Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One: Review

The ingenious, eccentric and unusually charismatic, Sherlock Holmes is rightfully considered one of the greatest literary heroes of all times and peoples-not without reason each new fictional detective will sooner or later begin to compare with the legendary inhabitant of the house 221 on Baker Street.

But here is the paradox: although the character has been with us for more than a hundred years, and even schoolchildren know his adventures, the early life of the detective is still shrouded in a veil of secrets. What kind of events formed the image of Holmes? What tragedies tempered his character, where he spent his youth and why he has such a stretched relationship with his own brother Microft? The filmmakers and writers have already tried to answer these questions, and now the scriptwriters have taken the light on these and many other white spots in the biography Frogwarees. However, as Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One vividly demonstrated, some skeletons are better to stay in the closet.

Young and early

The second half of the XIX century. Somewhere in the open spaces of the Mediterranean basin, Cordon quietly rests-from all sides an inconspicuous island under the control of the British Empire. A luxurious resort for cream of European society and suffocating hell for local hard workers, this piece of land has seen many bizarre stories – tragic including.

For example, it was here that Lady Weylet, an aristocrat, a collector of antiquities and concurrently, the loving mother of Sherlock Holmes, found the last refuge. Her untimely death from tuberculosis in April 1869 made an indelible impression on the boy, and for many years he came to his senses after loss. Having matured, Sherlock decides to go to a small homeland to say goodbye to the gloomy past – but instead of peace of mind, the young man and his friend John (not Watson) fall into the whirlpool of lies and the strange, sometimes inexplicable contradictions. What secrets is hiding the family mansion who came to desolation and what was the childhood of the great detective in fact?

Some projects intrigue the only idea. Interactive drama, served absolutely without words;comic strip western with a storyteller falling asleep on the go;Automobile action, in which you can move from a car to a car by beckoning a hand – as practice has repeatedly shown, an inventive approach can turn completely ordinary releases into amazing, memorable works. New release Sherlock Holmes At first, too, is drawn to write down in these ranks.

Such a strange thought does not come to mind at all, because Chapter One A little deceiving. Her gameplay, like his presentation, is familiar, almost routine by the standards of the series: here is a mystery, here is the place of crime, and now collect evidence until the picture of events is deposited almost by itself in the bright British head. There is a city, there is an action that comes down to a clumsy shooting house and QTE, the need to make a heavy moral choice here and there … It is somehow pointless to describe what is happening in the details: it is enough to open a transplant or look at a passage of any of the previous parts on YouTube to understand what kind of understandingThe attractions of the developers prepared for the viewer for the next 15-20 hours.

The main innovation is unusual action scenes, during which Sherlock fights with the waves of faceless raffles in a small arena. Village, by the way, can not be killed, but arrested, which is pleasant.

However, all this is nothing more than the facade, a tribute to the adventure format, if you like. Let the center of the events every now and then are crimes of one more disgusting than another, they always play a second violin in relation to the old psychological injury, which life “awarded” Holmes 11 years ago. You do not feel the catch far away immediately, but you should get to the very mansion as it suddenly overshadows: Chapter One -Not a thriller about the first exploits of the legend a la “Batman: Beginning” and not even a Victorian detective in the spirit of previous episode issues. This is no less psychological indie drama, a sort of gone home based on prose Arthur Conan Doyla (Arthur Conan Doyle).

The main character returns home after a long absence, explores an empty mansion, digs in old things and notes, learns the backup of tragic events, which he is not able to influence – similarities (obviously not accidental) are caught in the eye instantly, and get off from the growing snowy comait does not work until the final. But Frogwarees, I see, I could not only copy the finds Fullbright and decided to go further, as a platform for psychotherapy, choosing more than one dilapidated house, but a complete secrets and dangers of the island. The cordon, according to the plan of the developers, is like a mirror of the soul of the protagonist: ruins and lanes hide memories from childhood, give what is happening in the present context, reveal the image of an enigmatical character, simultaneously filling the streets with some kind of story. “Open World with meaning” sounds proudly, but this is exactly how the author’s pitch sounded.

