Good day everyone,
I hope you are all well and having a great start to the weekend, welcome to CryptoGod-1's blog on all things gaming and literature. Today I am going to do a quick post about a gaming series which I have adored for a long time, and is about to release its latest edition, the Sherlock Holmes series. As I am sure we are all well aware, the legendary Sherlock Holmes is a master when it comes to solving mysteries. His attention to detail is second to none, and in this video game series you can solve a variety of crimes from the books by Conan Doyle.
Games in the Series so far
The Mystery of the Mummy
The series first began in September 2002 with Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Mummy for PC. The debut is in the first-person perspective and follows Sherlock Holmes' investigation of a British archaeologist's mansion.
The Case of the Silver Earring
The second game in the series, Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Silver Earring, followed in October 2004, and introduced the third-person perspective. In it, Holmes and Watson investigate the murder of a construction tycoon, Sir Melvyn Bromsby; with his daughter, Lavinia, among the suspects.
The Awakened
The third game in the series, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, was released in November 2006. It is the first game to feature first-person perspective in real-time 3D. The game follows an original plotline as Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate a series of strange disappearances related to the Cthulhu Mythos. A remastered version was released in 2008 offering a third-person perspective in addition to the first-person perspective.
Sherlock Holmes Versus Arsène Lupin (aka Nemesis)
The fourth game in the series, Sherlock Holmes Versus Arsène Lupin, was released in the third quarter of 2007. The game's antagonist is Arsène Lupin, a fictional gentleman thief created by French writer Maurice Leblanc. It begins at Holmes' residence at 221B Baker Street in London, where Holmes and Dr. Watson find a letter from Lupin. The thief states in the letter he will steal five items of great value to England.
Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper
A fifth instalment, Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper, was released in March 2009 and had Sherlock Holmes against the infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper. This is the first game in the series to be released on console, specifically Xbox 360. The game consists of poems, puzzles and tasks that take Holmes from one clue to the next.
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
A sixth instalment, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, was released for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in September 2012. The Testament of Sherlock Holmes is set in the London of 1895, with Holmes presented as the main suspect in a case in which he is unable to prove his innocence. It was developed primarily for consoles, and features a new graphic engine and gameplay mechanics.
Crimes & Punishments
The seventh instalment, Crimes & Punishment, takes place in in London and its suburbs in 1894 and 1895 with gameplay focused on finding the right culprit and making the moral choice of absolving or condemning them, and was released from 2014 to 2019 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
The Devil's Daughter
An eight instalment, The Devil's Daughter, is set in 1896 and follows the events of The Testament of Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock is now taking care of Moriarty's daughter, Katelyn, while keeping her true origin as a secret. The game was released in 2016 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Chapter One
The ninth game, Sherlock Holmes Chapter One, was released in November 2021 for PC, Xbox One, PS4 as well as Xbox Series X and PS5. The game is set as an origin story with Sherlock Holmes, being aged twenty-one, returning to the island of Cordona, where he spent a part of his childhood. The main plot revolves around Holmes slowly regaining memories of his mother's death, while also solving different cases on the island, while being set in an open-world environment.
Latest Edition
On the 28th of July 2022 it was announced by Frogwares that they were in the process of making their new game. Having previously teased it as Project Palianytsia they officially revealed that the next game in the series would be a full from-the-ground-up remake and substantial rewrite of Sherlock Holmes The Awakened. It’s a dark, HP Lovecraft-inspired story infused with the narrative arc of a young Sherlock Holmes taking on his first big case.
While focusing around mysteries is the backbone of Sherlock Holmes, it is as interesting to have one of the greatest minds lose control. The Awakened remake sees a young Sherlock take on his first major case alongside his newly acquainted sidekick, John Watson. What seems like a straightforward case of a missing person quickly spirals into a web of conspiracies by a nefarious cult that worships the eldritch god Cthulhu and is attempting to bring about an ancient prophecy. The game will take the detective duo across 4 locations — Victorian London, a Swiss psych ward, the New Orleans bayous, and the Scottish Highlands — as they try to separate reality from the supernatural while trying to put a stop to these shadowy madmen.
Kickstarter Campaign
An interesting aspect to this game is that the company decided to make a kickstarter campaign to help raise funds. The reason behind this is because they are based in Ukraine, and of course with the war breaking out they had to face new challenges constantly. It meant money they would have marked out to create the game was instead spent partially on ensuring the safety of the team. When the war began they had the majority of the game completed, but wished to add and develop it in more ways. This is what makes the game a complete remake from the ground up, and not just a remaster.
The team rewrote the entire story of the Awakened, featuring a younger Sherlock along with Watson, showing how their bond was created though truly haunting and traumatic events. The graphics have been enhanced, cutscenes redone, a new third-person camera, a full UI overhaul, reworked many of gameplay mechanics, and lots more. They wished to improve the game in as many ways as possible and that is where their Kickstarter campaign came into play.
As of the 5th of September 2022 the team has managed to raise 360% of the original goal. Quite impressive stuff.
Kickstarter Campaign : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frogwares/sherlock-holmes-the-awakened
Development Progress
On the 9th of September the firm did an interview with @wccftech regarding the progress of the game so far, as displayed on their Twitter page. Within this interview they go into detail about how they are managing with developing a game within a warzone and the difficulty of working with less manpower. They are still working hard and paying those who have left their staff to go and assist in the humanitarian and war efforts, which is an excellent gesture to see. On top of all that they reveal a few teasers of the game, such as the ability to play as Watson, and an interesting new feature in terms of puzzles.
The most notable addition is going to be the insanity puzzles. Given the Eldritch, cosmic horror theme, we’re going to try and create playable puzzles that convey the feeling of mental decay.
They also go into more detail about the planned release for February 2023, how the game is somewhat intertwined with another of their releases known as The Sinking City, and whether they will look to make use of Unreal Engine 5 in their future releases. Its a very interesting article and can be found by following the link on their tweet, which I have included below.
I hope you enjoyed the article. If you're a fan of the series I am sure you're as excited as I am for the game to released next year, and if you have never played any of the games before maybe check them out on Steam where you can purchase the collection and even play Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Mummy for free to get a taste of the game. I would highly recommend them.
As a little piece of trivia, Sherlock never actually said "Elementary my dear Watson" in the books, the most he ever said was "Elementary."
Have a great day,
Peace. CryptoGod-1.
Referral links:
Publish0x - https://www.publish0x.com/?a=olejZqrzej
Splinterlands - https://splinterlands.com?ref=rnabc1
Upland - r.upland.me/NQAH
Binance - https://accounts.binance.com/en/register?ref=143611368
NFT Market Sales
OpenSea - https://opensea.io/RNabc
Follow Me :)
Twitter - @RNabc123
