Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One Review. Elementary Dear Xboxer

Sherlock Holmes, the well-known detective created by Conan Doyle, returns to the forefront in Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One. Frogwares takes up the character who has had so much presence in video games, but this time from a younger, cheeky point of view. The film from director Sherlock Holmes Guy ritchie, interpreted by Robert Downey Jr. In both films in 2009 and 2013, he serves as the clear inspiration for this acidic version of the character. And without further ado, let’s analyze the game in its Xbox Series X version.

Holmes and Frogwares, an idyll

Frogwares is a seasoned developer born in 2000. She has quite a few games behind her, but almost all of them focus on one character: Sherlock Holmes. More than 20 years of playing games on the complex character is, of course, a background to be taken into account and a guarantee of quality.

From so far away Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Mummy for PC in 2008, they made seven more of the most famous sleuths games until we got to the one we have today. The chosen genre has always been that of graphic / conversational adventure. And, with varying degrees of success, all of them have maintained a good level.

Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One. Its History and Starting Point

It is 1880. A young and presumptuous Sherlock he returns to Cordona, a Mediterranean island where he lived part of his childhood and his mother died. He soon finds out that nothing is what it seems in the supposed death of his mother from illness. And little by little, he will uncover a bigger corruption plot than he might have expected.

Holmes will not be alone in this adventure. By our side we’ll have Jon, an imaginary friend of young Holmes who will challenge him and sometimes advise us to try to solve a mystery or not get stuck at some point. There will also be weapons that can help us at times. However, as we all know, the detective’s best weapon is none other than his brain and his ability to deduce. Ability you’ll use when meeting people or at crime scenes to uncover personality traits, objects, and other details to aid your investigation.

We will have to talk to the locals, fight, investigate, spy and even disguise ourselves in order to get the truth. Or at least, its truth. And it is that in the game, depending on the clues and our own deductions, the truth can go one way or the other. It all depends on whether you believe one party or the other. Depending on these choices, the character will evolve. And these acts derived from their decisions will have consequences. This morality gives the game and its characters psychological depth and therefore greater probability.

Graphics with chiaroscuro and good sound

The Unreal Engine moves good graphics with ease, supported by around 60 fps in its X-Series version. Those 60 fps are pretty stable. although problems are observed when rotating the camera and moving at the same time. In these moments we notice some drops and abruptness, hope this will be resolved in the later fixes. Despite this, the 60 frames per second, along with the 4K resolution, make the gaming experience a true delight. Getting around the streets of Cordona in the evening light is a real pleasure. The treatment of shadows and lights is excellent. Likewise, the game environment with its tracks rich in detail and excellent modeling houses, statues, fountains and architecture in general, they are also populated by NPCs. All of this translates to most realistic scenarios and in a fabulous setting.

In cutscenes that take place during conversations, the bar is lowered slightly and, while they still have a good level, they aren’t as spectacular as the rest of the game due to their lack of more facial animations. The only small flaw comes from a slight cracking at specific times. This is a bug that does little to detract from the playable experience, and less demanding players will hardly appreciate it.

Regarding the sound, the FX are well done and the music serves to accompany us in the action. This helps us at the temporary location at the end of the 19th century. Where this section shines is in the dialogues, nicely folded by highly trained staff. They know how to give intonation and personality to characters, convey feelings and help us dive into history. Of course, these will be in English, but with Spanish subtitles.

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Gameplay made in Frogwares

The way to play Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is basically the same as in its previous production The sinking cityand. Frogwares has done an enviable job of transferring mythical adventure games to games that reclaim that conversational essence and update it with possibilities like combat.

Sherlock will use a focus button to extract deductions from objects and characters. Additionally, as we uncover clues, these will be reflected in our journal. The clues will allow us to draw inferences one way or another to achieve the resolution of the matter in the so-called Palace of the Spirit. This mechanism, which may seem complex to describe, is not at all. And mastering the mechanics will only take a few minutes.

The journal will be vital in this regard.or, and this is where the clues come together, organized by case, to have full control over the progress of each specific case. At the same time, there are some icons on the tracks that will help us know if this track needs to be fixed (to ask the characters for it) or if it needs us to find a place to develop it further. That is, the icons will help us not to get stuck. The latter will also be helped by an option that every game should have, the ability to record at any time and fully customizable difficulty. That is, we can adjust the difficulty of the fights, in which they give us more or less clues on how to track or locate people and clues and even in some tests such as chemical analyzes .

The fights also recover the essence of the films interpreted by Robert Downey Jr. with slow motion moments in which we will have to perform quick events if we want to stop and not kill our enemies. We will find bandit lairs scattered around the map if we are to practice this aspect.

Our young detective will be able to hold conversations, analyze clues, dress up, fight and shoot through a huge stage, which will have the possibility of traveling quickly. It looks like the developer left nothing to chance so playing with Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One was a totally pleasant experience and don’t force us to walk half a map or search for a specific form of transportation.

Conclusions Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One

This Chapter One has everything to please fans of the character and adventure games. The sly and cheeky tone of this young version of the most famous of detectives, as well as a varied mechanic with conversations, fights, deductions, investigation, espionage, costumes … make this title a must-have.

The main story lasts about 15 hours. Although if we don’t go exclusively for the main stories, we will have around 30-40 hours of playtime. In them we will visit the island and meet other characters solving more cases in its almost 30 side missions.

We are therefore faced with a game for lovers of investigation and adventure games, who will greatly appreciate its dialogues, its varied game system and the charisma of the character. The game has a Deluxe Edition which includes in addition to the game: Season Pass, the game Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments and the Victorian Starter Pack (aesthetic accessories), for 59.99 $, so if you like games with the character and that guy, we recommend this edition.

And you already know where to find all the basic Xbox information in the Xbox zone.