History VideoGame / TheSinkingCity

* CityOfAdventure: Oakmont is the location for the entirety of the game. It is full of monsters, cultists, corruption, nightmarish secrets, urban segregation, and more.

* CannotSpitItOut: In the side quest Rest in Peace a husband plunders his mistress' grave because of this. In the end he commits suicide due to his inability to say he loves her.

** Lewis Flynn, the suspect in your first case, claims he only committed the murder during a supernaturally-induced psychotic break and can't remember doing it, and that he has a family to provide for and was the subject of racial discrimination. You can either help him escape or turn him over to what will essentially be a lynch mob. [[spoiler: Much later in the game you find evidence strongly indicating the murder was premeditated, backed up by how methodical the killing and crime scene were and how calm Lewis seems all things considered, suggesting that his sob story about committing the murder while controlled by supernatural forces was a load of bunk. You do find evidence he does indeed have a family, and the racial prejudice he faced as an Innsmouther may have played a role in his willingness to commit the murder.]]
** Sidney Stokes broke into an art collector's house to steal a mirror in order to get enough funds to afford a proper burial for his recently deceased mother. When the art collector caught him in the act and started shooting, he killed him in the commotion, and feels terrible about it. You're given the choice of either turning him over to a biased justice system that will likely give him a far harsher sentence than his crime warrants (with a side order of police brutality[=/=]enhanced interrogation), or letting him get away with manslaughter with absolutely no consequences other than his own guilt.

** There's an option to steal Sidney Stokes' secret bullet stash in "A Delicate Matter", which he was saving to get his mother a proper burial. The trophy / achievement text even ends with "[[YouMonster You monster]]".

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: This is van der Berg's opinion and his justification for why he wants Reed [[spoiler:to open Cythgonaar and release Cthylla]]. He shows Reed a museum of all the human atrocities committed in Oakmont to drive home his point.

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Played with. A lot of the prejudices present in 1920's America are not present, not due to any progressive movements, but rather out of the realities of living in Oakmont. Segregation, if it was ever present, was eliminated by the flood. People in Oakmont treat all local inhabitants equally regardless of skin color. Racism is downplayed and focused exclusively towards Innsmouthers and Newcomers. That said Oakmont is remarkably progressive towards real-life minorities. African Americans are not only present in all factions but in some cases in positions of power, and even run some of the central functions of Oakmont life. There is even a black member of the local KKK!

* BrokenAesop: Much of the game deals with the evils of racism (the KKK are sidequest villains) and the plight of the Innsmouth refugees. Every figure who engages in xenophobia is treated with disgust and Reed's dialogue always makes his low opinion of xenophobes clear. However, the Innsmouthers are followers of a ReligionOfEvil and heavily involved in the city's organized crime. Given the Deep Ones are historically villains in Cthulhu Mythos fiction, it also will confuse longtime fans of the setting.

* FantasticRacism: The refugees from Innsmouth do ''not'' get along with much of Oakmont's population - especially the Throgmortons, who refer to them as "fish-faced freaks." However, the Innsmouthers hate the Throgmortons right back, with several people of Innsmouth descent comparing the Throgmortons to apes. [[spoiler:You have the opportunity to outright call Throgmorton a bigot at the end of the Quid Pro Quo quest.]]

* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Charles Reed can become quite hostile to [[spoiler:Hastur, Cthulhu's brother]], which can cause him to take offence at his "tone." Reed can later [[UpToEleven escalate this by]] [[BullyingADragon shooting him in the head]] if the player chooses to. It's lucky that [[spoiler:Hastur]] has more use for Reed alive than dead, [[KarmaHoudini allowing Reed to get away with all of this]].

