As somebody who barely knew anything about the Holmes stories (mostly knew about this from whenever Detective Conan references it), the best way I can summarize Chapter One is that it exceeded my expectations in the areas that mattered the most, and surprised me in ways I didn't expect. It's been some time since a game grabbed me so hard that I finished it in two long sittings.
I have to admit, the premise of the story didn't quite gel with me at the start. I guess it is interesting that this young deduction freak happens to have the schizophrenic feat of a fully developed imaginary friend that teleports around every time you're looking away. But why should I care about this blunt, misogynistic asshole? I think the magic of the story truly materializes itself when you realize how deep it goes to deconstruct Sherlock as a person. While his journey to open up memories locked away is a more personal affair, the cases he faces along the way thrust the player to partake in this exercise with him. In that sense, the story has succeeded in developing this gauntlet of self-reflection. Getting all the information is one thing. But how do we perceive the truth and the lies? What is objectivity in the view of subjective beings? The game has provided not only the necessary challenges to indulge in this first-person train of thought, but also pulls the spotlight back to us, through Sherlock's main story. I do think that Sherlock's dialogues with Vogel can be too blunt for many people; even I felt this way sometimes. But I think it served its purpose quite well. Overall, the main story is a thoughtful and meaningful endeavor, clearly written with love and care. It's enough to make me almost shed a tear at the end, with how Sherlock wraps this chapter up.
As for its moment-to-moment gameplay, there are a lot of blemishes that can get in the way of enjoyment, but there's also a handful of interesting design decisions; ones that don't necessarily conform with modern gaming sensibilities, which provide a more unique personality to the game.
One example is the game never marking the next objective on the map for you. It instead gives you the address to the location, and you have to open the map and look for it yourself. It's not exactly hard to do, but it's enough to make you feel more involved in this open world. The world itself is mostly set dressing, in a similar way to how Mafia 1 and 2's open world only serves their respective stories, rather than providing the players with the typical game-y activities, and I think most people won't like this angle, but this decision personally speaks to me, even if its nowhere near as well done as those games.
Another example is the combat system. There are not many combat scenarios in the game at all, especially if you just focus on the main story. But they are quite interesting because it's mostly about shooting your gun at the enemies' weak points, so they become stunned and are receptive to a QTE knockout. It is repetitive, and the combat never gets deeper than what I've said. Not to mention the lackluster feel of the overall controls. But it's a somewhat refreshing take on combat that I still enjoy, albeit mostly because of the restrained implementation.
I also like to take a moment to appreciate the game's setting. it's cool to see this particular time and space: the British subjugating the Ottoman populace's idyllic island, trying to keep its far-reaching conquest under control. In these conditions, any injustice can be amplified, and it's great that the game manages to convey this through gameplay with its disguises system. You can blend in with 6 particular groups of people: Nobles, Cordona locals, Police, Military, Workers, and Hobo/Criminals. You can rent/buy outfits and accessories in clothing stores to fit whatever situation you need, whether it's to disguise as a specific person, or just to blend in so you can ask questions without getting rudely dismissed: the class divide is to blame. It's a simple but effective system that also adds further reason to the game's side activities since you need credits to buy/rent these.
Now let's talk about the rougher parts of the game. The game is simply technically mediocre: pop-ins and framerate stutters frequently occur, especially when you're running at max speed across the map. Not to mention the limited budget of the production value and graphics. Then, not all the voice acting performances are good, some of them are quite distracting in fact. Selecting which objects to examine can be a bit annoying sometimes, as the reticule is a bit finicky in deciding whether your cursor is placed in the right place or not. And in the last 3-4 hours of my playthrough, the game suddenly skips the last second of every sentence spoken. It's quite bizarre and anxiety-inducing. These are not ignorable problems, but it's not too damning overall.
I'm glad that I bought this game (as of the time of this review it's 80% off on the PlayStation store), and my only regret is that I didn't buy it sooner or at full price. I'll definitely try Frogwares' other games sooner or later.
I have to admit, the premise of the story didn't quite gel with me at the start. I guess it is interesting that this young deduction freak happens to have the schizophrenic feat of a fully developed imaginary friend that teleports around every time you're looking away. But why should I care about this blunt, misogynistic asshole? I think the magic of the story truly materializes itself when you realize how deep it goes to deconstruct Sherlock as a person. While his journey to open up memories locked away is a more personal affair, the cases he faces along the way thrust the player to partake in this exercise with him. In that sense, the story has succeeded in developing this gauntlet of self-reflection. Getting all the information is one thing. But how do we perceive the truth and the lies? What is objectivity in the view of subjective beings? The game has provided not only the necessary challenges to indulge in this first-person train of thought, but also pulls the spotlight back to us, through Sherlock's main story. I do think that Sherlock's dialogues with Vogel can be too blunt for many people; even I felt this way sometimes. But I think it served its purpose quite well. Overall, the main story is a thoughtful and meaningful endeavor, clearly written with love and care. It's enough to make me almost shed a tear at the end, with how Sherlock wraps this chapter up.
As for its moment-to-moment gameplay, there are a lot of blemishes that can get in the way of enjoyment, but there's also a handful of interesting design decisions; ones that don't necessarily conform with modern gaming sensibilities, which provide a more unique personality to the game.
One example is the game never marking the next objective on the map for you. It instead gives you the address to the location, and you have to open the map and look for it yourself. It's not exactly hard to do, but it's enough to make you feel more involved in this open world. The world itself is mostly set dressing, in a similar way to how Mafia 1 and 2's open world only serves their respective stories, rather than providing the players with the typical game-y activities, and I think most people won't like this angle, but this decision personally speaks to me, even if its nowhere near as well done as those games.
Another example is the combat system. There are not many combat scenarios in the game at all, especially if you just focus on the main story. But they are quite interesting because it's mostly about shooting your gun at the enemies' weak points, so they become stunned and are receptive to a QTE knockout. It is repetitive, and the combat never gets deeper than what I've said. Not to mention the lackluster feel of the overall controls. But it's a somewhat refreshing take on combat that I still enjoy, albeit mostly because of the restrained implementation.
I also like to take a moment to appreciate the game's setting. it's cool to see this particular time and space: the British subjugating the Ottoman populace's idyllic island, trying to keep its far-reaching conquest under control. In these conditions, any injustice can be amplified, and it's great that the game manages to convey this through gameplay with its disguises system. You can blend in with 6 particular groups of people: Nobles, Cordona locals, Police, Military, Workers, and Hobo/Criminals. You can rent/buy outfits and accessories in clothing stores to fit whatever situation you need, whether it's to disguise as a specific person, or just to blend in so you can ask questions without getting rudely dismissed: the class divide is to blame. It's a simple but effective system that also adds further reason to the game's side activities since you need credits to buy/rent these.
Now let's talk about the rougher parts of the game. The game is simply technically mediocre: pop-ins and framerate stutters frequently occur, especially when you're running at max speed across the map. Not to mention the limited budget of the production value and graphics. Then, not all the voice acting performances are good, some of them are quite distracting in fact. Selecting which objects to examine can be a bit annoying sometimes, as the reticule is a bit finicky in deciding whether your cursor is placed in the right place or not. And in the last 3-4 hours of my playthrough, the game suddenly skips the last second of every sentence spoken. It's quite bizarre and anxiety-inducing. These are not ignorable problems, but it's not too damning overall.
I'm glad that I bought this game (as of the time of this review it's 80% off on the PlayStation store), and my only regret is that I didn't buy it sooner or at full price. I'll definitely try Frogwares' other games sooner or later.