Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened could have been an intriguing clash of Cluedo/Clue with Cthulu, but instead it’s just a case of squandered potential.

An enthralling horror mystery that, outside of its relatively short length, doesn't seem to have suffered at all from the difficult circumstances of its development.

A slightly janky Lovecraftian Holmes adventure in neo-classic Frogwares style, offering decent fun for fans of the studio's work.

For a game that was never meant to exist, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened is a revelation. It has everything a Holmes fan could want; mysteries to unravel, fun dialogue and banter between Holmes and Watson, and plenty of investigations to be had. Playing through with barely any instruction or assistance from the game itself really gives a sense of achievement not often found with other detective games. A compelling and mythical storyline is really the cherry on top of a fantastic, thought-provoking game which will have players exploring every nook and cranny to get to the bottom of the mystery at hand.

Sherlock Holmes The Awakened is a competent remake featuring all the best features the series is known for, such as an engaging mystery and solid investigative gameplay. While the game is lacking in terms of innovation, doing away with the open-world setting seen in Chapter One, Frogwares developed Sherlock Holmes The Awakened it in less than a year and in the middle of a war, so no one should be disappointed that the game doesn't feel much different from past entries in the franchise.

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened puts literature's most famous detective out of its usual settings, this time in a world of supernatural elements in what is a remaster of game originally released in 2007. Fans of the long-running Sherlock Holmes series will find elements to enjoy here, such as the appealing plot and the interesting supernatural elements. Nevertheless, for other players the game's technical flaws, the excessive simplicity of the cases, and the lack of actual horror inspiring moments make this an unlikely candidate for players outside its target audience.

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened (2023) is a phenomenal mystery game and sequel with an intriguing storyline, awesome features, and beautiful graphics. Even though the game is shorter than the previous one, I think this is currently my favorite Sherlock Holmes game because the side and main quests never felt like a dull moment. There was always something to look forward to and a motive to keep playing, unveiling the reason for the people vanishing.

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened is a fine adventure game that adds in a unique supernatural twist to Sherlock Holmes. The game is at its best when you focus on the supernatural storyline and is at its most boring when it wants you to do anything else. The overall Switch port is quite poor, with poor graphics, constant rendering issues, and poor framerate ruining the experience. Diehard Sherlock Holmes fans that own a Switch may find some fun here, but for everyone else, maybe look elsewhere for a fun adventure rather than pick up Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened.

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened has its atmosphere, it has its research part and good protagonists and dialogues. Beyond that, however, he has several issues with his menus and the horror part and with his balance, which prevents him from going a step further.

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened is a competent linear adventure game that seamlessly connects the rebooted story of a young Sherlock Holmes with the twisted world of Lovecraft. While it's a focused effort overall, the presentation is clunky, and the Lovecraftian elements don't get the spotlight they deserve. The enjoyable mystery adventure romp will satisfy fans of the franchise, but everyone else might be better off waiting for a sale before jumping into this case.