What is confirmed
Players move on foot and by skiff, unlock shortcuts, search for supplies and return to refuge areas to adjust a build. Optional investigations do not gate the main story but can reveal safer routes, equipment and upgrades.
What to do
Approach it as survival horror rather than the first game's detective sandbox. Search deliberately, conserve ammunition, use safe rooms and retreat when an encounter would cost more than the route is worth.
What is not confirmed
Official descriptions use districts and interconnected routes but do not clearly promise one seamless open-world map. Map size and full backtracking rules require release-version verification.
Player questions
Is The Sinking City 2 open world?
It has explorable flooded districts and interconnected routes, but the official sources reviewed do not define it as one seamless open world.