounter.
I use safe rooms as part of my route, not only when I am nearly dead.
They give me three things I care about:
manual saving
stash access
and later
the Talent Table
Manual saves are made at the phonograph inside a safe room.
The stash lets me stop treating everything I own as something that needs to stay in my current inventory.
That matters because inventory space gets increasingly competitive.
Weapons, ammunition, healing items and progression objects can all arrive during the same stretch.
So whenever I reach a safe room, I ask:
What am I actually doing next?
If the next route is mostly exploration, I want free inventory slots.
If I expect a boss or combat-heavy sequence, I carry more healing and ammunition.
If the next stretch is mostly investigation work, I do not bring every situational weapon simply because I own it.
Finding a new weapon and deciding to carry it are two different choices for me.
I always take the pickup.
I do not automatically give it permanent inventory space.
My handgun remains useful because ordinary enemies do not always justify more valuable ammunition.
I bring heavier weapons when the route is likely to reward their stopping power, range or burst damage.
I keep the five base-game pickups and their practical roles in the weapon locations guide.
I do not clear every creature simply because it is visible.
Early in the game, ammunition is too valuable for that.
My basic rule is:
if an enemy blocks the route, threatens a required interaction, or traps me in a set piece, I fight.
If I can safely move past it and lose nothing by doing so, I often keep the ammunition.
That calculation changes in heavier combat sections.
I would rather spend strong ammunition to finish a dangerous encounter cleanly than save one premium round and lose several healing items instead.
Ammo economy is not:
never use the good bullets.
It is:
spend them when the fight actually deserves them.
Every piece of Evidence I collect goes into the Investigation Space.
Related pieces can be grouped into the same mystery, and those connections can reveal what I should investigate next.
I do not connect Evidence randomly.
If two clues do not clearly support the same mystery yet, I leave them alone and keep exploring.
Correct Evidence connections can reward Dream Essence, so the system matters even when the main story does not force me to finish every optional mystery.
Investigation Difficulty changes how much help I receive while interpreting those clues.
It does not change the physical answer to a safe, mechanism or Prism puzzle.
So if I already understand the Evidence but the physical interaction still fails, I check the mechanism itself rather than changing difficulty and expecting a new answer.
Dream Essence contributes directly to Calvin’s progression through the Talent Table.
I can gain it through optional investigations, Evidence connections and exploration.
That makes optional content much easier for me to evaluate.
If an investigation is already on my route and gives me useful progression, I am much more likely to finish it immediately.
If it requires a long return trip through an area I have already left, I weigh the detour against whatever I am currently trying to accomplish.
That is why I prefer finishing worthwhile side investigations while their routes are still fresh.
The Talent Table contains multiple tiers, and some Talents have additional unlock requirements.
So if something is still unavailable, I do not immediately assume I missed a hidden room somewhere in Arkham.
For my first run, I spend Dream Essence on upgrades that help the route I am actually playing.
I care more about a useful build now than forcing every Talent to unlock as early as possible.
Emergency Relief Crates are another place where I avoid pointless backtracking.
If I find one before I can open it, I remember the location and continue.
I do not keep searching the same room for an alternate interaction that is not there.
Once I have what I need to open the crate and I am still reasonably close, the detour becomes worth reconsidering.
Their rewards can improve progression, so I do not ignore them permanently.
I simply wait until returning makes sense.
Mushroom Jack broadcasts are spread across the campaign.
The Mycophile achievement requires listening to every broadcast in a single playthrough.
That makes these much easier to collect during normal progression than during one huge late-game cleanup.
I follow the Mushroom Jack radio locations guide in progression order as I move through Arkham.
That is safer than reaching the end and trying to remember which district contained one radio I passed hours earlier.
Whenever I am about to turn around, I ask what changed.
I go back when I have:
I normally keep moving when:
That is the rule that keeps Arkham manageable for me.
The city gives me plenty of reasons to return.
I just wait until I actually have one.