Remakes are often seen by the public as a somewhat lazy solution on the part of the developers. Instead of creating new works we go back to the past, recycling. In the case of FrogswaresHowever, the remake of Sherlock Holmes The Awakened it was a necessity, not an easy choice to raise cash. In the midst of a war, the company needed to continue working, produce something quickly and also with the support of fans, who invested in the Ukrainian company via Kickstarter.
Sherlock Holmes The Awakened is the symbol of the resistance of a team immersed in the nightmares of war that decides not to give in and continue producing the works of entertainment that we all love, transforming their difficulties into a product that can entertain people all over the world. world.
Everything was done in just one year, among other things, an incredible time for a modern game, although this affected the development of the project and led to a series of compromises. Was it good or bad? We talked about it in Review of Sherlock Holmes The Awakened.
17 years after Sherlock Holmes The Awakened
Sherlock Holmes The Awakened is a game originally released in 2006 and later remastered in 2008, with the latter version still available on Steam (so much so that we played it to compare with the remake). After seventeen years Frogwares returns to his work and takes up the central points of the plot, but changes various elements.
First of all, Sherlock Holmes The Awakened stands as sequel to 2021's Sherlock Holmes Chapter One, the open-map adventure set on the fictional island of Cordona. We will therefore not be a mature Holmes like in the original, but we will take on the role of a young Shelly, on her first real case together with Watson. The plot fits into this new narrative line of Frogwares and, in fact, during the adventure there will be references to our investigator's past. These are just a few hints: we would have liked a stronger connection with the previous game, even if it is clear that the developers did not want to make the experience difficult to understand for those who have not played the last adventure.
At the very least, the current Sherlock is a better fit for The Awakened than his 2006/2008 version. Holmes has always been, in all his versions, a little particular, but this latest iteration presents us with a disturbed young man, with a past full of hallucinations and instability, and this has allowed the team to insist more on the background of "Lovecraftian madness." ". , which will take the protagonist to the edge of the cliff. Even on a visual level, Sherlock will be consumed by what he sees, whether real or the result of nightmares, to the point that compared to the original, dream sequences have been introduced in which sinister places are visited, although not especially terrifying. It's difficult to visually create what Lovecraft describes in his stories, since they often rely on what can't be seen, but we would have liked to see more of a supernatural threat in these phases, which instead just ask us some very simple questions. environmental puzzles within generic locations made up of floating rocks and little else.
These sequences may not particularly affect us, but Sherlock will be conditioned by the irrationality of what he sees and only Watson will be able to support it. Another necessary change in this new version of Sherlock Holmes The Awakened is the characterization of Watson. The doctor and (for now aspiring) writer is not only Holmes' shadow, but he is his support. Frogwares also tried to give him more depth, hinting at his past and using his war experiences to justify a small path of personal growth during the adventure. At the same time, however, Frogwares was not able to create a strong sense of friendship between Sherlock and Watson, or at least not as much as it did in Chapter One with childhood friend Jonathan. In fact, the small dialogues typical of Cordona's duo are missing, and the story of The Awakened is based above all on Sherlock's isolation from everything that surrounds him (reality first and foremost), which is in direct contrast with the explicit desire to fortify the bond between the two. Probably some additional scenes designed to deepen the relationship between the two would have helped.
Anyway on a narrative level, new things have ups and downs. The characters are more human and believable, and are not just "the great detective and his partner", although each element is still given little space and is never really explored. The adventure is fun and flows smoothly, but we don't think you'll be particularly impressed by the events of The Awakened.
Investigating after Cordona
Obviously it is not only the narrative side that has been revised compared to the original chapter. The game it is not based in any way on the 2008 one, but is a fusion of all the mechanics presented in the latest Frogwares games.
In each environment we will have a series of clues to collect, with some objects to examine and characters to analyze for the creation of a profile. Regularly, the clues obtained will allow us to recreate crime scenes in the mind of the detective, who can imagine what happened at several key points: it is up to us to select the correct steps. In some cases, to notice certain evidence in the environment or dialogue with some characters it is necessary to select the correct clue from the menu. Again: some found objects need to be further analyzed with a very simple minigame in which you have to do a search in a book by selecting a series of words from lists.
The case can only advance when the appropriate clues are available, which must be added mental palace, which has changed structure slightly, although in essence it is not particularly different from previous iterations. You always have to connect the clues and come up with various solutions, even if in The Awakened there are no choices to make: there is always a solution and you can't frame the wrong person unlike Chapter One.
Overall there is nothing truly new in Sherlock Holmes The Awakened. Frogwares has taken key gameplay elements from previous titles and inserted them into this latest one, so anyone who hasn't appreciated the pace and mechanics of the latest games won't find anything here to change their mind. However, if you are a fan of the saga, even in this case it will not disappoint you.
Now Sherlock Holmes, and Frogwares in general, something needs to change, because the research structure is too simple. You can easily proceed at random, without thinking too much about what's happening: great for those looking for a light experience, a little less so for those who want to occupy their minds. However, we knew that The Awakened, considering the team's situation, would not be the chapter of the revolution, but simply a modern version of an old and beloved game.
However, we can speak positively about a feature of the two previous matches of the Ukrainian team that was not included in this game: the open map. Uninteresting in The Sinking City and absolutely useless in Chapter One, the open world has never been managed well by Frogwares who - due to production needs - had to completely discard the idea of including it in The Awakened. Well, we're happy about it because the game feels more streamlined and quicker, with a series of investigative sequences in areas only rarely interspersed with larger areas to explore for no more than a few minutes. In total it takes no more than eight hours to complete the game. There are some non-mandatory secondary tasks to advance, but even if you want to get all the Trophies/Achievements, just reload the right chapter and play a few sequences.
A darker world
Frogwares tried to push The atmosphere of Sherlock Holmes The Awakened Also changing the settings a bit. Obviously benefiting from much more modern technological tools than those of 2006/2008, the team focused more on rain and lighting effects to create more terrifying scenarios. We will not fall into horror, but at least we will immediately enter the appropriate atmosphere. There have also been clear changes in terms of direction: the team has now favored sudden camera changes and closer points of view to convey a sense of anxiety.
On a purely technical level we are not facing a particularly impressive game, but we are facing a good variety of environments, which are not just dark and rainy places. The frame rate is also maintained. fixed at 60 FPS, with all graphics settings maximized. Chapter One had fluidity issues in open areas and removing them certainly made life easier for the developers this time around.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam Price 39,99 € Holygamerz.com 7.5 Readers (11) 7.9 your voteSherlock Holmes The Awakened is a valid remake of an equally valid game. You may not like the new version of Sherlock, but it's more suited to the adventure type, although we would have preferred a greater push towards Lovecraftian horror, which remains too much in the background even in the more nightmarish sections. It is not the right chapter if you are looking for innovation, in any case, since at a playable level it incorporates the same mechanics as the most recent Frogwares games. We recommend the game to fans, but anyone who wasn't impressed with Chapter One or The Sinking City is unlikely to change their opinion of The Awakened.
PRO
- Young Sherlock is the right character for this adventure
- No open map, for a more fluid and intense game
AGAINST
- We would have preferred a greater push toward terror.
- The creation of the friendship between Sherlock and Watson could have been more in-depth
- Always the same mechanics, the time has come for a change
