In the niche corner of detective thrillers, in the niche market of adventure games, developer Frogwares has been cranking out Sherlock Holmes games for years. While the concept began as typical point and click adventure, it’s evolved over the years. Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments, the most recent installment in the series, clearly derives a great deal of inspiration from modern interpretations of Sherlock Holmes, such as the Warner Bros. films portrayal Robert Downey Jr. and the BBC series’ portrayal by Benedict Cumberbatch. You’ll also find aspects of the latest generation of adventure games by Telltale, like The Walking Dead and A Game of Thrones. Frogwares has stumbled upon a beautiful sort of symbiosis between the two, and Crimes and Punishments was their love child.
Next up, premiering as Frogwares’ first exclusively next-gen title, is Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter, to be published by Bigben Interactive.
The point and click adventure (PaCA) origins of the series are evident in the latest installation, Crimes and Punishments, but the deviation from the retro formula is highly reminiscent of the latest generation of Telltale games. Players navigate a world from a third-person perspective, and while action is limited to specific sequences, interaction with the world is more immersive than can be said of the PaCA games preceding it. Even veterans of the series were unanimous in the decision that Crimes and Punishments was a refreshing change of pace, and that’s not to say that the installments before that were all simply the same game over and over. Frogwares has been honing their formula for nearly a decade, now, and their perseverance shows in their latest work.
Regarding The Devil’s Daughter, Bigben Interactive’s press release had the following to say:
The Sherlock Holmes game is a series of award-winning video games based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character, with seven episodes released from 2002 to 2014…Featuring taut action and investigative work, Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter, the eighth and latest entry in the franchise, will push your abilities to the limit in a one-of-a-kind interactive experience…With numerous suspects in each investigation, every choice you make could drive the story in unexpected – and possibly deadly – directions.
Whether or not The Devil’s Daughter can fill those big shoes will become clear in Spring of 2016, when the game is promised to launch for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.