Sherlock Holmes – The Devil’s daughter
in Review on Adventure, Frogwares, Ps4, Sherlock holmes, The devil’s daughter
Frogwares, the company behind the successful Sherlock Holmes franchise is back with their latest installment, giving us a new Sherlock Holmes adventure, while maintaining the same time the game mechanics that were introduced in Crimes and Punishments. But unlike the title, the Devil lies in the details, and sometimes that’s what this is all about.
Story
The story takes place in London and involves the solving of cases that come across the famous detective. This time Sherlock has a daughter which serves as the twist in the storyline regarding the previous games of the series. Sherlock has to deal with 4 individual cases throughout the course of the game, with the aid of his companion Dr. John Watson.
Graphics
The graphic section is something that Frogwares should be proud. The Victorian London is wonderfully portrayed, and with the use of Unreal Engine the results are outstanding. The reflections and the textures in some cases are medium quality but maybe that had to do with the PS4 version which i played. In conclusion the graphics are beautiful and set the bar in order to experience Sherlock’s adventures to the maximum.
-
- The London streets are beautifully designed, with the aid of the Unreal Engine
Gameplay
The game while trying to be fresh and yet to keep the adventure tag intact, has fallen into some serious mistakes that led the game to display disturbingly annoying demeanor. By this I mean that the SHTDD became a troublesome action adventure with some elements of old school point’n’click adventures. In the course of the game, you gather elements but in order to progress the game you have to solve/play minigames that in most cases are extremely annoying and they’re not adding points to the gameplay, on the contrary they subtract. At some cases the mini games are so many that the whole progress is stumbled upon their successful completion.
-
- The famous deduction system in all its glory
I liked very much the deduction system which bared no difference from the previous games but I disliked the overall casual feeling that the game so meticulously tried to create. After many mini games and QTE (quick time events) I stuck my finger on the skip button because the whole procedure turned to be frustrating and tiresome.
Sound
The sound department was at the same high levels as it was in the previous games. Top notch voice overs and orchestral score that sets the mood for an epic adventure. The thing that I missed the most was the ambience of the environment. The sounds of the Victorian London didn’t find their way to my speakers and since part of the action takes place in the streets, the proper attention had to be given. Overall the sound quality doesn’t disappoint but in some cases it could have been better.
The Devil lies in the details
The Devil’s Daughter didn’t manage to please me, at least like it predecessors did. The casual feeling that flooded the gameplay along with awkward development of the story, surpass by far the few good elements the game had. It may be a Sherlock game but only this is not enough in order to overlook the tiresome minigames and the baffling QTEs. The devil certainly lie in the details whose absence rank the SHTTD as one of the worst adventure games i’ve ever played, and even the few good moments are not good enough in order to escape the mediocrity that is.
2/5