Adventure game with an emphasis of psychologism and adoption of severe loss;The sandbox, in which not abstract things serve as collection objects, but scenes from someone’s difficult life, is based on Chapter One There are many worthy, to some extent even bold ideas, perhaps not original, but curious and bright. But their embodiment is another question. It just so happened that fresh Sherlock Holmes It doesn’t work. It does not work as a drama, as an exciting detective and, the most sad, like an excursion in the inner world of the great and terrible Sherlock Holmes.

With a world on a thread

There is something deeply wrong in this-this is Frogwarees, Studio, which has already established itself as the main expert on creativity for many years Conan Doyla. Through the efforts of the team, the detective fought with the cult of Ktulhu, Arsen Lupen (this time without ridiculous pseudonyms), Jack-Rights, and each time his adventures became brighter, more interesting, deeper. Well, damn it, happened? Yes, as usual: in 2014 the company reached a peak – and after it there always follows a decline.

He came, talked, collected evidence, built a chain of events in his head, went on. He came, talked, collected evidence, fought, went on. Each task goes on almost the same scheme – it is amazing how predictable the life of the great detective.

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments is time to call one of the greatest interactive detectives of the 21st century. In it, if you do not go into details, everything is as it should-as if the helmsman finally had recognized masters who perfectly understand how to weave intrigues, how to furnish stressed scenes and how much evidence is worth it to decompose in front of the gamer so that he really feels likeThe eminent literary hero. After such a triumph, miracles were expected from developers, further revelations that could stir up a stagnant genre. But it wasn’t there: the company, to put it mildly, suffered.

The Devil’s Daughter, the following release of the series, instead of the development of ideas, proposed an excessively melodramatic (and not particularly sensible) history and abundance of excess action with clumsy QTE. The long-suffering The Sinking City, because of which the studio quarreled with the publisher, brought bad shooting and absolutely dead, dull labyrinth of streets to the familiar formula, Running along which slowly but surely driving crazy. In just a couple of years, the studio seemed to have lost inspiration and began to work on the autopilot, simultaneously lowering the earned on Crimes & Punishments Credit of confidence in the toilet.

The masquerade in the game is vital: the inhabitants of Cordons do not like to speak with a person of another social circle. The idea is curious, it is a pity that in practice it does not work very much-endless dressing up and the search for the right people without intelligible tips now and then turn into a pixel camp.

Chapter One, in fairness, from the first hours it is felt as work on the mistakes of two previous releases. For example, a cordon in comparison with the okmond is much richer on content: if in a flooded city a few side tasks had to be looked for almost with a guidebook, then on the Mediterranean island their dime a dozen – manage only to open and to instill certificates. Navigation has become easier, the boats went into oblivion – only a couple of strokes, and the gameplay no longer turns to call the unbearable. Only in every sense passing.

But most of all the amplifiers relate to action. There is no dispute, to run from shelter to shelter, use the environment against the villains and arrest gopniks without a single murder is much more interesting than fingers on monsters from the depths – but what is it at all? Apparently, the answer is simple – “so that there is”.

The formation of a portrait of the interlocutor, the once relatively important element of detective gameplay in Crimes & Punishments, in Chapter One is practically useless: not only do the characters immediately confirm the fidelity of Gamer’s judgments, but also such deduction does not affect what is happening. The next rudiment of the old issues of the cycle, no more.

And this lies, perhaps, one of the main problems Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One – The authors constantly (and selflessly) contradict themselves, as if trying to please everyone and everyone. It’s not even about the scenario (a separate conversation about it), but about the novelty as such: it simply refuses to take shape in a whole work and is the first opportunity to fall apart into pieces.

Employees Frogwarees We decided to devote a whole game to the inner world of Holmes and tell about his past – but not a single plot business concerns the character;On the contrary, each of them serves almost an obstacle on the way to the knowledge of the hero. They seem to be interested in the process of the formation of the very Sherlock Holmes, but in tradition, each “key” (in fact does not matter), for some reason, is transferred to the gamer into the hands of the gamer, although it is here that such freedom looks either to the place. They give control of the young and inexperienced detective, but the protagonist in any situation is not felt by such: young man is only slightly in 20, and he is already sharp on his tongue, horror as he is smart, the beliber will shoot from the pistol and the chemical composition mixes in the gateway. The guy doesn’t only indulge in a violin – but if you complete one side task, he will receive at the disposal and her. “Equity” is absolutely arbitrary and is needed only to present to the world Sherlock with the face and manners of Connor from Detroit: Become Human .

