Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened Remastered Demo

Using a combination of deduction, wits and harsh British humor, Sherlock Holmes has become one of the most well-known detectives around the world, along with the many mysteries tackled by him in the books written by Arthur Conan Doyle. Now, thanks to the wonders of technology, the brilliant investigator has been portrayed in countless movies, TV shows and video games, all of which somehow manage to capture a slightly different side of him.

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened Remastered is a point-and-click adventure game that aims to provide you with the possibility to become the one solving the case, by gathering clues, talking to people and generally being smarter than everyone else involved in the narrative. Because the title uses the classical set of gameplay mechanics, you do not have to do much of anything but think most of the time, since the clues are hidden throughout the game and you just have to deduce them and click on objects.

As far as the plot is concerned, it all starts when a bunch of people start disappearing from around London's docks, apparently without a trace and no clue as to why and who took them. Naturally, Sherlock and his omnipresent companion Watson are called into action, in order to find the culprits and maybe even the people who have gone missing, if they are still alive by the time the case is solved.

Since a real detective has his own process when it comes to finding the solutions to the conundrums, the game allows you to freely explore portions of the docks as you advance further and further into the story, which means that you can approach the clues however you see fit. On the other hand, the narrative is quite linear by itself, which means that no matter how and what you do, the results are the same and you cannot really change too much, regardless of how you come to your conclusions.

The gameplay can be described as an interesting mix as well, given the fact that you can switch from the first to the third-person perspective whenever you want. There are numerous helpful mechanics to lend you a hand whenever you get stuck, although they might also ruin the mood if you do not like being served the answers on a platter. Fortunately, these can be easily deactivated and hidden, leaving you alone in your quest.

Whether you are a fan or not, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened Remastered does manage to captivate you from the very first minute, thanks to the good graphics, nice level design and the customizable user interface. While the puzzles themselves are not very complicated, they do pose various degrees of difficulty throughout the story and you really do feel a bit smarter after figuring them out.