Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is a single-player open-world action-adventure game, the ninth installment in the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series of games developed by Ukrainian studio Frogwares. It is officially released on November 16, 2021 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series (then in 2022 on PS4 and Xbox One), a little over five years after The Devil's Daughter, from which it takes the basics. On the other hand, for once, the game does not take place in London, or even in England, but on a fictional island in the Mediterranean: Cordona, where Sherlock spent his childhood. The temporality is also different because Sherlock was then only twenty years old and not yet the famous detective and master of deduction with the world fame that we know. The story stages what is considered to be his first investigation: the death of his mother, in mysterious circumstances (a story that is not based on the work of Arthur Conan Doyle). Sherlock is therefore not accompanied by Doctor Watson, but by a mysterious friend he met in London, also called Jon.
The difficulty is customizable in the game menu for a more immersive investigation experience. By disabling all assists, you will not see icons for interacting with characters and objects, nor icons marking evidence in the notebook (Test Log tab shown below). There will also be no notification when the investigation progresses or new evidence and clues are obtained, and decisions will have to be made more quickly in certain scenes. To be able to approach the iconography of the game and all its aspects, I have chosen the standard difficulty here.
From the menu, the soundtrack sticks perfectly to the detective thriller theme with music that resembles that of the original soundtrack of the films, composed by Hans Zimmer, as well as that of the BBC series. By launching a new game, we arrive on the island of Cordona, more exactly at the Palazzo del Lusso, for a first level which acts as an introduction/tutorial: for the moment, the actions, dialogue choices, and deductions are not drastically time-bound and errors are allowed. Help messages introduce the gameplay and the first mechanics of the game.
The orders are few; movements and interaction mainly.
The game is in objective view, like the previous games, and you just have to direct the camera towards a nearby element (character or object) to be able to interact with it. Sherlock's hotel room being prepared, we take a walk familiarizing ourselves with the gameplay, and join Jon at the restaurant. It is possible to interact with the various NPCs present and, above all, to question them on an item previously pinned in the business book. A concentration mode allows you to quickly profile a character, showing different characteristics (nationality, profession, behavior or disposition towards Sherlock, etc.) but also to listen carefully to conversations:
Visual identification, fast and efficient.
Identification of relevant and useful information heard.
Likewise, features of objects are revealed in seconds, and inferences can even be made based on what is absent or missing. At this level, the game is really faithful to the character of the original work, as well as to the various more contemporary adaptations. Finally, this mode also allows you to reconstruct events from the past by following different tracks or memories in their chronological order. So we're going to have to identify some people and tell them about the right element to move the story forward and put the pieces of the puzzle back together. Quickly, we find ourselves in a real investigation, with clues becoming evidence, suspects, testimonies, all this leading to the accusation of one or more culprits. To do this, we have different "tools" accessible from the game menu in their respective tabs:
- Palais mental
- business notebook
- Jon's journal
- Map
- Wardrobe
We find a "mental palace" tab, a real memorization technique based on visualization that has existed since Antiquity. The goal is to "store" information in a place that everyone can create mentally. Visualizing this space, also associating this information with an emotional or sensory aspect, makes it easier to memorize it in the long term. In the game, we find the main evidence of the investigation, and can link them together to draw different conclusions. The possibilities will therefore be quite numerous and the game, wanting to put us in the shoes of a real investigator, will not confirm that the accused person is the right one, nor even that the right choice has been made (because it will also be possible to helping a person presumed guilty, for various moral reasons).
The main investigation tool of the game, the quest log in other words. Here, we find the main quest and the side quests, both active and archived, with the various clues and evidence found for each. Each evidence includes a summary text that is updated according to the player's choices and the progress of the investigation. Some are also marked with red icons that suggest the actions to be taken.
The business notebook, or quest journal.
Detailed iconography with associated actions.
Sherlock's mysterious friend notes a lot of information in his diary, and many items are also listed in this tab throughout the game, with for example letters, memories, photos taken with the camera or even objects to collect found, and with his own point of view on certain facts as well as on Sherlock (his relationship with the latter will evolve over the course of the game according to the decisions that will be made during the investigations).
Jon keeps his own diary, and lists various secondary information.
