Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened is a Rather Fun Mystery Romp with Some Issues.
Thankfully it's much much better than Chapter One, if significantly shorter.
In 2021 Frogwares released a reboot to their beloved Sherlock Holmes series called Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One. It was an interesting foray into an open world Sherlock game and also included what everyone always wanted in a Sherlock game. Guns. Of course that is sarcasm. I played it earlier this year and enjoyed the story but fucking hated most everything else. The shooting was cumbersome, the open world was annoying to deal with, the fast travel system was trash, the city was filled with Assassins creed like enemy strongholds, and, while the mysteries were interesting, it was often impossible for me to figure out what I needed to do without looking it up. There were multiple times when I was missing a single part of a puzzle to unlock the events of what happened but I had no idea that I was. There was nothing showing that I was missing one and despite looking all over I just couldn't find anything to fix it until I looked it up.
To put it bluntly, it just wasn't good. But the story of Sherlock going back to where he grew up and having to solve some mysteries in that town and then over the course of the game discovering that the Jon that you have been talking to the entire game was actually just in his head and he's schizophrenic was an intriguing premise. I was kinda surprised by that twist, I just figured Jon was gonna die by the end so we could get Watson in the next game. And I guess technically he did die, just by Sherlock putting the hallucination behind him as opposed to this Jon getting actually killed.
Then last year after a successful Kickstarter the sequel to this game was released and it's actually a remake of the original Sherlock game that Frogwares made a decade and a half ago, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. So when it was on sale I decided to just buy it and play it because it couldn't possibly be worse than the absolutely awful Chapter One. Thankfully, it isn't.
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
The Bad
I don't know if it's just me, it could be, but I just have issues finding specific clues. There are occasionally times when I just felt like a dolt because I missed something so obvious but there are other times when I just wish that I don't have to run up to directly in front of the clue to be able to see it. That just sucks and I wish I could run by the clue and be able to see it without having to be right in front of it.
Also, this is something that grows off my prior point and is something I disliked that is a fundamental mechanic of the game and was in Chapter One as well. I don't like having to Pin evidence in order to be able to discover clues. It has lead me to wandering around thinking I have the right evidence pinned but not and being completely confused on what I'm supposed to do or where I'm supposed to go. Eventually I mess with the clues and figure it out but I still don't like the concept. I've already got the puzzle aspect for clues in the mind palace, adding on the pinning factor was just not enjoyable as is the biggest problem I have with the game. I don't like when I have to look up how to complete a mystery. Maybe I'm just bad at it, I dunno, but I still didn't like it.
Finally, I wanted more Lovecraftian Horror stuff. I know it's not a direct Lovecraftian game like Sinking City is but damn, it felt like a lot of promise with not very much payoff. There's so many times when I wish the developers had turned it up to 11, or had added some things to the background that could have added interesting moments. Like when you're in the strange puzzle worlds that Sherlock has to go through, I think adding some more weird shit in there would have been great! Maybe having some red eyes watching you like from the main art on Steam. Or some, honestly any, amount of that kind of those ominous Lovecraft touches. Its possible they wanted to but had issues doing that since where they operate is literally a war zone, but I still wish the game had delved more into that. The game is literally marketed with a Cthulhu like creature on the cover but that creature never appears, feels like such a missed opportunity. I still liked the cult shit, but give me some Lovecraft dammit.
The Good
Okay first off I think the game has some significant QoL improvements from the prior game. Particularly the fast travel and "open world", gone is the open world and instead you have significantly smaller hub worlds for each chapter and the fast travel isn't attached to specific fast travel points, it's just whatever place you discover can be fast traveled too. These are both absolutely amazing changes and instantly made me actually want to play the game as opposed when I played Chapter One where I just felt like I had to drag myself through the game. These choices alone have made the game much more enjoyable. Add on to the fact that you no longer have to go to a place to search through the relevant archives, and that the total amount of clues for a crime scene recreation are actually shown at the top of the screen so you can see if you're missing something even if you don't know where it is and the game has instantly become much more fun to play.
Next, this game has some weird shit in it. Its got dark moments with cult rituals and mind bending moments with some pretty crazy puzzles. I had a lot of fun figuring that stuff out. And I'm a lover of cult stories because I think they're such an interesting reality that so many people every day are a part of. Add on the Lovecraftian nature of the story and I was fucking hooked. I enjoyed every single part of the story and even though it only took me just over 7 hours to beat it, I loved every moment. This is something that I did not like in Chapter One where I frequently felt like I wasn't making consistent progress towards something that was interesting so I'm very glad to have experienced a better Sherlock Holmes game again.
Another, The levels are incredibly varied. We've got London, an Asylum in Switzerland, New Orleans, a more fancy part with a mansion being a key crime scene, a Bayou where you can easily get lost while "driving" a boat around and then discover a ritual site on an island that leads to a cave system underneath, back to London for a bit, then to a lighthouse in Scotland where you again explore a cave system and do some puzzles. Add in the moments where you have to deal with Sherlock hallucinating some pretty weird levels and puzzles and I was kept wondering consistently where we were going to next. I loved it.
The Ending
I don't know if this is how it was in the original but after going through the Lighthouse you end up on top of it and play as Watson to break some crystals. Then as Sherlock you have conversations with the cult leader Rochester who believes the Old One is coming back and he has to welcome him. Rochester makes reference that this has happened before, that the old becomes new and I personally took that as referencing that the game was a Remake which I thought was pretty cool. You, as Sherlock, have to admit that it's all real, that you are afraid of going mad, and then once Rochester jumps off the Lighthouse because his ritual failed due to Watson breaking the crystals, and then Sherlock freaks out saying "I need to see it". A giant seemingly tidal wave is coming for the Lighthouse, Watson tries to get Sherlock inside, then the camera pushes into the Wave where nothing shows up. Then you wake up back in London with Watson typing away and after Sherlock talks all about how rough it is and he's still dealing with awful dreams, Watson fucking drugs him to get him to sleep, at Sherlock’s protest. I think with an opiate. Then Watson tosses his written record of the case into the fire and the credits roll.
I gotta be honest, I wish there had been some eyes or something in the Tidal Wave. If that had happened I would have felt much better about this ending. I also find it nuts that in this iteration fucking Watson is likely what got Sherlock addicted to Opium. I get why Watson did it, the schizophrenic reality of Sherlock’s illness facing him dead on in the face, but sedating is just, not fun. But to be frank, there wasn't a whole lot of medicine to treat schizophrenia back then so sedation was a very very common tool and I'd rather be sedated than be stuck in an asylum for my entire life. I did like how the ending happened just wished there was a bit... more.
Conclusion
The game was fun, I had a good time with it. I loved the weird puzzles, the level design, the fact that it wasn’t an open world and the devs had decided to make significant QoL changes compared to Chapter One. But the missed Lovecraftian opportunities were glaring, the issues with pinning the wrong evidence concealing case clues and leading towards running around a crime scene and not discovering the clue, and ending being a letdown with no red eyes or some acknowledgement that the Old One is real, the game is held back from being truly great.
Overall, I'd say if you're looking for a good Sherlock game with some weird shit in it, and you haven't already played the prior games, this game is a good experience even if it has flaws. And for roughly 7 hours, it's a quick experience that you can blow through in a couple days. Not perfect, not awful, but still enjoyable especially if you're craving something like this. I would recommend getting it on sale though.
Sidenote: I wanted to play The Sinking City by the same Developer but that wasn't possible because Ive got serious Thalassaphobia so if you've got that, don't worry, this game does not explore that aspect of the Lovecraftian mythos.
Meow,
Cat