Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened
European cover art
Developer(s)	Frogwares
Publisher(s)	Frogwares Focus Home Interactive[1]
Designer(s)	Jalil Amr
Series	Sherlock Holmes
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows Nintendo Switch PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Xbox One Xbox Series X/S
Release	EU: February 16, 2007 NA: September 11, 2007 Remastered EU: June 27, 2008 NA: August 6, 2009 Remake Windows, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S WW: February 2023
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened is an adventure video game developed by Frogwares and published in 2007 for Microsoft Windows. The game follows an original plotline as Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. John H. Watson investigate a series of strange disappearances related to the Cthulhu Mythos.

The third in the Sherlock Holmes series of adventure games developed by Frogwares, The Awakened was preceded in 2002 by Sherlock Holmes and in 2004 by Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Silver Earring. This is the first game in the series to tackle supernatural elements such as the Cthulhu Mythos, the previous two games having fairly traditional (albeit original) Holmesian plots.

In 2008, a remastered version was released that offers the ability to play in a third-person perspective mode in addition to the first-person perspective. This version also features improved graphics and changes to the help system. It is also the first "Sherlock Holmes" game to get an M (Mature 17+) rating from the ESRB. The remastered version became available on Steam on August 6, 2009.

A remake of the game is currently in development for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, and is scheduled to launch in 2023.

On September 6, 1894, Sherlock Holmes stares out of his window, bored that he has no case to solve that is worthy of his talents. He learns that a young Māori manservant, who works for Captain Stenwick, has mysteriously disappeared. Holmes quickly deduces not only that the boy has been kidnapped, but also that two men – one significantly larger than the other – were responsible. A few leads point to the docks by the Thames, and there, Holmes and Watson learn that similar kidnappings of foreigners have occurred. Further investigation leads them to an abandoned subterranean temple, where they discover a bloody and tortured corpse upon a sacrificial altar. They also find opium with morphine which leads Holmes to deduce that it is being used as a kind of soporific to subdue victims, so that they can be abducted and trafficked out of the country. After finding a crate labelled "Black Edelweiss Institute", Holmes recalls that the mountain flower Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum) is a national symbol of Switzerland .

Upon arrival it is discovered that the Black Edelweiss Institute is a Swiss mental asylum headed by a gentleman named Dr Gygax. Holmes and Watson hatch a plan to gain access and investigate. Knowing that he is about to willingly fall into the hands of criminals, Holmes sends Watson away from the asylum. This is primarily for his own safety, but also so that Holmes still has a connection with the outside world should things go awry once inside the Institute. Donning a costume and assuming a false identity, Holmes enters and is quickly incarcerated. After escaping from his cell, he finds further proof of Dr. Gygax's involvement in serious criminal activities. Not only has the doctor been performing dangerous experiments on helpless victims in the asylum, he is also part of a cult awaiting the arrival of the 'One'. Holmes unexpectedly discovers that his nemesis Moriarty is a patient, though a weakened shadow of his former self having survived the fall at Reichenbach. Using Moriarty as a distraction, Holmes extricates himself from the asylum.

Their next stop is New Orleans, as the city was mentioned in a telegram to Gygax. There, Holmes and Watson are taunted and harassed by the local sheriff who recognises them and appears to have some connection to the cult. They soon hear about a local man known as Mr. Arneson and his servant, a young lad named Davy, both of whom have been missing for days. They find Davy, who is mute due to psychological trauma. After Watson treats him, Davy writes on a chalkboard a series of numbers, which Watson copies down. Holmes and Watson then rescue Arneson, who was about to be sacrificed by a crazed cult member, and retrieve an ancient book.

Back in London, Holmes and Watson learn from the book about a mythical sea god who could be awakened by the sacrificing of persons representing the different nations. They also decipher Davy's numbers, which they find are co-ordinates pointing to Ardnamurchan Lighthouse on a Scottish coastline. Once at the lighthouse, Holmes and Watson have a final confrontation with the cultists and their leader Lord Rochester, whose fortune finances the sect. Holmes manages to stop the 'summoning', but a fierce storm appears, which Rochester assumes is the coming of Cthulhu. Despite Holmes' attempt to stop him, Rochester jumps to his death into the raging sea below.

The Awakened was the first Frogwares title to allow gameplay to take place in an entirely real-time 3D landscape and from a first-person perspective, losing the pre-rendered backgrounds of its predecessor. Like other Sherlock Holmes games by Frogwares it gives an open world environment in every location that can hide clues and interact with NPC. The inventory system saves all objects, documents and map locations for later use and can also be used to combine objects. All conversations with characters in the game are completed through linear cut scenes for which you cannot direct the subjects at any point. Some of these conversations are triggered merely by clicking on a character, while others require complete a series of tasks before they will happen on their own. While most of Holmes’ conclusions in the game come from gathering random clues found around the crime scenes, the players will have the opportunity to take evidence back to Holmes’ famous 221 B Baker Street flat and examine it under a microscope or put it through chemical tests. They will also have puzzles to solve throughout the game like picking combination locks, deciphering cryptic messages and solving a clock puzzle to open a safe.

The game can be viewed from a first- or third-person perspective and it provides with an icon to indicate what actions Holmes can take within his world like pick up or talk. Holmes can move around via the mouse or the keyboard and his movement is completely free within the 3D space. While the game does give a fair amount of space to move around in each area, there are cases where Holmes must move to a new area screen or change his view of the street in order to move where the players want him to, but in those cases, an icon will show a set of footprints to indicate the change.

Although the game had adopted a view popularized by the first-person shooter genre, it retains the point-and-click aspect of most adventure games, giving the player the ability to complete the game using the mouse alone.

The remastered version allows for gameplay in a third-person perspective, similar to other Frogwares titles, such as Sherlock Holmes: Secret of the Silver Earring and Dracula.

Updated features of Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened Remastered Edition include two view modes (the original 1st-person mode, along with the new 3rd-person mode), a new Help Bar which allows players in the 3rd-person mode to instantly discover all the available actions on the screen, an updated help system that offers gamers step-by-step solutions to the game's puzzles, and improved graphics which feature new lighting, HD effects, shaders, shadows and new animations.

A full remake of the game featuring a substantially rewritten script is currently being developed by Frogwares and will launch on Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in February 2023.^[2]

The game received mostly positive reviews, receiving a metascore of 72 out of 100, collated from 28 critics, and 7.2 from users at Metacritic.^[8] The first four Sherlock Holmes titles from Frogwares—Mummy, Silver Earring, The Awakened and Nemesis—totaled roughly 1.5 million global sales by February 2009.^[9]

GameSpot praised the game's engaging story, puzzles, and visuals, but also adding that the only negative aspect of it is that players can't skip cutscenes.^[10]

The game earned GameSpot's "Best Use of a License" award in 2007.^[11] It was also nominated for GameSpot's and IGN's "Best PC Adventure Game of 2007" awards.^[12][13]

In 2011, Adventure Gamers named The Awakened the 80th-best adventure game ever released.^[14]

• All-Consuming Fire
• Shadows Over Baker Street
• Still Life 2

• Official site (archived)
• MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.^[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".^[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.^[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.^[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.^[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.^[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.^[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.^[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.^[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.^[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).^[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,^[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.^[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.^[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.^[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.^[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.^[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.^[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.^[17]

• IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

Wikidata has the property: NO LABEL (P1933) (see uses)

• No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.

Template:Atari

0.00 (0 votes) Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MobyGames. Read more

• Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened on IMDb

Warning: Default sort key "Sherlock Holmes 3" overrides earlier default sort key "Mobygames".

0.00 (0 votes)