Quite a step down from the previous game chapter one but understandably so. This was created in less than a year and done so in Ukraine whilst the Russian Invasion was just starting according to splash cards in the game itself.
With that in mind it’s very impressive what has been done here with this remake of an older Sherlock game with a heavy Lovecraft influenced story that is amazingly also a sequel to the very straight laced chapter one!
It’s a very stripped back game and a shorter, linear experience this time around. The awakened goes to some nice varied locations but you won’t have much to do in these environments compared to what came before. Some of the story felt a bit disjointed and you can see where cuts were made in order to move things along. Which is my main bugbear with the game. I found it to be quite abrupt in places and it didn’t serve the bigger mystery which felt very uneven.
The core of the game is still intact where you investigate a scene and draw your conclusion but there’s a change in that there’s no more ambiguity in whodunnit as there is only one right answer this time around and there’s no penalty to getting it wrong. The conclusion of the game was also unsatisfying as it ended in a tedious puzzle boss fight with qtes.
I’ll leave it there as I don’t want to be too harsh on the game. I genuinely hope this developer can come back stronger with the more of what they were trying to do in chapter one and leave the lovecraft/sinking city stuff behind.