This could be the focus of an entire game design course... it's just perfect. From the excellent and memorable soundtrack worth listening to on its own, to the amazing stylish hand-drawn artwork (and there is so much of it) to the wonderful minimalist design without a single recognizable word in any language in-game plus a nifty hint/help mini-game system (again, all hand-drawn, and the tedium must have been palpable.) I didn't need any external assistance the couple of times I was stumped, most of the puzzles are a good challenge and rewarding on completion. Hits all the right notes, and at a fraction of the size of so many other titles it still manages to create a beautifully compelling world I'd like to return to. One of the best of its genre ever.
Very dark (to be expected given the subject matter), very well-researched for historical details and detective techniques. The continuity/flow was by far the best of the series I have seen thus far, and I never got lost or went off-track enough that I needed to find unintuitive hints from walkthroughs as I did with some of the other titles; this also applies to the puzzles. The visuals, audio and music are always excellently atmospheric in this series. I would easily give this five stars, except for the currently unpatched bug where the ability to save stops working, which means progress in the current session since the last save may be lost. Check the forum thread "Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper not possible to save" for an actual solution. Note: I lived with the bug and only found this thread when I was near the endgame so did not implement the fix. I noticed that sometimes it can start working again if it stops (Windows moving things around in memory?) but this is unpredictable. Given that the solution is a simple flag on the executable, it probably should have been resolved years ago.
I think that some may be missing the "?" hint icon when stuck... I did for a while. I did find some issues with the puzzle mechanics and progression. For example there are multiple correct results for the Roman numeral puzzle, but it seems only one is recognized. One important object near the endgame when found can't be picked up until later when it is needed... no reason it could not be earlier forcing more wandering around the grounds because fast travel wasn't working. But I still give it 4/5 because it kept me going for a month of occasional evenings which is an excellent value for a couple of bucks on sale. The atmospherics, interiors and artwork are very good, and the music, while not original, is well-chosen for the era and adds well to the ambiance.
The level of detail in the deductions is excellent, moreso than most games of the genre. I wasn't put off by anything else except the timed "puzzles" that can't be bypassed. They are contrary to the patient, deductive experience I expect from Sherlock Holmes and there is one (think paths) that is so tedious and annoying I gave up on the game.
Phenomenal artwork, animation and audio, immersive and atmospheric. Runs smoothly on a system that other titles in the series stuttered on. Intuitive and simple interface. Excellent deduction system (though it does take a little practice to be familiar with.) Well-written and often challenging cases with results dependent on one's determination to find all the evidence. I hope to enjoy more Sherlock Holmes with this system in place. (Note: (For those who think that Sherlock gets in the way of the view in third-person, especially wearing his top hat, simply press "R" to toggle between first and third-person.)
As LIMBO did, INSIDE strips away everything that breaks the immersive gaming experience: loading screens, cutscenes, inventory or equivalent view transitions, scoring, a onscreen interface or text, even vocal dialog. The controls are pared down to the bare minimum of four directions and an action. Reduced to minimalism, INSIDE is then able to fill the void with stunning imagery and some of the most compellingly immersive atmospheres I've ever experienced, and still manage to include well-designed puzzles even with the minimalist controls. Clearly an immense amount of effort was expended to make this as perfectly designed and bug-free as possible. In retrospect, one is left wondering why more games didn't use this approach, and wishing that many did. Playdead's imaginativeness has resulted in a winning formula, and I will be very much looking forwards to their future releases.
