Ukrainian studio FrogWares released the remake of 2007s Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened in 2022. The endresult of this self-proclaimed crossover of Sherlock Holmes and H.P. Lovecraft is pretty amazing. While I have no clue about H.P. Lovecraft’s works, I love Frogwares’ Sherlock Holmes games.
The Story
Starting in a book-shop in Baker Street and followed up by a kidnapping case, this conspiracy will lead Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson all over Europe and as far as the United States. As they uncover more and more details of the case, things take a turn for the supernatural quickly. And soon they will find out that they are the only ones that stand between the world and its doom. Suffice to say, Sherlock Holmes’ sanity will be thoroughly tested throughout this adventure.
The Characters
While Watson remains the loyal friend, Sherlock’s character is much darker, desperate, even obsessed in this stint. I don’t remember him being like this in later titles like Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishment and Sherlock Holmes And The Devil’s Daughter.
The two of them are pitted against a colorful cast of villains – among which I found the doctor in Switzerland outstanding. That was, actually, the most memorable Chapter of the game. Sneaking through the asylum, avoiding detection, interacting with the sometimes rather unhinged patients… Lovely.
The World
Compared to the sun-soaked island-setting of Sherlock Holmes – Chapter One, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened offers a great variety of locations. The dreary streets of London, the cold Swiss mountains, the swamps of Louisiana, a creepy lighthouse and somewhere else entirely.
The Verdict
While I did not play the original Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, and therefore have not direct comparison, the remake offers pretty much all of the usual features of a Sherlock Holmes game. Also, the story is pretty short. The locations, the supernatural touch and some very tense time-boxed missions make more than up for that, though. Suffice to say, I loved it.
Next up wil be another Favorite Mission, a series that I have long neglected, But, since I recently replayed all the games of the Dishonored-franchise, repeatedly, I will be featuring my favorite mission from Dishonored and its DLCs, Dishonored 2 and Dishonored. Death Of The Outsider.
Until then, keep on playing!
Cheers
Vanessa