Sherlock Holmes Chapter One Reviews
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.
Which is to say, colourful and challenging writing exists within the confines of this archaic setting, so you might hear antiquated dialogue or come across situations that make you uncomfortable.
This Chapter One is rather a success and stands out as a beautiful adaptation of the universe of Sherlock Holmes, bringing an interesting story on the youth of the hero while mixing more or less explicit references (gameplay mechanics, aesthetics of the heroes, dialogues ...) to other representations of Holmes.
Review in French | Read full review
Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is a pleasant tale of origins and investigation, which continues frogwares' extremely intimate and introspective approach to the character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The game often stumbles upon the narrative errors of its predecessor, not sufficiently delving into some crucial ideas in the epilogue of the adventure.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is a decent game that will convince many players - especially Frogwares fans. The developers did not disappoint in terms of plot, side missions, or the city design itself, and if it were not for the illusory choices and frequent stuttering, the final rating would be much higher.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is a title that only shines when it puts you in the role of Sherlock while he is solving cases. The combination of the story with the gameplay of these parts is well done and is biggest strengths of the title, but other parts like the combat system and the open world design, along with many technical problems, brings this new Sherlock Holmes adventure down a couple of pegs and ultimately delivers a fragile experience to the audience that gives a fluctuating levels of fun.
Review in Persian | Read full review
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.
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.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
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.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
It's not bad. Open world and improved action are both double-edged swords of this game. However, each case is still interesting and the process of investigating has been much more excellently upgraded than ever. And being able to meet young Sherlock Holmes is a great power that can overcome all the shortcomings of the game.
Review in Korean | Read full review
Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is an exciting game. In a possible sequel, Frogwares has to fix a few things to make it amazing!
Review in Greek | Read full review
I need a little more hand holding than Sherlock Holmes Chapter One gives. I'm not as smart as Sherlock, and found myself bumbling around at times like a lost child. When I was in the zone I was having a good time. The variety of costumes made for a fun time, and the eavesdropping mini game were a good distraction to a worthwhile story. The game has flaws, but those can easily be overlooked with a mountain of fun and interesting mysteries to solve.
Way better than Devil's Daughter, Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One has a captivating focus on Sherlock himself, but the open world feels there just for the sake of it.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is a solid entry into the franchise with well written characters and strong investigatory gameplay. Some distracting visual issues and poor combat sully the experience.
Overall, while not perfect, Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One provided an incredibly entertaining and challenging experience that detective fans, especially Sherlock Holmes fans, will be happy to experience.
The shift of the series to an open world formula is a bit of a missed opportunity, but as a detective adventure Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One works well both in terms of writing and gameplay.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is a flawed but nevertheless fascinating look at the angsty years of the great detective.
Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One stumbles at times, but solving its fantastic cases scratches that investigative itch like few others try.
Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One deviates little from the established Frogwares detective game template, but that doesn't stop it from being a compelling adventure and perhaps one of the studio's stronger games overall. It's got a meaty and intriguing core story, loads to see and do off the main path, and some swerving cases that will take some serious sleuthing to come to the right conclusions — I'm not sure what more you could really ask for from a game like this besides that tried-and-tested trifecta, except maybe a little more polish. The lack thereof doesn't hurt the game too much, mind, so if you enjoy solving crimes while being really, really, really ridiculously good-looking, this mid-price mystery should definitely find its way onto your wishlist.
If you can get through the relatively humdrum, lifeless and unneeded open world of Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One you'll uncover a whip smart detective adventure that is up there with the series best. It's just a shame that a smattering of technical issues and poorly executed combat sections detract from what should have been the Pride of Baker Street's triumphant return to PlayStation.