They are FINALLY locking into a groove with these games. For better or worse the investigations would get pretty complicated. Sometimes it was a simple overthought and others it was a bad mechanic or unexplained gameplay. Usually the story was enough to carry through all this. But the latest Chapter One really took a step backwards with a poor story and bad gameplay.

The Awakened ties together the studio's Lovecraftian Sinking City game (now a franchise?) with the classic Sherlock Holmes tales making for a fittingly haunting case. Sherlock's own mind palace is no longer safe and he and John have to thwart some real evil. The way they set the mood is great. And the story and characters were a lot more interesting than Sinking City too. It still had its moments where you would wander in circles wondering what to do next. But I rate this highly to signal a real step forward in these games. Looking forward to Sinking City 2!

I liked The Awakened for the most part, but I understand some of its criticisms. I don’t believe it did a good job of introducing its mechanics, so as a new player to the Sherlock Holmes series I was completely lost in the beginning. The more I played, though, the more I understood how to piece together scenes and tie in evidence; eventually it was a non-issue.

Now, I didn’t expect a horror experience but rather a detective game with horror elements, and that’s what it was. I enjoyed following the trail of a cult, the supernatural left ambiguous, sanity and the loss of it prevalent in true Lovecraft fashion. It wasn't packed with action or anything like that, but a slow burn of attempting to unravel a mystery. It's just a shame I didn't much care for the ending.