Funny / The Sinking City

Robert commissioned a cake of his dead son...for the funeral.

Even when you're living in a Cosmic Horror Story, you can still find things to laugh about.

Unmarked spoilers below!

• One of the fake advertisements you can see around town is for a production called "Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Creepy Watson." It features an extreme close-up of Sherlock furiously sweating while Watson stands behind them. It's so over-the-top, it becomes hilarious.
  • Even better: this is actually a reference to an infamous bug from one of the studio's previous games.
• When you first meet Robert Throgmorton and he describes his parentage, the couched terms he uses to describe his birth give it an extremely sinister air. However, it becomes a little less so later in the game when you gain access to his father's study and find a picture of a gorilla with "Rosie" written on it in dainty cursive handwriting.
  • At the end of the same mission, he tacitly admits he knows how beastly he looks when he says he's going to give his brother Hammond proper Throgmorton features by transplanting his soul into an orangutan. (One can only imagine how Hammond — born of a human mother that was driven insane and locked away while he was trapped in a mirror realm for decades, all thanks to their father — would say to that, if he could.)
  • Robert has a life-sized replica cake made of his son and serves it at the funeral. It is one of the weirdest and funniest moments of the game.
  • Robert's Blue Blood snobbery and aristocratic pride about his bloodline are hilarious given he's obviously an apeman. Then again, all of the Grand Families in Oakmont have a Dark Secret.
• You can mercilessly mock a member of the KKK. Better yet, you get a Trophy for it. Nothing says "Hate groups are bad" quite like Charles Reed sarcastically demanding a "grand wizard" show him a magic trick. Even more hilariously, because of the way the enemies in the room are set up, it's very likely that taunting them into hostility will cause the grand wizard to whip out his gun — and immediately get shotgunned In the Back by one of his oblivious followers.
  • The books you can find in the KKK HQ are pretty funny, too, such as "Love Under the Hood."
• After Reed is released from jail, the main police officer — who has been a major Jerkass to him throughout the game because his success embarrasses the local cops — threatens him to be on his best behavior. When Reed presses him about why he has such a problem with him, the cop goes on a long rant about how Reed is a danger to society, constantly shooting out locks, trespassing in buildings to steal things, and waving his loaded guns around on public streets.
• The logo for the Blackwood Marsh fish cannery depicts a muscular, handsome sailor in tight clothing lovingly cuddling a man-sized fish with their mouths lightly touching. The whole thing looks like what you would get if Tom of Finland illustrated Lovecraft. Refuge in Audacity at its finest.
• Johannes van der Berg has an absolute blast snarking about the murder you solved where he was the victim, especially if you get angry at him about it.
  Johannes van der Berg: Maybe next time you should finish the job.
  Johannes van der Berg: At last, Mr. Reed! I heard about your recent case. Let me congratulate you - you've truly outdone yourself this time.
  Johannes van der Berg: As amusing as it would be to see you charged with my murder a second time, I'm afraid we have more pressing matters.
• There's a billboard in Advent with a picture of an octopus, captioned "feel the gentle touch of tentacles."
• Reed's reaction to finding a magically hidden Torture Cellar in a self-professed charity group's warehouse:
  I. Have. Questions.
• At the start of the sidequest "Breaking News" Helen at the front desk of the local paper tells Reed to go talk to the editor for the details. In the editor's office you find only a skull on the chair behind the editor's desk, sitting on top of several pillows, and the details on a paper in front of it. You can bring this up with Helen:
  Reed: Your editor.. he doesn't look so well.
  Helen: What do you mean?
  Reed: Well, he's a skull. A. Literal. Skull.
  Helen: Well, every man has the right to his personal quirks.