Lately the character of Sherlock Holmes has found itself amidst
a considerable resurgence, helped largely by the BBC series starring Benedict
Cumberbatch and the better (in my opinion) American series featuring Jonny Lee
Miller in the titular role, the consulting detective himself has been portrayed
in a variety of media for over 129 years now and this latest venture for PS4,
Xbox One, & PC finds our gallant investigator initially at a loose end
until a small boy comes to him requesting that he help locate his missing
father. Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter places us in Victorian
Era London at 221b Baker Street where Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson are
beginning their new investigation, during which Sherlock’s adopted daughter
Kate inadvertently arrives back from boarding school and takes up residence
with the two consultants, throwing a spanner into the works as our duo try to
protect her from the dark truth surrounding her family, whilst uncovering a
mystery filled with bizarre occult happenings and unexpected adventure. Anyone who has played any in the Adventures of Sherlock
Holmes series will be familiar with the core of the gameplay in this title, you’re
given several interlinked mysteries to solve where you’ll talk to witnesses,
search areas for clues and piece together your deductions in order to find the
right culprits and solve the case.
This time however, developer Frogwares is taking the game
open-world as 1890s London is yours to explore, to a degree, heading out of
your Baker Street home you can listen in on conversations being had in the
local pub, or take control of a street urchin in Holmes’ employ as you
stealthily pursue a suspicious character down grubby alleys or across narrow
rooftops, you’ll still find yourself mostly quick travelling between locations
once they appear on your map but this time you’re able to consult your notebook
during the journey, checking character dialogue or reading your notes that may
help shed light on new information or suspects. The shear amount you’ll find yourself doing along the way is
surprising, taking control of Sherlock’s dog Toby to sniff out the location of
a hidden item, safe-cracking, enjoying a game of bowls, or attempting to
resuscitate a member of the public injured in a carriage crash are just a
couple of neat additions that feature during your time as the world's greatest detective. Think of the game as Assassin’s Creed Syndicate but instead
of being the assassins you’re the guy who arrives at the scene moments later to
work out what in the world has happened to everyone and why, though they may
have the same setting that’s really were the similarities end, sadly there is
nowhere near the same kind of polish as there is in the Assassin’s Creed
series. Graphical glitches are occasional with some screen-tearing
during character movement, and seeing
as this was a noticeable problem in previous title, “Crimes and Punishments”
you’d have thought this would’ve been rectified, but as I’m not a game
developer myself I don’t know how difficult it is to solve something like that.
Another strange issue I found was whilst going after the
scent of a hidden firearm as Toby the Basset Hound, following the trail lead me
out of an apartment, along a hallway and down some stairs, but as Toby
traversed the stairs there was a weird disconnect as if he was no longer
physically there and seemed to just tilt and glide down the stairs until he
reached the bottom, that really threw me, I trust that it can’t be easy to
animate a dog walking at the best of times and even harder to animate one
navigating some stairs, but if you can’t do it why leave it in the game when it
clearly looks weird? Or at the very least force the camera into first person mode
during that sequence so it doesn’t notice. Speaking of the camera, it’s not Super Mario 64 levels of
bad, but a couple of moments I’d find that it would suddenly snap to a
different angle, easily corrected but terribly jarring when I was trying to
look for clues in a cramped room only for my view to change without warning. My only other real problem with this title is the facial
animations, the graphics are great and some of the best this series has seen,
but everybody always seems to look so emotionless, mostly blank expressions with
only the slightest of movement being seen in their eyebrows to help convey
everything from anger to happiness, luckily the voice-acting is as good as ever
and helps detract from any lack of visual personality. The relationship between Holmes and Watson is enjoyable to
watch and seeing the duo bounce off each other during the course of their
investigation is almost as good as anything seen on TV or in the cinema, the
introduction of Holmes’ adopted daughter “Kate” also shows a new side to the
character as he tries to balance his consulting work and being a father. The game moves from quiet investigative segments to action
sequence to moments of humour and back again really well, apart from the
loading times that can sometimes be a little long, there is never a moment when
the game comes across as dull, each of the cases and the stories told are
unique and interesting and make for some of the best tales from 221b Baker
Street I’ve experienced. Will Kate discover the dark secret that her father and his
colleague are keeping? And who is their charming yet mysterious new neighbour?
These are just the tip of the iceberg of questions asked as you work your way
through the five compelling investigations presented in this title. There’s a whole host of elements in Sherlock Holmes: The
Devil's Daughter that remind me of other titles, its part Assassin's Creed
Syndicate, part L.A. Noire, and part Uncharted, combining everything together
in an engaging narrative that not only grounds itself with logic and reason but
explores the supernatural and bizarre occult practices, culminating in
differing endings depending on how well you perform as literature’s most illustrious consulting
detective.
The game isn’t without its faults but you won’t
find anything quite like it on this current generation of systems, elementary
it is not.
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter is out now on PC, PS4 & Xbox One