Thoughts On . . . Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened Remake
Frogwares’ remake of Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened is one of the most unsung game releases of 2023. So let’s take a quick look at the new features of the title and how they compare with the original.
If you’re unaware, Frogwares is a studio based in Ukraine, a country currently repelling a Russian invasion. The devs have repeatedly addressed their struggles and yet they launched it anyway. For that reason, I feel it would be inappropriate to score The Awakened. I make an effort in all my reviews to respect the developers who’ve put in the work to make the game I’m playing, even if I’m not a fan of the game itself. But making a game during an actual and presently-occurring war is another matter entirely.
That being said, I think The Awakened Remake merits examination, even if I don’t want to review it. If nothing else, the game is a fascinating glimpse into the evolving story of point-and-click adventure games and their place in the greater gaming landscape. It’s also instructive to compare the two different Holmeses, to see how the character changes with several years of pop culture reshaping.
Second Awakening
The Awakened Remake feels like the culmination of Frogwares’ attempts to evolve its signature adventure game series from a post-Syberia form to a post-Telltale form. In the Dark Ages (a.k.a. the early aughts), adventure games adhered almost religiously to the Grim Fandango style: Third-person clicking navigation with viewpoints fixed in what I call “security camera” position. The Awakened (the original, that is), began the transition away from that to first-person exploration -- the Myst style, if you will.
The series continued to experiment with different stories and gameplay types. It vacillated between first- and third-person, tested new detection mechanics, and even dipped into true crime with the audacious Jack the Ripper recreation. The series rebooted with The Devil’s Daughter (though it retained at least a few story details unique to the previous game series). I’m not sure whether Chapter One and The Awakened Remake are set in the same continuity, though the retention of the new voice cast would suggest so.
Now here we are in 2023, and what does a Sherlock Holmes adventure game look like? It’s a third-person exploration title with an over-the-shoulder camera and the environments are a series of contained maps. In other words, it looks like several of Telltale’s later titles, or Dontnod’s. That’s not a bad thing . . . it’s just an observation of how the medium has evolved and Frogwares’ Holmes along with it.
The Awakened remake is also a microcosm of Sherlock Holmes’ . . . let us say “changeable” position in pop culture. The Holmes of the original Awakened was more of a Jeremy Brett-style depiction, hewing close to the source material’s dry wit and intense focus. The Holmes of the remake, on the other hand is -- being blunt -- young, hot, and mentally unwell. It’s not really to my taste, I’m not gonna lie. It’s clear the impetus for this comes from BBC Sherlock, which I despise. But the remake Holmes has an earnest gumption I’ve never seen in the character before -- it’s a choice, and not one I dislike.
Lovecraft’s Walking Tour
One of the benefits of remaking Awakened is that Frogwares has a chance to elevate a game that, through a combination of underpowered graphics and muddy art design, never had a chance to serve Lovecraftian horror as it’s meant to be served. And for the most part, they did -- there’s a creeping sense of wrongness on the periphery of most scenes, at least when you play as Holmes, a feeling that something isn’t quite right.
That’s the essence of Lovecraftian horror, in my opinion, this sense that something’s wrong, but there’s no way for your tiny human brain to understand what. One of the reasons I enjoy both iterations of this game is because Sherlock Holmes is the type of person who would absolutely refuse to accept there’s something his brain can’t comprehend. That makes him uniquely vulnerable to being overwhelmed by that sensation. Watson’s POV is more grounded and reliable by comparison.
The locations are mostly similar to what they were in the original, though the asylum section is much shorter and cuts out a subplot foreshadowing the arrival of one Moriarty. New Orleans serves a nice slice of Southern Gothic horror to balance out the traditional European Gothic elsewhere in the game. It’s a bit of a shame that Frogware’s didn’t correct one particular oversight: For a game based on Lovecraft’s work, we never go to New England, Lovecraft Country itself.
As far as gameplay goes, I only have one major complaint: This game desperately needs an auto-run option. Or at the very least, the sprint button needs to be sticky -- meaning, you press it once and the characters run until you press it again. Having to hold down a button to get them to get a jog on feels archaic, especially since the environments are much bigger than in your average adventure game.
Our next case, Watson?
Point-and-click adventure games will never be to everyone’s taste, no matter how much a developer might wish to court a bigger audience. Aiming for the Walking Dead/Life is Strange is a wise choice of direction for the Frogwares’ series if it’s going to capture any mainstream appeal while retaining its identity. That is to say: This is a good remake and I like where Frogwares is going with its new series.
Assuming the new series will follow the old, we’re looking at a remake of Sherlock Holmes vs Arsene Lupin next. Sherlock Holmes, tormented lad that he is in the new series, definitely deserves a lighthearted chase with a gentleman thief, so I’m looking forward to what Frogwares does next. My best wishes to them!
