Sherlock Holmes Chapter One

Enjoyable plot and generally fun gameplay

clashed with UE4-SH9, multiple times. always feeling interesting LESS than boring. Few crews, uninformed bets, tiny returns. wow interesting!

10/10 masterpiece

先说缺点，优化不行，锯齿有点大，衣服的物理效果有些不太行，地图有点大而空，真正和案件有关的部分有点少，小厂作品也不能太奢望什么就是了。 刚开始玩蛙社的福尔摩斯系列没多久，但不得不说这一部让我挺惊喜的，相比于之前的作品侧面探讨福尔摩斯本身，第一章转向正面探讨，通过主线剧情和支线案件，一步步拼凑齐一个完整且立体的人物。他坚信正义，有着自己的道德准则，但他也是个童年创伤的孩子，被困在曾经的科尔多纳里，只有自己的想象朋友乔能给自己片刻宁静。 最后和乔告别的时候真的看得我有些难受，告别他，告别自己曾经的阴影，告别记忆的枷锁，夏洛克需要长大，所以最后“木头人乔“永远留在了科尔多纳的花园中，静静地待在那里，代表着过去，也代表着未来。 彩蛋中出现的约翰华生真的让我心里一颤，脸模跟乔一模一样，夏洛克流泪的时候我也要流泪了呜呜呜。

My first attempt at playing through was cut short halfway through. I got a bit bored with the game to be honest. I didn't like that the cases didn't have a clear cut answer that would tell me if my answer was right or wrong like in past games. Then I downloaded The Awakened and was hooked on that one so bad I finished it very quickly. But the ending left me a bit confused. When I looked it up, someone mentioned the ending to Chapter One kind of going along with the ending of The Awakened so to better understand the ending of The Awakened I came back to Chapter One. Finished it through and after finishing I now understand why the choices didn't matter. And it made me wish I knew what I know now at the beginning so that I could view the game differently. But I think that might be part of the point of the game. Which I thought was brilliant. I really like the thought they put into the story of these games. I also like that this game has other mini cases you can work on in the meantime or if you want to come back on to solve them. I haven't done that myself yet cause I really wanted to work on the main story. It's easy for me to get wrapped up in them and I'm always a bit sad when I finish cause I enjoy them so much.

While I usually do like investigative games, I am rather disappointed having to admit that this installment of Sherlock Holmes feels very bland, and lifeless. Not necessarily due to the cases, no. Some of those come with a good premise, execution, as well as twist sometimes. Mainly the characters, NPCs, and the world feel empty. Static characters, especially in terms of animations and liveliness in dialogue, and variety. For a map of these proportions—which I do think is rather big for an "open-world" detective game, though perhaps not as big as the one in Sinking City, for instance—it should not feel this unmoving. Comparatively, it is like feeling lonely without being alone, if you get what I mean. I also do not like how some of the cases connect, and end up as a crucial factor to proceed through the main case. Of course, I paid attention, and the connections are there but I would have preferred to obtain the clues, information, and whatnot some other way. The Goliath case, for instance, felt very dragged out for what... maybe four "crucial" clues?

I can't say why I enjoyed this game so much, but I just did. It helps I got it on extreme sale, which it seems to be pretty often. The combat isn't good or fun and I don't particularly like combat anyway, and yet I found myself playing through it even though it's entirely optional. The decision to make this an open world game is entirely baffling, and that world was disorienting and difficult to navigate. And yet, I found myself falling in love with the different neighborhoods. There was no reason for them to go so hard with the stunning graphics and sheer vibrancy of this city, and yet they did. The diversion from the source material, the reduction of Dr Watson to Sherlock's imaginary conscience, the nickname "Sherry" and the babygirlification of Sherlock himself were all equally baffling decisions. And it all worked for me? I love the story? Somehow? I don't even think it was good, I just...liked it. It's been several weeks since I played through it and I keep thinking about it. I think I paid 5 bucks for this a few months ago, and as I write this review it's once again on sale for $4.49. Absolutely worth every penny. Which doesn't say all the much for a game that's supposedly nearly $50 most of the time, but since this seems to happen fairly often I'm okay with it. Everything about my experience with this game was needlessly bizarre, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Vieles wirkt mit fortschreitender Spielzeit mehr und mehr hanebüchen. Manche Ereignisse innerhalb eines Falls verlaufen ins Leere und wirken künstlich aufgeblasen. Manche Indizien schlussfolgert Sherlock aus dem Nichts oder sind einfach dumm. Beispiel: Der Verdächtige hat dünne Finger. Damit könnte er gut ein Schloss knacken!? Die Ausgänge der Hauptfälle entscheidet man nach eigener Präferenz und nicht ausschließlich anhand von durchdachten unterschiedlichen Beweisen. Beispiel: Beschuldigter A hat Giftpfeile in seinem Besitz und Beschuldigter B auch! Es gibt kein richtig oder falsch, keine Konsequenzen und keine klare Auflösung des Falls. "Habe ich jetzt jemanden unschuldig verhaften lassen?!" - keine Ahnung! Man trifft zwar eine Entscheidung, aber sie ist egal. Die Open World bringt keinen Mehrwert. Ich mag die Sprachausgabe und Watson als Sidekick. Die langsame Entfaltung der Fälle kann neugierig machen, aber auch schnell enttäuschen.

This game so far has been amazing!! The combat is definitely nothing to rave over, but the overall investigative gameplay is great! The story is also pretty compelling and I personally really like the characterization of Sherlock in this game. I plan to move to Awakened after playing this. There's enough going on atmospherically that you really can immerse yourself into that world. I also love that fact they don't hide prejudice within the victorian era, but to allow for more POC characters to be able to have a spotlight nonetheless. Highlighting the struggles of the people there and not erasing them. This is by no means a perfect game in my opinion, but it is 100% worth playing!!

Story was great, it was very bittersweet and I am glad to have played it. The gameplay was okay. I got used to the combat mechanics and wish it had more difficulty after a while (aside from the unlockable handicaps). The investigative parts definitely had some welcome new ways of doing things, like following traces in focus/sketch mode. I was annoyed there were 3 different possible places to read up on some clues albeit I can understand why as it functionally makes sense so this isnt too big of a gripe. Parts of the investigation definitely felt like busywork though. Jon made it bearable. Something definitely still felt missing regarding solving puzzles that were present for Crime and Punishment Loved the music/ambience, i kinda do like the open world and ability to wear different clothing and this having different effects on how others respond to you. The culture clash/etc was nice. Wish they'd let us go in the water... [spoiler] The bond between Sherlock and Jon is handled well and Mycroft is equally well-drawn as cold, manipulative, and still trying to protect Sherlock in his own way as flawed as he is [/spoiler] [spoiler] The game presents Violet as a loving mother consumed by illness, which makes it easy to sympathize. The story may resonate with some who have had similar trauma, though your own experience may be messier than the fiction allows. [/spoiler]