Frogwares has officially revealed a lot of information about their upcoming game: Sherlock Holmes The Awakened.
This is a big remake and rewrite of a crossover Lovecraft + Sherlock released in 2006. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine forced the team to stop working on their latest project, The Awakened is now being handled calmly by the team.
The remake of Awakened sees young Sherlock tackle his first big business alongside his sidekick Watson, who has just met him. What appears to be a simple missing person case quickly turns into a web of conspiracies led by a nefarious cult who worships Cthulhu and tries to fulfill an ancient prophecy. The game will take the detective duo through 4 places – Victorian London, a Swiss psychiatric hospital, the bayous of New Orleans and the Scottish Highlands – as they attempt to separate reality from the supernatural while trying to put an end to this madness.
Here is a list of the major changes to The Awakened:
- All new graphics and assets made in the Unreal 4 engine.
- New and redone animations
- Complete overhaul of the cutscenes
- Additional investigation game mechanics
- Rewriting the story to connect the case of The Awakened to a younger Sherlock.
- Amplification of the story that explains how Watson and Holmes became so close.
- Minor business history rewrites
- Additional side quests
- New English voiceover recordings and translations into multiple languages.
- Redesign of the user interface
- Switch to a contemporary third-person camera
- Additional quality of life features
« The first Sherlock Holmes The Awakened was a stand-alone story in which grown-up Holmes and Watson dealt with a case that seemed like a simple kidnapping but turned into something far more supernatural and sinister. We are extremely proud of the original writing of The Awakened which over the years seems to hold its own, as many fans and critics have told us they consider it one of the best Cthulhu-inspired gaming stories. .«
« So we’re taking that foundation and keeping much of the horror and Cthulhu story intact, but rewriting it to be a direct continuation of our young Sherlock’s story. In particular, we are changing the timeline so that Sherlock finds himself a few years after the events that took place in Cordona. Watson is by his side but they are only acquaintances at this point and this is their first big deal together. Most character interactions and lines are rewritten to reflect this. We’re making some changes to the Case stories as well as completely new side quests. The story of how the bond between Holmes and Watson might have formed is amplified in the writing now, along with the changes at the end to align with all of this and the psychological impact the events would have on the of them. » – Antonina Melnykova, Lead Narrative Designer, Frogwares
Frogwares has also decided to work with Kickstarter to support the funding of the game due to the war which still regularly causes them problems. It also allows them to reach out to their fans and give them a chance to support the studio in exchange for certain rewards and a price reduction. The only catch is that Kickstarter asks to do a “Coming Soon” page first, so the official trailer and a full development video update are held back until the full campaign launch, which should be sometime later. a week here.