The Sinking City: Chicago Organ Grinder

The first Sinking City was an ambitious swing for developer Frogwares. It was open-world, featured a massive, flooded city to explore, had loads of side quests, and made an--albeit flawed--attempt at third-person horror action. All of that wove together with the studio's signature detective-mystery roots to make an experience that wasn't very good, but was at least worth trying or paying attention to.Before The Sinking City, Frogwares had iterated on the deduction mechanics of the detective genre one Sherlock Holmes game at a time, sprinkling in influences from other genres along the way, from

The first game was atmospheric, but not really scary. Here's hoping the sequel gets it right.

Theos: Cities of Myth is a charming indie city builder that had me laying out roads, providing housing, taking advantage of godly boons, and managing resources as concrete as food and as abstract as philosophy. I wasn't able to build a polis to rival the height of Athens just yet due to demo restrictions and some odd pathing bugs, however.

The Sinking City 2 has made big changes in the hopes of capitalizing on the untapped potential left to float in the void in the first game. A better, more interesting protagonist; a revamped and easier to parse investigation system; and better-paced missions might help this eldritch sequel rise above clever curiosity for fans of tentacle-tinged horror and into must-play territory for everyone this time around, so long as it’s not held back by the underwhelming combat and puzzles that nagged the previous game and don’t seem to be fully solved here just yet.

Lego The Lord of the Rings: Minas Tirith (8,278 pieces) $650 | Releases June 4 Preorder at Lego Lego has officially revealed its newest--and biggest--Lord of the Rings set yet, a massive 8,278-piece recreation of the White City, Minas Tirith. Available now to preorder for $650, the set will release first on June 1 for members of Lego's free rewards program, Lego Insiders, and it will be followed by a global launch on June 4. As an added bonus, any purchases made between June 1 and Jun 7 will also receive the Lego Icons: Lord of the Rings Grond battering ram set as a Gift with Purchase. Lego Th