Sherlock Holmes The Awakened Review: Embrace madness

(Or otherwise, have some patience!)

Sherlock Holmes The Awakened is a reimagining of Frogwares’ 2007 title of the same name, and will immediately pique the interest of mystery solvers and Lovecraft fans alike.

While Frogwares has myriad titles under its belt, it’s best known for a string of solid Sherlock Holmes titles that kicked off in 2014, culminating in 2021’s Sherlock Holmes Chapter One. While The Awakening borrows its overarching plot from one of Frogwares’ first titles, it sure as hell leans into the gameplay refinements from later iterations in the franchise.

With Watson at your side — though generally useless in your investigation, unless you’re straight up controlling him — you’ll largely play as Holmes as he parades around the world investigating a strange ring of disappearances, murders and shady folks up to no good. Given free roam of small maps in locations that include Baker Street, New Orleans, Switzerland and more, Holmes will spend a good deal of his time scouring investigation sites for all-important clues.

Finding clues first requires finding an investigation scene — most are obvious, but players are able to hold down a single button on their controllers to throw up indicators of interest. With a scene located, Holmes will then be required to go over scenes with a fine-tooth comb. A small on-screen counter will let you know how many clues are in a given scene; the need for a sixth sense-like intuition — another single button on the controller — will sometimes be required to find the full set.

Holmes’ same intuition also comes into play when piecing together a timeline of events at any given scene; in these instances, you’ll need to enter a slightly trance-like state to imagine what actions could have happened at specific locations, then ensuring you’ve got your ducks lined up to verify what has occurred in the past. When it comes to sleuthing, the final piece of the puzzle requires speaking to suspects and witnesses in order to flesh out your understanding.

With all these tidbits in toe, Sherlock will delve into his mind palace in orderly to properly deduce. Linking testimony, discoveries, clues and more will be necessary to driving the plot home. While this loop may sound simple enough, it’s never that easy in practice.

Local maps are large enough — and samey enough — to become quite confusing; in the early chapters especially, I found myself running around feeling lost more often than I would have liked. This general feeling of confusion weaves its way into gameplay in general; even now, I find the mind palace an exercise in grouping random bits of clues together in hopes of something working rather than anything resembling confidence.

Instances where you’re accusing suspects work in the same way; here, you’re meant to present three pieces of evidence to prove your point, one after the other. While the evidence in question certainly makes sense to those who’ve programmed the case, I found myself frequently bouncing between two pieces that generally implied the same thing. It’s frustrating to know what’s happened but not being able to figure out the binary selections required to prove that to the game.

Interestingly enough, things seem to become more and more refined the further you progress through the story; the pain points encountered at the beginning certainly aren’t because you’re finding your feet with mechanics.

Is what’s on offer better than Frogwares’ other recent foray back into the world of Lovecraft? Certaintly. This trumps The Sinking City with intriguing cases — especially side investigations that add to what’s going on along the main path — but more importantly, because it plays into themes of madness in clever ways that don’t resort to a need for awkward, clunky combat sections.

Nevertheless, the small problem that surrounds this title is that it plays quite a lot like Chapter One and — though better — still has that general feel of Sinking City. It also will serve to frustrate many because of the way it doesn’t attempt to hold your hand as you play. If you don’t mind that duopoly of deja vu — nor a bit of trial and error — then jump right in.

Sherlock Holmes The Awakened is available from 11 April on Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5 and Switch.

Sherlock Holmes The Awakened was reviewed using a promotional code on Xbox Series S & X, as provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.

Sherlock Holmes The Awakened 12 April 2023 PC PS4 PS5 Switch Xbox One Xbox Series S & X   Buy on Windows PC via Steam Buy on the Microsoft Store