Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter is the 8th Sherlock Holmes game from Frogwares. They’ve got a real lock on the franchise and generally know how to make a decent puzzler and mystery solver.
Crimes and Punishment was their most successful iteration to date, so this follow-up has plenty big shoes to fill. The question is…does it?
Check out the video below for our full analysis and review or read the notes in brief below to get some written impressions of the game.
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter Byte Size
- This is the eighth Sherlock Holmes game from Frogwares. It’s not a direct sequel to Crimes & Punishment but there are references
- It’s similar in style in that there are 3-5 different outcomes per case and you can choose to either absolve or condemn a perp for their crimes.
- The game now has wider open spaces. You can actually walk outside your flat in 221B Baker Street, walk around the lobby area, visit neighbours, head out onto the street and buy a paper, talk to strangers, and even pick up a horse and cart.
- Spaces are rife for exploration and you can even pick up clues by walking around outside in addition to visiting set locations.
- Sherlock now has a daughter! Or does he? This is the underlying story for the game and while it doesn’t appear to connect the cases, it can have an impact on them. Sherlock has to make choices as to what type of parent he plans to be. Is he open to her trying things, is he compassionate, or will he be stern? That’s entirely up to you. He even reads a Practical Motherhood and Parentcraft book while travelling between destinations.
- She also has the most annoying voice I’ve heard for a voice actor to date!
- There is a Normal and Hard difficulty, more specifically for puzzle-solving. Bare in mind, the puzzles are already quite challenging (particularly the ones at the end of case 2 as they come at you in quick succession)
- You can now fail character profiles as some options are multi-choice. If you do, you no longer get a full picture of a suspect and can miss important leads in a case.
- Kerry Shale no longer voices Sherlock after years in the role. In addition, Holmes now has a much more modern look, bringing him more in line with Benedict Cumberbatch’s interpretation.
- There are some audio issues. Some dialogue is recorded sloppily and appears to be quieter than other lines. It’s almost as if they’ve come from different recording studios. Conversations also seem to go off on random tangents and it isn’t always clear where the story is heading.
- There are some serious frame-rate issues on PS4, particularly when action gets fast-paced. I have a feeling the game demands more than the engine can provide and it may need to be changed again for game 9.
- There’s also some very bad texture pop-ins and poor draw distance.
- The mini-games can be incredibly frustrating at times. While they’re all skippable, you find yourself playing more than you might like. One in particular sees Holmes run for cover otherwise he’ll be shot. This felt overly long and slightly tedious. This is just one example.
Final Analysis
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter does some things right and the cases are really interesting, particularly the underlying story with Sherlock and his daughter. But the technical issues with the game coupled with some tedious design choices with the mini-games make this tougher to love than its predecessor.