The Testament of Sherlock Holmes is essentially more of the same in the long line of Frogwares SH games. Spiritually though, it represents more than it first seems. Where the prior entries are clumsy but entertaining eurojank fan fiction, Testament contains within it the first clumsy steps of this series towards something greater. Here for the first time, the seeds of ambition are apparent. Just not very apparent.
The formula is almost identical. You alternate between playing as the titular sleuth and his loyal companion Watson, completing light point & click object based challenges interspersed with more traditional, isolated puzzles. Occasionally, in fact, far too infrequently, you're given some actual detective work. These deduction puzzles have always been the highlight of the early Frogwares Holmes games, and while Testament contains the least number of them so far (and probably the easiest ones), they play a lot smoother than before. The game is probably the easiest Sherlock game so far in general, the only occasions I looked up a walkthrough being because I'd missed some obscure UI element rather than anything to do with the content of the puzzles.
At the same time as the difficulty has been downplayed, the story has been streamlined too. The stakes are higher, familiar faces return, Sherlock is more of a dick than ever and in general it feels strangely close to the Guy Ritchie and RDJ Sherlock film released just a few years prior. It's not all action and explosions, not by a long shot, but the narrative feels more cinematic in a few ways. There's a strange in-media-res narrative device bookending the game, which serves little purpose other than to allow Frogwares the opportunity to crowbar in a nonsense twist at the end of the game and the cutscenes are more frequent than ever.
Testament's engine is creakier than ever, with the visuals barely improved from the Awakened six years prior. This only contributes to the sense of this game existing as a sort of swansong for this quadrilogy, or maybe more of a dying gasp. There's a sensation throughout that Frogwares can't wait to move on, to truly move the series forward in an interesting direction and that Testament exists only to tide the fanbase over till they could truly revolutionise their series in Crimes and Punishments. Does that make Testament a bad game? No, but it's not the series' best or most interesting. At the end of the day, Testament is one of the most fascinating things there is: A filler episode with too much ambition.
The formula is almost identical. You alternate between playing as the titular sleuth and his loyal companion Watson, completing light point & click object based challenges interspersed with more traditional, isolated puzzles. Occasionally, in fact, far too infrequently, you're given some actual detective work. These deduction puzzles have always been the highlight of the early Frogwares Holmes games, and while Testament contains the least number of them so far (and probably the easiest ones), they play a lot smoother than before. The game is probably the easiest Sherlock game so far in general, the only occasions I looked up a walkthrough being because I'd missed some obscure UI element rather than anything to do with the content of the puzzles.
At the same time as the difficulty has been downplayed, the story has been streamlined too. The stakes are higher, familiar faces return, Sherlock is more of a dick than ever and in general it feels strangely close to the Guy Ritchie and RDJ Sherlock film released just a few years prior. It's not all action and explosions, not by a long shot, but the narrative feels more cinematic in a few ways. There's a strange in-media-res narrative device bookending the game, which serves little purpose other than to allow Frogwares the opportunity to crowbar in a nonsense twist at the end of the game and the cutscenes are more frequent than ever.
Testament's engine is creakier than ever, with the visuals barely improved from the Awakened six years prior. This only contributes to the sense of this game existing as a sort of swansong for this quadrilogy, or maybe more of a dying gasp. There's a sensation throughout that Frogwares can't wait to move on, to truly move the series forward in an interesting direction and that Testament exists only to tide the fanbase over till they could truly revolutionise their series in Crimes and Punishments. Does that make Testament a bad game? No, but it's not the series' best or most interesting. At the end of the day, Testament is one of the most fascinating things there is: A filler episode with too much ambition.