The map is quite large and demonstrates the whole open world aspect of the game; if the districts and points of interest are marked (some only after having been discovered), for the quests, it will be necessary to read the evidence in the business book to understand, or deduce, where to go and what to do. Often, we will only have as an indication a district, or even a street name, which we will have to start by looking for on the map (as in the “Advice Detective” games). It is nevertheless possible to place markers in order to make your own legend. Certain events will appear in real time on the map, such as bandit hideouts (with challenges and rewards).
The map of the island of Cordona with the points of interest discovered.
The associated game help in the options.
This tab contains the different outfits and accessories allowing Sherlock to disguise himself. Throughout the adventure, we will have to adapt to all situations, and some NPCs will only agree to talk to us or let us access a place by wearing the appropriate outfit, or by pretending to be someone different. 'other. You will then have to go to the clothing store and try on different looks (while remaining a logical minimum in relation to the objective...). The gauges on the right represent the disposition of a particular social group or profession towards Sherlock according to his appearance.
Outfits, accessories, make-up…
It is possible to reproduce complete sets.
The first missions therefore introduce the different mechanics of the game, with in particular the combat system a little later, during the police test which will allow you to officially become a crime scene consultant. Being on the ground, you will have to be ready to defend yourself and apprehend certain suspects yourself. We then train in different scenarios, passing by the shooting range of the police. Entering aiming mode, time slows down for a short time, highlighting the weak points of an enemy, and also the elements of the environment that we can use to our advantage (reminiscent of certain scenes from the films "Sherlock Holmes "). To handcuff an enemy (action rewarded throughout the game), you will have to start by neutralizing him, taking care not to kill him, which would have serious consequences.
In blue, the armor of the enemies, in yellow, their weak points and the elements of the environment.
Then comes a short “QTE” sequence where you have to quickly press certain keys on the keyboard within a given time. In any case, physical strength is not at the center of the game, the emphasis being on intellect (nor will there be any question of hitting anyone or shooting everywhere). The quests will then accumulate, intertwine, and the objectives will become more and more numerous and varied, making the game less and less linear and guided. Added to this are side quests, hidden objects to find, and even customization of the Holmes mansion with pieces of furniture. At any time, it is possible (and often necessary) to consult the archives at the police station, with a fairly practical system simulating a real search:
“Select one evidence and three search criteria. »
Luckily, there are fast travel points on the island, as travel is only on foot. However, it will be necessary to walk the streets of the island to unlock them, and to chat with anyone who may have information. At times, certain characters on our path react to our passage, indirectly indicating that they can provide us with information. The voices of the characters are also a strong point of the game, with in particular different English accents, vocabularies, and registers, depending on the characters (the French version not being available during this test). The sounds and sound effects are of high quality and are quite realistic in general, both in terms of the environment and the activity in town.
The game is quite immersive thanks to the points mentioned above and the realism of the investigation methods, but also thanks to the graphics, with really attractive landscapes, different environments depending on the area, and activity on the island, reinforcing the open world dimension. Developed with the Unreal Engine 4, the game is quite demanding if you increase the quality of the graphics, although sometimes necessary to discern details (for my part, the textures had to be in Ultra otherwise most of them were not even not charged, problem reported to the technical team). In places where the environment is dense, many FPS drops are to be expected for configurations below the recommended one (i5-8400 / Ryzen 5 3600 and GTX 1070 8 GB / Radeon RX 5600 XT). The faces and facial expressions could nevertheless have been more detailed for even more immersion, especially during the dialogues, especially since the micro-expressions are relatively revealing and therefore important to analyze. A few bugs have also been identified, particularly in terms of physics, but fixes will obviously be applied later.
Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is therefore a fairly large open world with an immersive atmosphere and an original theme thanks to the place and time represented. Prequel to the other games in the series, it will also be necessary here to show reflection, logic, and even creativity to solve the various investigations in the skin of the young Sherlock. Getting started is quick and simple, the different mechanics being introduced gradually and well explained, and the help sheets in the game menu being perfectly clear and detailed. Everything is coherent and corresponds to the theme, the universe, and the character. The main story is made up of 5 major cases for a duration of approximately 12 to 15 hours of play, as well as numerous side quests, relating both to the protagonist's past and to the island and its secrets (more than 40 hours to finish the game entirely). Even knowing the main lines of the story, the many possibilities of conclusions allow a certain replayability of the game. Finally, several DLCs are already planned, the first being available with the release of the game.
- Steam / Epic Games (Test done on PC)
- PlayStation
- Xbox