The authors are overdoing with references: when in every dialogue the characters nod aside the “all -metal shell” or deus ex, and the streets are named after stories and heroes Conan Doyle, the developers seem to emphasize the fake of their kind, like a serious, thoughtful creation.

A sensible gameplay could save the situation – since the idea is limping on both legs, all hope for execution. Alas, there’s nothing to please the novelty here: even with all the editors she feels like The Sinking City 2.0 with all the ensuing. Mandatory investigations (with the exception of the third) are empty, dull and the same type, with rare glimpses and a number of strange inconsistencies here and there. The optional is generally more pleasant, but also not a fountain and are eliminated from memory faster than the names of actors. Action, for nothing that in its own way is original, clumsy and quickly bothers. And the cordon, if it’s completely brief, is dead – even the same type of memories scattered along the back streets is not able to revive boring, let the picturesque, the streets of the fictional island and places.

There is nothing bad in the desire of the authors to preserve the usual format, develop old finds, but in this case, dependence on predecessors, which comes to an intrusive desire to sit on several chairs at once (make a chamber drama, repeat achievements Crimes & Punishments, release a fascinating detective in the open world), only spoils Chapter One. This is the case when the series needed a shake, the start from the clean sheet without luggage is a mechanic from the previous parts. It sounds delusional, but for the success of the prior, only Holmes and the mansion would have enough for the eyes, while the city, the action and a meaningless moral choice, do not give her anything – they simply stretch the passage and throw firewood into the flame of shortcomings.

As in the previous release of the studio, somewhere after five hours after the start, the journey through locations boils down to teleportation from one control point to another-it is good that the loading is very short.

If you discard all unnecessary, unfinished and tedious, the main thing remains-the story, a thread that connects somehow sticking out shreds together. But it is she who disappoints the most. If you do not want to spoil your surprise, wash the material for six paragraphs down, until the finals, – now spoilers and another portion of criticism will go.

I’m a detective

It is worth mentioning right away – script Chapter One Not bad. There are no piano in the bushes, from which it is drawn to roll his eyes, melodramatic pathos outside the finals (where, perhaps, the place itself) is minimized, and the dialogs are mostly tolerable, quite in the spirit of the detective prose of the year beforehand. The problem is different – in terms of the semantic load, the game is terrifying empty and banal.

Her whole essence comes down to obvious morality: Sherlock Holmes had a bad childhood, it was it that made him as he is. This simple topic is trampled and dumped, speaks and speaks and ultimately leads to an incredibly predictable, if not a vulgar and tearful finale, which is visible almost from the tie. The developers seemed to have walked along the “Cheklist”: father – died, mother – went crazy, brother – an unpleasant detached type, faithful friend – the fruit of the imagination suffering from loneliness. They did not even forget to fit into the life of the hero of the puppy – so, of course, to kill him.

There is nothing shameful in simple stories. The main thing is the presentation, and with proper skill, you can even retell the “kolobok” so that in the final tears come to the eye. Frogwarees, Alas, he doesn’t know how: the scriptwriters for a long time suck out the intrigue from a finger, distract the crimes and magical closed doors that are not related to business (symbols!), they throw pretentious discussions about the truth, lies and justice, in the end to slide into a compassionate melodrama. Yes, this is much more interesting than if the poor Violet Holmes was cut by some cultists of Dagon or Kthulhu, but to no avail? The subtleties and thoughtfulness of what is there, whatever is a penny.

