Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened Review (PS5) | Push Square

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A total remake of its 2007 game of the same name, developer Frogwares has embarked on a complete overhaul of Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. This Lovecraftian adventure sees Sherlock investigating a series of disappearances that ultimately end up linked into the Cthulhu Mythos.

The Awakened opens with a pretty low stakes case to solve: where is Sherlock's newspaper, and why has it gone missing? This acts as a tutorial for the mechanics of the game, many of which are expected for a detective game; presenting evidence, questioning suspects and witnesses, and investigating the crime scene. The game also adds some interesting, almost otherworldly, elements, meant to represent Sherlock's aptitude for crime scene investigation and detective work. Pressing R1 activates 'Concentration', which allows Sherlock to see things that aren't visible to the less initiated.

Once enough evidence has been collected, Sherlock can recreate past events in Concentration mode using his imagination. Small synapses will appear on screen and Sherlock can interact with them, allowing you to pick the correct recreation based on the evidence you have obtained thus far. Successfully recreating the scene will add new information to the Casebook and allow Sherlock to summarise any deductions that have been made.

There are so many elements to investigating crime scenes that The Awakened really makes you think about things on many different levels. Looking at evidence in the Casebook, some items may have different icons, which indicate that more can be done with that entry. Whether that's pinning it as a key piece of evidence and asking a passer-by about it, or using Concentration to look at the scene with it in mind to come to another deduction, it feels