However, the fact remains that the resulting game falls short of the standard we've come to expect from Frogwares' excellent sleuthing series. Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened is a remake made under difficult circumstances and for that reason its shortcomings are certainly more than understandable. ![]() We're not expecting to be terrified out of our skin, obviously, but anything even remotely approaching a jump scare or a little uneasy tension here and there would have given things a nice lift. This is also a game that, over the course of its twelve-hour running time, simply isn't spooky or scary enough given its subject matter. We also found some of the searching for clues during investigations felt far too finicky, with exacting pixel-picking required to discover some vital elements that you'll need to move forward in the story. There are a few technical issues to wade through too, most notably lip-syncing in cutscenes that's way off point, making for a distracting effect as you attempt to sit through the game's many conversations. These elements lack the usual flair we expect from Frogwares when it comes to depictions of sanity teetering on the precipice and compound further issues with level design that’s, for understandable reasons, been stepped back and shrunk down from the team’s normal output. The further into the campaign you get, the more Holmes is meant to be losing his grip on reality as he draws ever closer to the truth at the core of the mystery, an aspect of proceedings that’s represented by sections where you enter warped realities in order to solve disappointingly predictable and tired puzzles. You’re left pixel-hunting around mediocre environments and trying to piece together parts of a puzzle that just isn’t particularly engaging. The disguise mechanic from previous efforts has been ditched, conversations with NPCs feel stilted and the crime scenes themselves lack any real imagination or sense of fun/mischief. Sleuthing sequences aren’t nearly as expansive or choice-driven as usual, there’s only ever one potential suspect with no chance to follow the wrong trail or ruin an innocent person’s day by barking up the wrong tree. ![]() However, there’s no escaping the fact that the investigations, characterisations and options afforded to players here have suffered due to the circumstances under which this game has been made. We’ve already seen how well-versed Frogwares is with all things Lovecraft through the underrated excellence of The Sinking City, and the marriage of HP’s bizzarro world and that of Holmes and Watson feels like a match made in heaven. Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened sees young Sherlock and Watson get themselves embroiled in a mystery that takes them from a bog-standard missing persons investigation all the way into the madness-inducing cosmic horror of the Cthulhu mythos. Yes, as much as this all-new Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened updates and modernises the original game to a fairly impressive degree, there’s a lot of clunk, cut corners and sacrifices been made in order to get it out the door, leading to an episode that feels a little flat and uninspired.īut let’s look to the good stuff before we deal with what’s wrong here. ![]() ![]() However, there’s no escaping the fact that a project timescale of one year, compared to the three years it took to create the excellent Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One, has had a noticeable effect on the end product here. Taking into account the circumstances in which it’s been made, it feels rough to come down hard on this latest Sherlock Holmes outing, and it’s a game that’s very obviously had a lot of effort poured into it. With all the stress and pressure of the current situation in Ukraine, the devs chose to work on something smaller in scale for the time being, and this reworking of their 16 year old Lovecraftian murder mystery is the result of that decision. This latest outing sees the team pivot from a planned open world adventure to a remake of 2007‘s Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, a decision taken due to the fact they’re creating games slap-bang in the middle of an active warzone. The Ukrainian-based indie studio has always made up for any rough mechanical edges its work exhibits with well-executed stories set in worlds that feel worth exploring despite some clunkiness here and there. Frogwares is a game developer whose wonderfully unique output we’ve been thoroughly enjoying over the past number years, with the likes of The Sinking City, and their long-running Sherlock Holmes series making for charmingly off-beat experiences that manage to nail the atmosphere and vibe they’re going for whilst providing detective shenanigans that give your sleuthing skills a proper workout.
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