Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened is a video game that consists of 2 releases

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Sherlock Holmes comes across his strangest case yet, when a kidnapping leads him to bloody rituals and cultists set upon reawakening Cthulhu.

Overview

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened is an adventure sequel to 2004's Sherlock Holmes: Secret of the Silver Earring. It was released on the PC late in 2006, and was the first game in the series by developer Frogwares to feature supernatural elements in the storyline. In The Awakened, Sherlock Holmes and his companion, Dr. Watson, look into a disappearance of a Maori manservant--but the case proves to be one of a kind when they encounter bloody rituals and powerful cultists who wish to awaken Cthulhu. Both Secret of the Silver Earring and 2002 predecessor The Mystery of the Mummy had more traditional cases that were familiar to Sherlock Holmes fans.

Gameplay

Besides the storyline, The Awakened was also notable when compared to Secret of the Silver Earring due to the way the game was played. While its predecessor was played in a third-person perspective, The Awakened uses a first-person perspective, with players able to freely move, not dissimilar to a first-person shooter. The mouse is used to look around, while mouse clicks activate hotspots and inspect specific items--retaining the point-and-click aspect commonly found in traditional adventure games. In addition, occasional questions are put forward to the player, who must then solve and type the answer before progressing.

Use the magnifying glass to search for clues.

Holmes also has an array of tools to help him hunt for clues. For example, he has a magnifying glass that can be used to examine certain areas with greater detail. Doing so when the case requires it uncovers new leads and progresses the storyline. Items can be examined further back at Holmes' apartment, where he has a mini-laboratory that allows players to perform chemical tests and use a microscope, among other things. Given that there is quite a bit of travelling involved in The Awakened (though the story starts in London, Holmes and Watson end up travelling abroad, including Switzerland, New Orleans, and Scotland), the game handily features a fast-travel map, too.

Story

On September 6, 1894, Sherlock Holmes stares out of his window, bored that he has no case to solve that is worthy of his talents. It just so happens, then, that a young Maori manservant, who works for Captain Stenwick, has disappeared. Holmes quickly deduces not only that the boy has been kidnapped, but also that two men--one significantly larger than the other--were responsible. A few leads point to the docks by the Thames, and there, he and Watson learn that there have been other very similar kidnappings going on. Further investigation leads them to an abandoned temple, where inside is a sacrificial altar occupied by a bloody and tortured corpse with serpents slithering out in a gruesome manner. They also find opium with morphine, and this discovery steers them to Switzerland, after finding a crate labelled "Black Edelweiss Institute".

The cultists.

The Black Edelweiss Institute turns out to be a Swiss mental asylum, and Holmes and Watson hatch a little plan to find out more about the place. Donning a costume and pretending to be someone else, Holmes gets himself admitted into the asylum. After escaping from his cell, he finds further proof of drug trafficking, and that Dr. Gygax is involved. It turns out not only has he been dangerous experiments on powerless victims in the asylum, but also that he is part of a cult awaiting the arrival of the 'One'. To escape from Gygax and the asylum, Holmes uses Moriarty as a distraction (who is a patient in weak condition, having survived the fall of Reichenbach).

Their next stop is New Orleans (which was mentioned in a telegram to Gygax), where Holmes and Watson hear about Davy, a lad who has not been seen for five days. They find him, though mute due to psychological trauma. After Watson treats him, Davy writes on a chalkboard a series of numbers, which turn out to be co-ordinates pointing to a lighthouse on a Scottish coastline. There, Holmes and Watson have a final confrontation with the Cthulhu-following cultists and leader Lord Rochester, whose fortune finances the sect.

Reception

The Awakened received mixed reviews upon release, but did garner favourable reviews from some of the major outlets, with IGN giving the game an 8.1 out of 10, praising it for its "smart puzzles" and "sophisticated story". GameSpot followed suit and awarded it an 8.3, calling The Awakened a "rip-roaring pulp adventure in its own right". However, it also received a few distinctly average scores. Eurogamer, which gave it a 6 out of 10, expressed that it felt that the first-person perspective--though detailed and atmospheric--hindered the game, with an "over-reliance on pixel-hunting for clues". Thunderbolt Games shared similar sentiments and went further by criticising the puzzles, calling a fair share of them "duds", citing that "picking locks and comparing glyphs have been seen countless times, even outside of the adventure genre", before giving it a five.

General Information Edit

Game Name	Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened
Platform(s)	PC
Publisher(s)	Frogster Interactive Pictures AG
Developer(s)	Frogwares Game Development Studio
Genres	Add a new genre Adventure
Themes	Add a new theme Crime
Original US Release	Sept. 7, 2007 need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	know the real date?
Aliases