We reviewed Sherlock Holmes TDD

Driftwood
Wednesday, June 8, 2016 | 7:40 AM
8 comments

GSY Review PC PS4 Xbox One

Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter will be available in a few days on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC and we have been able to complete it in time to give you our opinion about it. Inside, you will find our verdict alongside the +/- section, but we have also prepared some PC and PS4 footage (we'll have Xbox One videos too towards the end of the week). If you are interested in the game, please join us tonight in a new livestream. Because we know you want Blim to be as awake as possible, we'll be live at 9:00 p.m. CEST.
Update: Replays added.

Verdict

Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter confirms Frogwares' talent when it comes to making adventure games, though we wish they had taken more risks to take the series even further. There is a lot more variety this time around and all the cases included (the last one being more personal to Holmes) are very solid. As proven in Crimes & Punishments, gameplay mechanics work like a charm and it's nice to have some form of freedom when interpreting the facts and when comes the time to either condemn or absolve the culprit. Although the 4 cases are all independent from each other, there is a more personal plot involving Holmes which will unfold throughout the adventure and which concludes it in the fifth chapter. The final scene even had us wonder what was going to happen, which made us think deeply before choosing what to say as we felt there was definitely something we could do to influence the ending. We're still not sure if that was the case, but the fact is that it was pretty effective. All in all, this new episode is one we recommend if you like the series and you don't mind it being a bit easy.

On the upside
The 5 cases
Varied gameplay situations
The gameplay mechanics
The deduction system
It's still possible to accuse the wrong suspect
Never frustrating
The OST

On the downside
Still technically behind
A few bugs and (rare) slowdowns on PC
Maybe not challenging enough
No real Watson/Holmes relationship

High quality stream and download

Commented on 2016-06-07 10:24:59

>Still technically behind
What? Previous game was pretty beautiful even now (on PC, at least)

In reply to

KORNdog

Commented on 2016-06-07 10:30:41

while i have enjoyed all of the games in this series, i never feel they're really worth full asking price. be it the performance on consoles, the quality of the visuals and lip syncing or just the general lack of polish. i mean, this is £44.99 on amazon...that's more then i've spent on any PS4 game...i just can't see it being worth that. i'll be sure to check it out later down the road though.

Driftwood

Commented on 2016-06-07 11:08:13 In reply to KainXVIII

Posted by KainXVIII

It's not because it looks nice that it's not technically dated. It's been improved but animations are still very stiff, character models are still way behind what is being done in other titles today, and there are some pop-in issues that shouldn't be there considering the small size of the environments. That being said, I have found the game visually charming most of the time. It's just a shame that it still doesn't look like a current gen game in many respects.

Sdarts

Commented on 2016-06-07 11:15:02 In reply to Driftwood

EuroGamer's review also mentions these things. They say that the game rewards your time, but is unfortunately not very polished (jankiness) and feels dated as in too old-fashioned.

Still, if one can look pass these issues, it can be a very rewarding experience. Though I do agree with KORNdog, it's not worth full retail price and it will be better to wait till it gets half retail price or a little lower.

Commented on 2016-06-07 11:18:26 In reply to Sdarts

Posted by Sdarts

to me they're on the level of that "murdered: soul suspect" game. which launched at around £25 i think. that's seems like a reasonable price for a game they didn't put quite enough effort into themselves while making it.

nepton

Commented on 2016-06-07 13:17:02 In reply to KORNdog

Posted by KORNdog

It's most likely more of a budget thing rather than lack of effort.
These are low budget games.
With that in mind, I actually think the visuals are pretty darn good at times. Especially indoor environments are very detailed and texture quality is often crisp and natural. It would obviously benefit greatly from better lip sync and animation but as I said, I think its a matter of resources more than anything else.

Commented on 2016-06-07 13:32:05 In reply to nepton

Posted by nepton

It's most likely more of a budget thing rather than lack of effort.
These are low budget games.

so why are we paying AAA budget prices for it if they're making budget games, they need to sell them as budget games imo since that's what they are. it's like i don't expect sniper elite 4 to be priced at £45. but they never are. they know how much time and money they've put into those games and sell them for a price that makes sense. for some reason however the devs of sherlock holmes make janky games and think they're worth the same as uncharted 4.