It's been nearly 5 years since Frogwares made a Sherlock Holmes game, which means we haven't used our mind palaces to solve a mystery in quite some time. Thankfully, after their messy detour into the world of Cthulhu, they're about to grace us with another janky yet enjoyable romp down the streets of Victorian England.
However, this particular Sherlock Holmes game is shaping up to be very different. Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is set to be a prequel starring a much younger version of everyone's favorite public domain detective. If that sounds like your cup of tea, a new trailer has dropped that shows off the skills of the baby-faced Mr. Holmes.
Perhaps the thing you'll notice right off the bat with this trailer is that Frogwares has gone out of their way to make this Holmes as sexy as possible. He's spry, dashing, youthful, and prone to wearing fine vests and ties rather than his iconic deerstalker cap (although there's no doubt that he'll probably pop that on by the end of this game.) The story involves Sherlock - or Sherry as he's called here - as he arrives to solve the murder of his mother. He is then pulled into a series of other mysteries involving a cavalcade of British baddies wearing stylish hats.
As for gameplay, this is looking like a more action-packed Sherlock Holmes game than usual. There are several scenes of the young detective engaging in hand-to-hand combat and firing his pistol at enemies. There's even a part where he does a dodge roll into a punch, which was pretty snazzy. If this plays as well as it looks this might be one of the most fun games Frogwares has ever made.
There's also a section of the trailer that shows Sherlock wearing various disguises like some kind of 19th Century Agent 47. It remains to be seen how that will come into play, but hopefully, that will lead to some amusing interactions with NPCs as you try to bluff your way into getting some answers.
Frogwares has been having a little trouble as of late due to the controversy surrounding The Sinking City. They've been mired in legal issues with the game's publisher Nacon over a lack of royalties. Then, Nacon ported the game to Steam, which led to a DMCA takedown from Frogwares. It's been a real mess over a game that's just ok at best. So here's hoping a similar situation doesn't arise over Sherlock Holmes Chapter One.
Going by this trailer, this could wind up being an intriguing take on the detective's origins and could be a standout game in 2021. We'll see how it turns out when it releases on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5 sometime later this year.
Source: VG24/7