The Ukrainian game developer, Frogwares, is famous for developing action-adventure and adventure mystery games such as its many Sherlock Holmes-focused titles, but it recently delved into the survival horror genre with its latest game, The Sinking City 2.
A loose sequel to 2019's The Sinking City, The Sinking City 2 is a proper survival horror game rather than a mystery-solving-focused game akin to 2019's Resident Evil 2 and Dead Space, complete with inventory and resource management as well as complex puzzles to solve using specific items.
Similar to those aforementioned games, there are optional side quests to complete in The Sinking City 2 that offer unique rewards and gameplay experiences, with one of the earliest to be found connected to The Other Gods achievement/trophy.
Exploring the Redemption Church
Early on in The Sinking City 2, after Calvin opens the first two watergates and makes his way through the Miskatonic University Annex, players will be able to travel to the Redemption Church area that has now become one of Arkham's many new islands following the supernatural flood.
Players will be tasked with opening another watergate in order to reach the Devil's Reef Hotel, and while people can simply go on their merry way to the hotel once the gate is open, there are more secrets hiding within the church than meets the eye.
In order to gain access to the church itself, players will need to travel through the graveyard and acquire a key from a corpse near a statue covered with red vines.
Be warned though, this area is filled with bear traps and leaping Stygian Harvesters, so players will need to watch their step when traveling through the graveyard.
Once the key is acquired, players can enter the church where they'll find several clues about the church and its history and be able to access the front courtyard where players will find the watergate and a corpse holding the Star Key.
The Star Key can be used to open two areas: a room on the upper floor of the church leading to a suspicious power room and the crypt found in the center of the graveyard.
Unlocking the Redemption Church's Secrets
I recommend opening the room on the upper floor of the church first and then opening the crypt, where players will find not only the first Printing Plate used in The Red Press achievement/trophy, but also an ERC crate and a document detailing a Star entity's marks, which are described as:
- The rhombic spearhead of Gyrh
- The crooked cross of Tsog-Nar
- The serpent-form of Yig
- The splayed womb of Cthylla
These marks are what will be used to solve the obelisk puzzle found in the church's backyard, but players will first need to collect the metallic trident from the power room on the upper floor of the church.
After placing the Trident on top of the obelisk and rotating its segments to match the entity's marks, the obelisk will begin to glow and attract lighting strikes to it, but players should stand back as the lighting will electrify the nearby area and possibly shock Calvin if he remains too close.
After three lighting strikes, players can then collect the Lightning-Imbued Trident and bring it back to the power room on the church's upper floor where it can be placed back where it was originally found.
This will cause the church to suddenly go dark and have statues of cultists appear in the nave, worshiping a starfish-like entity sitting behind the altar.
One statue can be found offering a sacred stone dagger to the entity and, after taking the dagger from the statue, the dagger can be inserted into the altar, causing Calvin to descend from a secret elevator into a secret lower level of the church.
Here, Calvin will be tempted to reach into a Lovecraftian portal by the sound of Faye's voice only for a skinless humanoid monster reminiscent of those found in the Hellraiser franchise to appear, biting and attacking Calvin.
Once the monster is eliminated, players can go back up the elevator and collect a Dream Essence as a reward and earn The Other Gods achievement/trophy.
