I can definitely tell you I am no Sherlock Holmes. For starters, it isn’t my name, and secondly, I am nowhere near a good enough detective to earn such a prestigious title, as I did tend to struggle to find my last clues in some areas.

Developed and Published by Frogwares, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened is a remake, built from the ground up from the original 2008 game set in a Lovecraft-inspired world that indulges and puts you up against the Cthulu Mythos. You take on the roles of Holmes and Watson as you investigate the mysterious disappearances apparently linked to a dark cult that worships the ancient god. It’s not often Sherlock is on edge or truly afraid, but as he investigates further, he finds himself in much more profound than expected.

The story is rather interesting, as things go a little darker than your traditional Sherlock Holmes adventures. Watching such a usually very composed character lose the plot a little was a nice change, and luckily Watson is around to bring Holmes back and keep him on track.

It starts with Watson walking in on Holmes in what looks like a mess of a room with stuff everywhere, but we all know Sherlock has his own unique way of working, and he asks Watson for the daily newspaper, which he, unfortunately, does not have. Worried that this missing newspaper has some vital information for this case, Sherlock begins an investigation to find it, beginning your tutorial in the world of Sherlock.

Exploring, investigating, and talking to people in the world is the main way of finding clues and what your next step will be. You can find out what your current objective might be by opening your casebook and looking at everything you have recorded. Little symbols above each clue that is currently of use and importance make it easy to keep track of what you have to do to advance your case. For example, a symbol might display a speech bubble that requires you to talk to a case participant, or a symbol of a book will indicate you to search your archives.

After discovering as many clues as you possibly can you’ll need to use your Mind Palace, Here, you’ll essentially link a bunch of clues together to find your next destination or suspect. If you’re paying really close attention, you can link these up pretty quickly, but if for some reason you weren’t, you can just click through them until you get it correct.

Another couple of skills you have as Sherlock are Concentration and Imagination. Using these will allow you to see things not often seen by the naked eye, making you really feel like Sherlock Holmes, as he tends to notice and see things most people do not. Using your imagination is how you’ll figure out the event that played out, and discovering more clues will give you options to cycle through until you find the correct scenario.

For the most part, things were reasonably easy to figure out, but there were definitely times when I got stuck, struggling to find the clues in the current area, or losing my current piece of evidence amongst the many other pieces I didn’t currently need. So, my suggestion is to make sure you give everything a thorough look and search every possible corner and object.

The places you visit vary from your 19th-century streets of London, an asylum in Switzerland, to the Boyous in the US, and dark underground worlds worshipping Cthulu. These places were well-designed and quite in-depth, and even though they weren’t overly large areas to explore, they still felt alive. Although I was lucky enough to get the Deluxe edition for review, which includes some side quests that give a bit more to these locations, I didn’t notice any other tasks or quests to do in the base game, which would have been a nice touch.

As you progress, you’ll earn bonuses as you solve cases and find clues, and doing such tasks will earn you points, unlocking a variety of outfits, collectibles, and concept art for your viewing pleasure. Optional actions will also award you points, but unlocking everything might require multiple playthroughs.

The voice acting was brilliant between Holmes and Watson, with their usual case-solving banter and even the occasional bickering when they don’t always see eye to eye. There’s a decent variety of characters to engage with, accompanied by a solid soundtrack that varied based on the current situation, whether it was more intense or just calm conversations, and even subtle sounds like the page turning as you flicked through your casebook, all bringing the game together nicely.

I really enjoy Lovecraftian-inspired worlds, especially after playing through another of Frogwares titles, The Sinking City, and I was excited to jump into this one. As a reasonably slow-paced game, the adventure and story you take on are quite enjoyable, especially if you are a Sherlock fan. Offering a decent variety of mechanics, it really gives a feel of what it’s like in Sherlock’s shoes.

Written by: MrVibeAU