Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments Preview

By Marcus Jones Posted on July 21, 2014

Sherlock Holmes is eponymous with the detective story, what with being the greatest detective of them all. Frogwares upcoming Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments, seeks to continue building upon the mythos of Sherlock.

Frogwares is no stranger to Sherlock. Their Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series is long running, and while creepy Watson does not make a return in the upcoming title, Frogwares knows their stuff. Crimes & Punishments will be broken into seven distinct cases, each with their own set of characters and guilty parties. For each case, you take on the role of Sherlock and use every available asset of the greatest detective in history to solve the case.And Sherlock comes with some excellent abilities. The game is similar in many aspects to previous titles; you will hunt for clues at crime scenes, interview suspicious people or witnesses alike, and eventually stumble upon the truth by connecting all of the dots. Players will have the ability to disguise Sherlock, helping him to gain access and information he would otherwise not receive. There are also some Quick Time Events (QTEs) and more action-packed instances throughout the game, spicing up gameplay from just a standard “go here, interview and search for clues, now go here.” There is also an element of puzzle solving, where players will take clues they’ve found and try to decipher their meaning through lab tests and other means. There’s also the “Sherlock Vision,” granting you the ability to see clues and hidden things in plain sight. One example shown had Sherlock being able to spot a key hidden in a pool of blood that was completely overlooked by the police.

It’s pretty straightforward, right? However, there’s more to this particular Sherlock game, as this game features the Deduction Board. The Deduction Board is used to help piece together the clues found throughout a case, working towards the obvious conclusion. This is where it gets tricky – you’ll have the ability to condemn or absolve suspects in cases based on your findings. In turn, you’ll be able to either condemn the actual criminal, or potentially put an innocent person in Scotland Yard. This leads to multiple endings for each particular case, between six to ten based on choices you make during gameplay.

I’ve never had a chance to play any of the games, and I can safely say I’m looking forward to this particular title. And we’re happy to confirm players will once again be able to control Sherlocks’ faithful companion, Toby.

The game hits store shelves on September 4th, 2014, for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.