This is leagues better than some of the previous Frogwares Sherlock Holmes games and is genuinely a fun time but I found it super buggy. It's prone to hanging/crashing on loading screens and for me it always crashed before the fifth case so I literally can't complete it.
It is real masterpiece in detective genre! I love realisation of system for making conclusions. The best mechanic in series! Locations have just perfect size
This game presents you with a variety of murder cases set in beautifully constructed surroundings spanning from dark alleys to brightly lit botanical gardens and occult tunnels. Even though the locations are quite small and the number of interaction points is limited, there are still many points to look at just for the beauty of it. The game also does not shy away from showing you all the gore.
The mysteries can all be solved in multiple ways and often these solutions feel equally likely, challenging you to think and pay attention to all the details. Talking to the suspects and looking for clues felt engaging and I liked how finding important clues and making potential connections progressed the story and the investigation further.
The most annoying part was the constant need to travel between locations with a loading screen, often just to pick some thing up and then go back. The movement controls were also a bit sluggish. Otherwise technically solid game.
I definitely recommend to play it!
I enjoyed this game very much but in the beginning I nearly returned it because the WASD control system is simply awful. I don't know why this system is so popular, it makes moving character tedious and slows everything down. It was as if the developer saw they made a really great game and then wanted to find a way to make it less enjoyable. I heaved a tortured sigh every time I had to move Holmes (or someone else) around.
However, in spite of absolutely hating the controls throughout the whole game, most of the rest was great. The artwork is absolutely marvellous! Beautiful scenes with amazing details. It was a pleasure just watching them and I took my time doing that. Gorgeous, just gorgeous. Character movements were a bit clunky that was the only thing that took away from the great artwork a bit, but it's an old game so that of course plays a role. Unfortunately this detail made loading times atrociously long.
Voice acting was just as wonderful. Truly enjoyable, great feeling for the different pronunciations of the social classes, local dialects, moods, everything. Top notch.
The cases: usually really good stories, I enjoyed them. I also liked the fact that there were several shorter cases. There were two I found tedious, one case is solved by running around an underground temple with a labyrinth and it's just incredibly tedious. The last case was also a bit too focused on "go there, get that, put that there, go here" instead of deductions and finding clues so I actually didn't finish that one.
As for deductions - there is a deduction system where you have to combine clues. In the beginning it took some getting used to but once I got the hang of it (mostly) it was fun and a great way to move the story forward. There are many other ways to find things out - such as a character analysis and research. Great variations and usually fun to do.
Another minus: no manual save system.
In general: enjoyable, interesting cases and solving methods.