It is partly to blame for this, that John is the same “childhood friend”, everywhere the following for Holmes. To some extent, his presence in Chapter One justified: he is able to comment on what is happening, push the viewer to the right decisions, sometimes even entrust the side affairs related to the inner world of his “master”. Good idea, but there are two snags. The first is obvious: the chatty, invulnerable, always sitting on the neck, the companion annoys. Annoys with poor jokes out of place, voice, and tendency to report a gamer for the fact that he dared to speak on the street two or three times in a row. He is like a comic character from weak cartoons Disney: forever dancing on his head and does not know when to hold his mouth on the castle. How such a neighbor can be tolerated for a dozen years? Mystery.

The second trouble is somewhat more global and takes the contradiction to the fore: Sherlock Holmes according to his idea – a mysterious character. His book adventures are written on behalf of Dr. Watson, and the reader never knows for sure what is happening in the head of a brilliant detective. Undercomership makes the detective more interesting and more attractive. If you climb into the head, then carefully, without unnecessary movements and certainly without invisible friends – in a word, not the way I decided to do it Frogwarees In his non -keazed fanfica. There is no secret now: the 20-year-old detective always pronounces emotions, goes into internal monologues, admits to his only friend in (purely fraternal) love. As it turned out, the boy has nothing interesting behind the soul: except for the superpowers, Sherlock, to match everything around, banalen – another clogged, and observant, an introvert, according to which a psychotherapist is crying.

Each luck and a miss are accompanied by separate notes in the diary. From the same sarcastic remarks and lyzone enthusiasm, it quickly begins to stir up.

However, even if you discard such thoughts into the background, John as a whole perfectly illustrates many tonal and staged roughnesses Chapter One. Although there are very spiritualized visual decisions in it, for the most part the novelty looks fresh – in the attempts to diversify the visual series, the director is trying to imitate the venerable Hollywood directors like Zach Snyder (Zack Snyder). It does not look as cool as it sounds – especially taking into account the fact that animation in the creations of the Ukrainian studio is traditionally mediocre, and cinematography of even ordinary dialog scenes is sometimes frankly poor. A good attempt, but a prolonged slush, to classical music and laughing under the accompaniment of the piano of the skull-this is not beautiful, but incredibly gone.

“Get out”, unfortunately, is exactly the word that after passing is drawn to characterize the whole Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One;there is simply nothing to praise her. The gameplay is weak, with the plot it really does not fit and only interferes, and history itself is banal. You can only approve the curious (let it doom and doomed to fail) an idea with a psychological drama, but what difference does it make that someone came to mind if its implementation turned out to be at best contradictory, and in the worst-no?

Like any chewing gum, Chapter One It is by no means hopeless: if the soul asks the detective in beautiful, exotic decorations, then the adventures of the young Sherlock Holmes are able to brighten up a couple of evenings. Yes, running around the boring city quickly get tired, and the predictable melodrama is hardly impressed with a claim, but if there is nothing at hand, it would be more correct to spend time on the cordon in the company of the greatest detective of Britain than to read Daria Dontsova and that kind of slag. Not God the news What recommendation, of course – but to match the game.

Pros: good graphics;in some places witty dialogs;a few worthy attention of investigations;pleasant music;Curious idea with action mechanics.

Cons: A dull, pretentious plot;Very weak scenes;an empty and absolutely unnecessary city;an abundance of meaningless mechanic and ideas from the previous games of the studio;Another thing about the excavations and cries of archaeologists;not always obvious tasks;annoying partner;monotony;Busting with references to everything and all.

Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One

The best comments

And it went to me, although objectively far from a masterpiece, of course. It is full of flamers, but with such games aimed at a narrow audience, it often works that if you were waiting specifically Holmes, you can safely add at least a score to the assessment.

There, perhaps, the most funny (not in idea, but execution) scene of the game is connected with this in the final. I will not spoil her, she worthy to see her with my own eyes.

I am terribly enraged only one moment. The case with the elephant. During the investigation, three suspects were revealed, but there are no irrefutable evidence against any of them. And instead of dug up to the point, looking for one of them, as a book Holmes would make, our hero “I don’t know exactly who the killer, but I don’t like the face, let him have it, let him be”. How so?? I bombed the whole evening from this. Completely break the entire main rod of the character, and for which? To give the player minimal freedom of choice?

