Crimes and Punishments set the bar for Sherlock games with great graphics, an even better story the most fitting way to enter the thought temple of the greatest mind ever: Sherlock Holmes. Now Frogwares invites us into the latest addition to the series; Devil’s Daughter. But does it set the bar higher or has it taken to many risks?
Another Sherlock
Devil’s Daughter introduces a new look on Sherlock and Watson. They don’t really look bad but I fancied their look more in Crimes and Punishments. Overall though the game looks great and crisp. One thing that sometimes threw me out of immersion would be the frequent texture popping and difference in texture quality from one area to another. Or when textures gradually pop in during a cutscene. You start looking at a blurry wall and by the end of the conversation, three other stages of better quality textures will have loaded. But overall the game looks great. The streets are filled with NPC’s that tell their own story as you walk by. There are beggars, salesmen etc. Something I tended to do all time was go into first person view for most of the game. I think it really adds to the immersion. The puzzle and focused view are well animated and visually tell you what to do or look for, something that didn’t need any change. Don’t change anything good right?
Action scenes?
When it’s not broken don’t try to fix it… But unfortunately, that’s what they did. There are some action scenes that just don’t feel right at all. They seem to be forced into it for the sake of change. These luckily sporadic action events are unpolished and are a dumper in an otherwise great game. It’s all about the puzzling and solving crimes, isn’t it? Now I do get that when you dig too deep you get personally involved and people will try to kill you. But if you decide to add an action scene to the game for the sake of the story, make sure it is polished and feels like an action scene. Some of the other scenes I enjoyed, like the one where you shadow a man through the streets while climbing on top of the roofs. A bit like in Assassin’s Creed.
Enter the thought palace of the greatest mind ever
Now it isn’t all bad. A great deal of what we loved in Crimes and Punishments is still there, like the reenactment of events you have to figure out to determine what happened on the crime scene. The great inner mind connecting of ideas is back as well and it will still keep you occupied finding all clues to make a perfect deduction. Something that bothered me was that sometimes the flow of the game was disrupted because you missed one tiny (yet in a Sherlock game you could call it IMPORTANT) detail. You have to look at everything and if you don’t the game just doesn’t progress and it seems like you are stuck or the game bugged out and you couldn’t leave the area. But just to be clear this is not a bug, you just have to find all the clues to proceed!
Another thing I loved was the subtle way they added some facial expressions when questioning people. It makes you think if they used the engine of L.A. NOIR for the interrogations. I’d like that in a future installment. Getting rid of the action and focusing on these real Sherlocky things like seeing the tiniest change in facial expression.
Everything is connected
Now of course, this wouldn’t be a detective game if there wasn’t a story where eventually every event you investigate is somehow intertwined into a larger overshadowing plot. People go missing, a mysterious death by a statue?…The game draws some more inspiration from the supernatural than it did in Crimes and Punishments but it all adds up when you unravel the plot. You will go from one location to another to find new clues unveiling the plot.
Going from one location to the next is also a real immersion stopper… The loading times are just too long and in the beginning it’s ok because you can have a look at the very detailed face of Sherlock or his dog in the carriage but by the 6th location swap you have already grown sick of every pimple of badly shaven piece of his beautiful face. They do offer you to check your notebook whilst waiting for the next location to load but if you are traveling to another location it means that you already have made a connection using your notebook before choosing where to go… The loading times really ruin an otherwise good detective experience.
Conclusion:
Devil’s Daughter could have been a great addition to the series but with the many loading times, too much texture popping and unpolished action scenes, it fails to stand higher than its predecessor on the pedestal of detective games. If there was more of all the rest; deeper investigations, more interrogations and more “Sherlock” this would have been a very solid game!
