Developer: Frogwares
Publisher: Frogwares
Release Date: 16th November 2021
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S & PC
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
▫️Review code provided by the publisher ▫️
Let me get this out of the way before we go any further because people keep asking. No – this is not an episodic game. It is a fully-fledged standalone title. In fact, it’s about five times the length of any of the previous Sherlock games from developer Frogwares. Chapter one serves as a bit of an origin story for the world-famous detective, which is a welcome change to the usual formula.
The story starts with a younger, sexier Sherlock docking on the fictional island of Cardona following the death of his mother. This is where Sherlock grew up and so it is a homecoming of sorts. While initially thought that your mother died of tuberculosis, the plot thickens, as it tends to do in these situations. The game is afoot and spans across the various districts in Cardona, which provides varied locales for investigations.
Accompanying you on your journey is Jon, but not the one we’re used to. Instead, Jon (not Watson) is Sherlock’s imaginary friend and he serves as a foil to bounce the narrative off of. The addition of Jon was a wise move as he really adds to Sherlock’s character progression throughout the game. You wouldn’t learn nearly as much about the young detective without these interactions. It would however have been nice if Jon was also available as a hint system, providing the odd nudge when you aren’t sure where to go next.
While the world is varied and can often look beautiful and picturesque, it does at times lack the detail that we have come to expect in 2021. This is to be expected given the size of the team, but I would have preferred a smaller and more fleshed out setting. Before long I ended up relying more and more on fast travel, which going in I had planned to avoid. The rough edges can extend to character models as well. Important characters have pretty good facial animation despite some lip-syncing issues, but some of the island residents leave a lot to be desired. Again, this is far from a deal-breaker and small shortcomings like this quickly fade into the background amid an intriguing investigation.
Speaking of investigations, as you’d expect given their previous work, this is where the game shines. Searching crime scenes, interviewing onlookers, analysing evidence and suspects and piecing together clues in your mind palace. Without giving away any spoilers, the story takes some nice twists and turns. The mix of a young Sherlock and the location combine to create a more bombastic plot and set of side characters than usual. There’s also plenty of side activities to make your way through, including smaller mysteries, memories and disguises that can be used at a later time.
Combat is something that is likely to divide opinion, and I think Frogwares saw that going in – resulting in the option to disable it. Should you leave it on you are encouraged to find ways to subdue your enemies rather than headshot them by way of extra monetary bonuses. This can be achieved by shooting weak spots and/or interacting with objects in the world to create distractions so you can move in and perform a takedown. With very little to spend earned cash on, there isn’t a huge incentive to take the extra time to arrest the goons, but I personally did enjoy the loop enough to play along.
As stated above, combat can be skipped if you aren’t enjoying it. This is also true of the mini-games. My advice would be to give them a go though. The chemical analysis game tasks you with some mathematical equations, while another asks you to pick out key phrases from people’s conversations to aid your investigation. This one is a little more abstract and I ended up having to use trial and error.
There are some technical issues with the game, which the developers are aware of and are working on a patch to fix. The frame rate can dip at times, and there are strange instances of NPC’s walking into walls repeatedly. Hopefully, these issues can be fixed in the coming weeks as it would make a big difference to the overall experience. When the game is running at a smooth 60fps it is a joy though. In previous titles, I had always noticed the framerate being a little off and so the power of the new hardware really does up the ante in that regard.
In terms of trophies and achievements, this is one you’ll need to work for. By now guides are available, which will certainly make things easier. If you want to achieve everything in one run I would definitely recommend having a guide to hand as you’ll need to create manual saves for certain choices and there is also getting all of the accusations correct. You will also need to dedicate some time, as I estimate it taking around 30 hours, even with some help.
Overall it feels like Frogwares jump from a linear structure to an open world may have been a bit too extreme. Ideally, I would have liked to have seen more of a half step – with the island maybe being maybe a third smaller. This would have allowed it to feel more detailed and lived in. As it is, this is more representative of open-world settings we were seeing a decade ago. That said, the investigations, story and side content more than dissolve these shortcomings. As a whole, I think this is the best Sherlock Holmes game to date and a great foundation for future titles. We have been spoiled with interesting detective games recently, with the excellent Agatha Christie – Hercule Poirot also getting an origin outing. But this is a developer who has honed their craft overall several games and is now branching out in terms of scope – and while it doesn’t hit a home run – the effort is to be admired.
-Terry 🦊