Yes, I specially poked all the options and there is no normal interchange anywhere. Only if the elephant itself is accused and hang, then there will be a unique (entertaining) Katsen, but this is a clearly incorrect outcome.
In the third case, the ambiguity of the solutions to the problem is better implemented. In the fourth – no less stupid.

And I put it as much as shortcomings, but why does Frogwarees have this topic with archaeologists and excavations from the game of the game? Each time some kind of remix.

I don’t know what’s the matter, maybe the author’s lack of empathy, but I do not often see the games in which mental disorders are so competently shown, including depersonalization.

I’ll leave the “lack of empathy” about the “lack of empathy”, I’ll just clarify – what this literacy is? We are shown completely standard, Hollywood versions of psychological ailments. Moreover, they show superficially, because 90% of the screen time occupy meaningless in the context of a kind of psychological drama investigation of third -party murders. And it would be okay during the investigations that depersonalization somehow manifested itself, or children’s injuries, phobias, but no, John simply serves the “author of the author”, which aloud pronounces obvious things for the player.
In Sidkvests, he simply symbolizes childhood naivety and an attempt to protect himself from severe reality over and over again, without nuances, just the same, one scenario. And even if you praise this detail, the scriptwriters still lubricated it with how John constantly throws out frankly stupid options for vampires and the like during other crimes, which is why his other, much stronger moments look like a continuation of his typical DisneyClown.
The remaining 10% are devoted to frankly raw (that is, poorly worked out, not well enough) topic with children’s injury. Which is also served not somehow inventively, but in the form of fairy-tale doors that Holmes refuses to open until he is poked in the name/subject after an irrelevant investigation and another portion of dialogs about what the truth is. This is incredibly clumsy.
And that’s all that you said, about “fixed in my head” – this becomes clear immediately after meeting with the artist. “The hero with a voice/image in his head, who remembers something, but in fact does not, and this image protects him from the truth (because he is to blame for everything, perhaps who knows)” is a common genre cliche. And I can’t speak for others, but as soon as Verner stuttering about the fact that Violet did not die from tuberculosis – everything became clear. Further followed 27 hours of reflection on the topic “Really everything will be so obvious” – and yes, everything turned out to be extremely obvious.

John feels as if this whole psychological theme was driven under him, although in theory he was to be born as a result of this very topic. I am not leaving the feeling that the development went like this: Frogwarees wanted to make a prequel – but I realized that without Watson Holmes there was no one to exchange worship and no one to pronounce his course of thoughts. The scriptwriters understand that this character shines in a company, a character that grieves under his nose (as the hero of The Sinking City, whose name I have already forgotten, it is so bright) – this is boring. Thus, the image of a childhood friend was born, and in order to justify his random teleportations on locations (Watson teleportation has long become a meme), he was made by the fruit of the imagination.

And so I sincerely wanted to believe that frogwarees would pull a thin story, but they could not do it subtly, well. They could not finish Crimes and Punishments without a scene in which morality is pronounced. They rinsed the brain with topics in The Devil’s Daughter and made a game about Lovecraft, in which there is nothing original. This is not the studio that is able to speak on such complex topics, with all due respect to its employees.

Call a strong single plot adventure, especially when there is almost no such ones – I would not have become chewing gum.

Yes, now the plot games of the pond is a dozen, and even stories about the relations of children and parents (and their extinction) all the more so. I would be less strict to Chapter One, if there were no frank filler in the form of a city and 4 crimes that give nothing to the narrative or the main actors. Personally, it is difficult for me to perceive the story about family drama and guilt seriously, when one of its most important heroes – Mycroft – appears on the screen twice and nothing significant except “I warn you, Sherlock, you do not want to know that there is there!”

As a result, this “Sherlock” reminded me by Among the Sleep – no less ideological and no less thick drama about unstable mothers and children’s injuries (there is even a lawless imaginary friend). Exactly like that mediocre horror, I was at first interesting, but the implementation of the idea was pumped up.

The game is not perfect, but she certainly did not deserve the “passage”. For me, it became a sip of fresh air (especially against the background of dialogues of the left -handed gopot from Watch Dogs Legion, which I am now home)

The same case when the game’s announcement was clear who John was actually. I am even surprised by such predictability.

