Sherlock Holmes Chapter One Reviews

Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is ranked in the 60th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
3.5 / 5.0
Nov 19, 2021

Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is a great detective game that’s saddled with unfortunately mediocre combat and the occasionally obtuse clue to impede progression. Still, when it works, you feel like a true genius detective, so if you’re a fan of mystery games or Holmes himself, this may be the game for you.

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9 / 10.0
Nov 30, 2021

Overall, Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is a fantastic detective game that is unique from other games in the series. The focus is on the origins story of Sherlock Holmes which has not been done in video game format. While the game doesn’t hold players hands, it provides a great deal of information to help to progress the story. It even allows for players to skip over combat if it is a feature that they aren’t interested in. Due to the level of care taken in the title, I absolutely adore Sherlock Holmes Chapter One. In my opinion it is one of the best detective games next to games like The Return of Obra Dinn. I absolutely love this title and can’t wait to see what comes out in the future!

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8 / 10.0
Dec 1, 2021

Thanks to its great storyline and intriguing cases, Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is another great investigative title based on the popular character.

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Expansive
Tom Hynes
Liked-a-lot
Nov 15, 2021

I had fun with Sherlock Holmes Chapter One. I was able to look past its shortcomings and frustrations, and pretty much got into a routine of skipping combat entirely because I like what Frogwares are building here. The game is rough around the edges like the younger, brasher, lead character, so there’s work to do for Chapter Two, finding the right balance with what worked well before, but there’s a structure and promise here with some very exciting potential indeed.

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3.5 / 5.0
Nov 28, 2021

The mystery-solving core mechanics of the Sherlock Holmes Chapter are interesting and challenging, but the rest of the game just feels superfluous.

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75%
Nov 24, 2021

Sherlock Holmes Chapter One has excellent core gameplay, which is unfortunately brought down a bit by avoidable design issues and questionable technical state of the game.

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8 / 10.0
Nov 28, 2021

Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is an enjoyable romp and pleasant change of approach compared to more restrictive offerings of the past. Open-world works well here but could do with some additional oomph to make it feel more interesting. Sleuths will enjoy the varied investigations here and if you desire an even greater challenge, then we suggest setting the game to it’s more cryptic highest difficulty for a first play through.

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82 / 100
Nov 27, 2021

Chapter One is Sherlock's biggest and best adventure yet. It's a welcome change from other current games and a very diverse detective adventure. There are are few technical hiccups here and there however.

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8 / 10.0
Nov 23, 2021

Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is a very good action adventure game. The main plot may not be the longest, but the whole thing is connected in a specific, addictive adventure of the most famous detective in the world.

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7.5 / 10.0
Nov 22, 2021

Sherlock Holmes Chapter One delivers a worthy experience for any detective or investigative game fan. The available cases bring interesting themes and, in general, are very fun to solve. The gameplay has several resources to solve crimes and doesn't make the game monotonous or repetitive most of the time. Although the main objective of the plot is not widely worked, it guarantees a story with unexpected moments and surprising twists.

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Unscored
Nov 22, 2021

This new installment on the Sherlock series developed by Frogwares contains great ideas (the open world mechanics seems to be a step in the right direction) but also a poor technical implementation. Low framerates when exploring the city, low res textures in environments and NPCs and several other issues that are not at the expected level for a game based on the most iconic detective of all time.

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80 / 100
Nov 22, 2021

Sherlock Holmes Chapter One has promise and definitely can serve as an edifice for a grand detective franchise but definitely needs some refinement.

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7.8 / 10.0
Nov 15, 2021

Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is perhaps my favourite Frogwares title. By expanding and spacing out the objectives at the player’s leisure, it creates an open-ended feeling of choice that had me coming back.

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8 / 10.0
Nov 19, 2021

Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is not a perfect game; the action gameplay is dated and repetitive; the open-world seems overly ambitious at times, especially with consistent frame drops on PS5 and the learning curve to become the great detective may dissuade some players, but at its core it has a truly remarkable and insightful narrative about a young man trying to come to terms with the troubles of his youth, solving a number of grizzly murders along the way.

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8 / 10
Nov 16, 2021

Unashamedly developed for fans of the series, Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is a unique and deftly crafted take on a well-trodden character. Retaining its detail oriented, mystery solving core while moving to an open world design with a heavier inclusion of combat, this game retains the charm of its predecessors while pushing the series in an exciting new direction. It’s not perfect, but an excellent story and a plethora of ‘eureka’ moments make up for many of its flaws. If you loved Crimes & Punishments and The Devil’s Daughter, you’ll love this.

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Unscored
Nov 15, 2021

Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is an attempt by Frogwares to kick off a new more action-focused franchise with much younger protagonist, but if they hope to keep a captive audience around Frogwares ought to make the experience of stepping into Holmes’ shoes much more engaging and enjoyable than what’s presented in this game.

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7 / 10.0
Nov 15, 2021

Sherlock Holmes Chapter One might take the franchise in an awesome new direction with a really nice island to explore, lots of fun mysteries to solve and some good production values as an overall package. The game lets itself down when it comes to the clunky quest diary and the nonsensical system of having to pin items of importance in order to make conversations and even items appear in the world that should have already been there. The game's lack of handholding is by far its biggest strength but by adding so many pieces of ambiguous evidence to a mystery and making you pin the right one so items appear in the game world becomes frustrating to figure out what to do when you get stuck and have dozens of items to pin to see if you get a response out of people.

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9.3 / 10.0
Nov 15, 2021

Personally, I’d say that Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is one of, if not THE, best game from Frogwares so far. It takes the open-world and immersive quest gathering aspects from The Sinking City and brilliantly combines them with the charm and quirky nature of Sherlock Holmes. Although the performance isn’t perfect at launch, it never impacted my enjoyment of the very interesting story, intriguing cases, well-written conversations, and wide variety of missions. Having to be mindful of what you wear, who you talk to, and what you talk about, makes you feel like Sherlock himself, it’s a level of immersion and interaction we’ve not seen in any of his prior adventures.

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7.5 / 10.0
Nov 16, 2021

Sherlock Homes Chapter One takes full advantage of the next-gen consoles with stunning graphics on the PlayStation 5 while also providing plenty of cases to solve and a comprehensive narrative. Unfortunately, the game doesn't hold your hand, and with an empty open world, you might feel a little stuck.

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80 / 100
Nov 15, 2021

Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is a very competent adventure game that offers a great experience of varied gameplay, very well elaborated, charming characters and a plot that seduces from the first moment. Undoubtedly a highly recommended title for fans of the saga and adventure games or deduction games.

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