Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened review

The grating detective

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Occasionally quite pretty

  • +

    3D environments

  • +

    Reading the books instead

Cons

  • -

    Gameplay is disjointed

  • -

    Scouring every screen for a clue

  • -

    Voice acting blows

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Take a look at the Penumbra tech demo from indie developers, Frictional Games. It’s taken many of the important principles of the old-fashioned adventure, and applied them to a 3D, first-person world, with all the lighting fancies and finely balanced physics you could hope for. In other news, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened has taken an old-fashioned adventure, and crammed it into a 3D, first-person world, with, er, some lights, and otherworldly physics, for seemingly no reason. Funny thing, perspective.

Holmes and Watson, played alternately, are investigating the mysterious disappearance of immigrant workers in 19th century London. But the narrative is so disjointed that it’s necessary for Holmes to give Watson an awful comprehension test at the end of a chapter.

More info

GenreAdventure
DescriptionSherlock Holmes: The Awakened has taken an old-fashioned adventure and crammed it into a 3D, first-person world.
Platform"PC"
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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