The trouble is that at least a smart and unusual game is placed a rifle and the next sunsin in which only the setting is changing -it is irrelevant.And even if she really is so-so in her genre, at the same time it is almost the best that is in this genre, for such games once or twice were admitted.And those of the same series as is ironic.Detroit was also crap … We all go to the otsins and heads

The fence confused? And the doors in the house that open only according to the plot and are not a physical, but a psychological obstacle, did not think? The fact that the hero needs to secure evidence before looking, quite a great game mechanic is not in all games to scour everything in a row. And I disagree on John – he delights. The game world is very saturated, and it is very small. Although if Paris from Unity is a good example of a rich open world for you, then I will not argue

The last far Cry, for the sake of justice, sucks quite loudly, like Call of Duty and even Battlefield. Yes, and the third Watch Dogs was actually accepted very with a creak (not on Stopheim, in general).

I must admit that I myself thought for a long time what to put – as we pass the list of shades and notes, I was replenished with both possible advantages and viteeva claims. In the second half of the game, even the Stockholm Syndrome began: I took flaws, got used to the routine and even began to get some pleasure from meaningless running around back and forth. The third thing was surprisingly good, the combat system is ideologically good, you can live.
And then the fourth case turned out to be a bullshit with a promising beginning, and the ending unpleasantly surprised everyone at once – and what was happening on the screen and clumsily (at best) by the production of this banal.
So the devil knows him, I would not even recommend a narrow audience. As for me, it is too superficial in everything – a fan service for experts of books is an obvious and not very inventive. The same emotions caused me the same Sinking City, by the way: it was a story, as if written by a neural network. There are no surprises, but look, referers!

I do not agree with the assessment. Frogwarees did a huge and very commendable work after the really passing The Sinking City. History suffers from serving and not always good directing, but the script itself can not be called banal. I don’t know what’s the matter, maybe the author’s lack of empathy, but I do not often see the games in which mental disorders are so competently shown, including depersonalization. The history of Violet is really imbued with, especially realizing that John was entrenched in Sherlock’s head precisely as a result of a psychological trauma, the effects of the brain that protecting him from responsibility, having to blame another personality. The studio really understood what they were writing about the story. But the moment with the picture was really ridiculous.

Call a strong single plot adventure, especially when there is almost no such ones – I would not have become chewing gum.

The most passing passage. The rare case when I agree with the review in general. The mechanics in the game are workers, but the question is what stories to tell with their help – and the stories of Frogvares told the most slurred. I have gone near it, but in the reality of what is happening I can not believe for a minute, as if you were watching the production of a provincial theater.

And the game is full of terry stupidity. Here you come to the cemetery, the diary is the task: to find the grave of the mother, the crying angel is installed on it. And this angel is visible immediately from the entrance, but the trouble is: on the way of the great detective there is a fence height knee. And this obstacle is insurmountable. Maybe people who have passed the previous units immediately realized that it was necessary to fix the evidence and look for an inconspicuous transparent cloud in a random place, but I almost refunded the game on this.

John Nutson Nightmare. Not only does he look like Sherlock, and voiced like Sherlock, he is also just uninteresting. Why with this game a man, similar to GG to the degree of mixing? They would leave a partner with a child, make him a children’s version of the GG himself, a personification of his childhood injuries, or somehow. But why come up with something and strain when you can not strain?

The city is not only empty, but also outwardly boring and ugly, I just don’t want to move around it. I understand that the authors could not make Paris from Unity (or at least a third of him), but maybe if you do not have money for a normal open world, then it is not necessary to do it?

But I have the most important question – why this game Sherlock Holmes. Nothing relates to her with the stories of Conan Doyle, replace the name of the GG with any other – and nothing will change at all. In general, another studio demonstrates that telling stories is an art that has long been lost in centuries.

Cool game, from the roll of Holmes another to wait and not stands =)

There is actually a way. After the “correct” solution they give more money. By the way, money is another useless part of the game.https://casino-party.fr/