Recent reviews by GrimbornWolf

I really don't know what I expected but not that if I take a walk around the house that I can just walk through trees and solid rock getting stuck in the map basically instantly.

Also not sure why you would give the players certain workstations in the introduction just to take them away after the first smithing and lock them behind tedious resource gathering

With an updated graphics style this creative "fill in the blanks"-game does exactly the same as the first one: delivering a fun exploration and investigation game with an interesting story that unfolds up until the very end.

If this series keeps going, I am more than happy to keep playing!

It's a fun meta escape room game with fair puzzles, creative ideas and great visuals. Looking forward to try another run. Length is a bit on the shorter side depending on how fast you progress but still worth its price! I'd say the horror is more on the mild and weird side than actual scary.

Updating my review since the patch with Steam Cloud Support just dropped:

People I would recommend this game to:
This game is for you if you like Metroidvanias like Dust, Hollow Knight, Ori and also the mythology and style of Okami. Also you should be patient and liking a challenge. I wouldn't say this is a casual kind of game and you will have to invest some time for the fights and puzzles. But if I can beat it, you will probably too

I'm currently in the final stage of the game and 20 hours in. A lot of negative reviews are citicizing the harsh difficulty spike which I can't really confirm yet. Also the new patch provides some help with challenging parts of the game aswell as quality of life features.

If at all the only complaint I really had, was the missing Steam Cloud Support which the developers already patched in.

The controls are snappy and fun and the bossfights don't get boring even after the tenth try. There is a lot of room for customization through passive and offensive items you can unlock.

Edit: Forgot to point out that this game is perfect for your Steam Deck

Finished after a playtime of ~ 15 hours

This game is for you if:
- you enjoy exploring environments and searching for clues
- have fun with looking for optional collectables in each chapter
- have no problem with following a lot of dialogue and keeping track of information
- are a fan of the works of Agatha Christie
- don't mind the occasional puzzle game to advance in the story
- can handle a story where your choices don't matter that much

This has been a very enjoyable investigation game. Even though the narrative is pretty liniar, the plot is well delivered and additions keep it entertaining. Especially the new perspective of Joanna Locke, who I wouldn't mind to see in her own game one day. The puzzles are fair and don't feel out of place. The stylized graphics for the characters are fine, if that matters to you. Choices didn't have to seem any impact on the narrative. All in all the game seems to be well polished and I can't say that I encountered any bugs.

I should also mention that I played in German where not every nationality of the characters, was that eaasily to determin. Not sure how that plays out in English or other languages.

Recommended if you like:

- Obscure, otherworldly, sci-fi, survival-horror that makes you explore many rooms and hallways that hold items which you will need to solve puzzles or open doors with
- a plot that is not as easy to comprehend and might need multiple playthroughs
- reading a lot of notes, diary entries and the like to get that juicy lore or the next hint
- gungameplay that is not always reliable and really makes you wish you rather avoid enemies more often
- an incredible deep and dark atmosphere
- clever use of ingame modules

Even though I know about the circumstances in which the developers find themself I will try and leave this fact out of my review to really focus on the game. Though my thoughts are with them and their relatives.

I pretty much played all the Sherlock Holmes games aswell as The Sinking City by frogwares and by now know that I am in good hands when it comes to love for both the Chtulhu mythos and the Holmes lore. Having played the original of "The Awakened" I was curious how much the company improved.

But let me start with a negative aspect, that still seems to be a problem with these games even though this one is not Open World anymore as previous titles; the optimization.

Don't get me wrong, frogwares' level design has always been one of my favourites. It's detailed and simply beautiful executed which really helps selling the atmosphere of any place you travel, this remake highly improves on the original in this regard still has the issue that it won't run well on higher settings, just like Chapter One, Sinking City and in parts the Devils Daughter.

Aside from this it really felt like coming home after Chapter One. The more liniar storytelling keeps you focused and allows you to really immerse in this dark adventure. Stripping down on the Chapter One mechanics and keeping the best of the investigation methods makes solving crimes a pure joy in this game. Little puzzles are well placed throughout the game while not feeling out of place.

Really interesting concept for a detective game with an intriguing story. Some of the cases get pretty complicated later on

Recommended to people who like to think out of the box, spend time exploring static screens, gathering clues that are not necessarily pointed out to you right away and filling blanks in texts. Fairly enjoyed my time with it.

Hope for the next game, if it gets a sequel, to have a bit more "Gameplay" in the sense of point and click mechanics like "Sherlock Holmes and the Silver Earring" had

Amazing little Visual Novel / Exploration Game with beautiful art and a great mystery story. Would love a Beacon PInes II and to see these characters again

Spoilerfree, work in progress review

I'm currently at ~ 8 hours of playtime - just finished the second case in the game

Story: So far the story is intriguing and the cases seem to be well written. The humor in this is fantastic and I hope to see more of this down the road. Big cudos to whoever had the brilliant idea of turning the creepy Watson meme from the older games into an actual story element. At this point I feel like Jons "special feature" shouldn't have been revealed in the mind palace so early on. But I guess there is a reason for that.

Mechanics: The game is based on features known from the studios other open world title "The Sinking City" but are more fleshed out and keep the formula of the last Sherlock Holmes titles: Discover a crime scene, find clues, interrogate people, link all in the mind palace together and chose to condemn or set the culprit free.

Combat: There is combat but unlike in Sinking City it isn't part of the overall world but only in smaller specific sequences. Therefore you only use your gun, tabacco and environment. The fighting is focused on tricking, disarming and arresting. Specifically no killing which offers a nice diversion from the investigation but is not the main focus of the game.

Graphics and Performance: In my opinnion this game WOULD be very beautiful and fun to look at if it weren't for the bad optimisaton Frogwares is unfortunately known for and that forces you to turn the settings way down especially in the open world parts. In their defense: The game runs better than the older titles and seems in general to be better polished. Frogwares once again proves to be top end when it comes to the atmosphere of a game.

If I had to rate the game it would get a 4/5 only missing the 5/5 because of the performance issues