* BlueBlood: Oakmont is very traditionalist and thus, ruled by an aristocracy of Grand Families for their wealth and influence over the city: the Throgmortons are the central pillar of the community that fund establishments like the Oakmont Library and University; the Carpenters rule Oakmont's criminal underworld with an iron fist, the various encountered gangs answering to them in some form; the Blackwoods share kin with the Innsmouthers through the Marsh family and dominate much of the fish market. By the time Reed arrives in Oakmont, however, most of the Blackwoods (sans [[BlackSheep Ebernote]]) have disappeared, leaving the Throgmortons and the Carpenters as the remaining ruling powers.

* BlueBlood: Oakmont is ruled by an aristocracy of Grand Families for their wealth and influence over the city: the Throgmortons, who united with a royal family in their past, are the central pillar of the community that fund many of the establishments like the library and University; the Carpenters lord over Oakmont's underworld with an iron fist; the Blackwoods share kin with the Innsmouthers through the Marsh family and dominate much of the fish market. By the time Reed arrives in Oakmont, however, most of the Blackwoods (sans Ebernote) have disappeared, leaving the Throgmortons and the Carpenters as the remaining ruling powers.

** The Throgmorton family have [[FrazettaMan distinctly gorilla-like features and physical prowess]], which Mr. Throgmorton claims is due to becoming related to some "royal family" a few generations ago.

** Sidney Stokes broke into an art collector's house to steal a mirror in order to get enough funds to afford a proper burial for his recently deceased mother. When the art collector caught him in the act and started shooting, he killed him in the commotion, and feels terrible about it. You're given the choice of either turning him over to a biased justice system that will likely give him a far harsher sentence than his crime warrants, or letting him get away with manslaughter with absolutely no consequences other than his own guilt.

* SympatheticMurder: Happens quite a few times due to the game's heavy emphasis on GreyAndGreyMorality and BlackAndGreyMorality.

* DrivenToSuicide: A given considering who is driving the city crazy. A great deal of people can be found in their homes with ropes and bullet wounds.

* GenuineHumanHide: One of the ambient creatures wandering around Oakmont is what appears to be a giant cat-sized shrimp that's wearing the body of a dead cat as a skinsuit.

** In the "Assigned Reading" side case, [[spoiler:the students in one home try to make illusions to take their place [[MundaneUtility to attend class so they don't have to]]. Unfortunately, the "illusions" are really this, who cause a KillAndReplace on their originals and cover it up with an actual illusion.]]
** [[spoiler: Brutus Carpenter]] is sent to his death and replaced with a body double as part of [[spoiler: Graham's]] bid to take over. [[spoiler: If you side with Graham, the body double completely assumes the role of the real Brutus Carpenter.]]

* ImAHumanitarian: The [[VideoGame/HalfLife Bullsquid]]-like wylebeasts are revealed to be people who ate human flesh after the Flood (in most cases presumably out of desperation), causing them to crave it more and more and eventually transform into monsters. The investigation in which you learn this involves a MadChef at an elite restaurant who served human flesh to his unsuspecting customers, transforming them into monsters living in the restaurant's basement which he continues to feed with human meat.

* TheKlan: Appears in the Nosedive case. You get to shoot them.

* BodyOfBodies: The larger wylebeasts, namely the GiantMook variant and particularly the huge boss guarding the Necronomicon, are composed of multiple human bodies merged into a nightmarish gestalt creature.

* WasOnceAMan: As you discover during a series of side cases, an uncomfortable number of the monsters you'll encounter in Oakmont were once people and have since mutated into unrecognizable forms through various mechanisms. You can discern some humanoid aspects to them, if you dare to examine their corpses more closely.

* PracticalCurrency: With no way to reach the mainland, and the wylebeasts growing in number, bullets are the only accepted tender within Oakmont.

* ResourcesManagementGameplay: Downplayed; on the one hand, the game has what appears to be a very tight economy in which bullets are your currency as well as your ammo, combat often eats up more resources than you gain from looting a cleared area (encouraging stealth), and you generally have access to a fairly limited amount of overall resources. However, all this is thrown out the window by the fact that loot containers ''respawn'' their contents after you leave an area, allowing you to farm up to your max carry capacity at your leisure.