Modern Frogwares Games Ranked (Sherlock Holmes & The Sinking City)

For some reason, I just keep coming back to Frogwares’ games. They’re a developer I’ve come to respect despite their inconsistent releases, and I have a love-hate relationship with their Sherlock series (and “The Sinking City” as well).

I’ll be ranking all five “modern” Frogwares titles, i.e. from “Crimes and Punishments” onwards as I felt that ushered in a new era for the famous detective. As a point of reference I’ve played some of the older Sherlock games like Testament and Jack The Ripper, but I wanted to focus on this modern era only for the sake of this ranking.

Before we begin, you can check out some of my related blog posts below:

Meh

5 – Sherlock Holmes Chapter One

Frogwares’ first (and so far only) attempt at a truly open world Sherlock game, and you can tell they bit off more than they could chew with this reboot.

I appreciated the side cases and Cordona itself, but my praise runs short there. The open world is integrated poorly, each case has an unresolved climax, there are terrible gameplay elements like the gun fights, and the ending is one of the worst I’ve ever experienced in a game.

OK

4 – Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter

Considering how Frogwares effectively reused the foundations from one of their best games but with an updated coat of paint, it’s amazing how badly “The Devil’s Daughter” falls flat in places.

I’m glad they brought back the five-case format, as even when one case fails another might leave a positive impression, but the overall writing for the plot and characters was much poorer this time around.

What makes “The Devil’s Daughter” tumble down the rankings, however, was its gameplay. Some of the individual parts – like the Wiggins tailing and the forced stealth sections – are either painfully tedious or just outright painful, and they hurt the overall experience considerably.

3 – Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened

I’ve literally just rolled credits on “The Awakened” – the latest Frogwares Sherlock game – at the time of writing this, and my opinions on it are mixed.

Let’s start with the positives – it’s more zonal than Chapter One which I appreciated, as it feels more focused as a result, and some of the crime scenes / chapters were at a series best. It’s also worth mentioning that Frogwares are a Ukrainian company, so the fact this game was made at all while the developers were living through hell is commendable in itself.

Unfortunately, a lot of the main problems with the series rear their ugly heads. The investigations could get tedious, I found the ending to be odd and borderline rushed (which I should come to expect from a Frogwares game by now …), and there haven’t been any gameplay upgrades since 2014 – in fact, it feels as if we’ve gone backwards in the last decade.

Good

2 – The Sinking City

The only non-Sherlock game Frogwares have made in quite some time, which might be why “The Sinking City” stands out so much.

For the first time on this list, the positives outweigh the negatives – the city layout and side content could get pretty boring at points, and the ending was anticlimactic as hell, but those are the major gripes.

I really enjoyed the survival horror open world elements, and the deep lore that Frogwares constructed made Oakmont one of the most vivid fantasy locations I’ve ever experienced.

Amazing

1 – Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments

I mean no disrespect to the serviceable games that came after it chronologically and before it on this ranking, but “Crimes and Punishments” is leagues better than the other games on this list.

I’ve played this game three times now, including finishing my most recent playthrough a couple of days ago, and even then I found new aspects of the six great cases to love.

The amazing deduction and evidence analysis systems really make you feel like Sherlock Holmes, which I know is a common comment but it’s true nonetheless. I also adore how you can very easily reach the wrong conclusion on any given case, as it gives the whole game a sense of urgency and precision that only reinforces its core themes.

It has the best writing in the series, the best ending by a country mile, and when I think of Holmes and Watson these are the two incarnations that come to mind.

Aaaaand that’s my list! You can check out some of my latest blog posts below: