Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Mummy

Okay, it's a 20+ year old game, but it's free. It's a struggle to get it to run as you need to follow some of the guides to get a new version of DxWnd to run the game and some people won't be able to get past that hurdle. The game has too much tedious looking for items that blend into the background too well for my liking. The story is bizarre, the voice acting is comical and some of the puzzles are random and have nothing to do with the story. Also, it seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the Sherlock Holmes universe. However, if you want to have a retro point and click puzzle game experience, and have a walkthrough handy to help find the nigh impossible items you need, it's worth a play. On the other hand, I can see that a bunch of people really won't enjoy this.

Unless you're the type who enjoys torturing yourself with sadistically difficult old-school puzzle games, skip this one. If you are, you're in luck!
I had a great time with this game. It's nowhere near as bad as most of the reviews suggest. It's just a relic from a time when people didn't mind beating their heads against the wall for an hour before figuring something out. Setting the game up to run properly took about five minutes thanks to instructions in the community, and you can get around the crashes between levels by saving often and skipping the cutscene on the second try.
There are definitively moments where you'll have to look up an answer online, but 90% of the puzzles in this game are solvable, and 80% are even intuitive to some degree. I suppose it's an upside that this was one of the few times I didn't feel bad for looking things up after I'd put in some effort, so it didn't ruin my experience.
The atmosphere also holds up, especially in the first half. The writing is delightfully nonsensical, Sherlock's dry wit is amusing, and it wasn't until the end that I started to lose my patience, partially because it felt silly to spend an hour pixel hunting for a hairpin when the house is about to come down on top of you.

Played this game way back in the day and only once, which is telling, lol. I love the Frogwares Holmes series but this one is definitely an early attempt (it is the very first one), and it shows. It is just feels jank AF and poorly implemented. The voice acting is TERRIBLE, like most adventure games at the time had some pretty hit or miss VA, but this one is just beyond the pail, with Holmes sounding super nasally and whiny. However, despite the dated appearance and heavily-pixelated backgrounds, I think the setting is very interesting--a secluded English mansion, full of ancient Egyptian artifacts, on the outskirts of London with an apparent mummy running around loose and the occupants of the house mysteriously vanished. The mystery starts off rather intriguing but ultimately is a bit of a letdown, but not horrendously so. The music is boring and repetitive and very "90s mystical synth," which feels out of place. Actually a lot of this game feels both very outdated and ahead of its time for 2003. The game feels very much like a 90s game similar to Myst but you've got almost-360-degree camera movement (which is VERY jank on today's hardware). And the setting, ambience, and gameplay feels very much like the escape room genre of games very popular in the last few years (which I think are also heavily influenced by some of the same 90s adventure games).
Also, this game IS still playable on Windows 11 but you should follow one of the Steam guides and you must use the program DxWnd in order to get the game to run properly and mitigate some of the jank. Also, you will likely need a guide as a fair amount of the puzzles are not designed well or just designed to be frustrating, like a lot of adventure games from the 90s were as well.
Overall, despite all the issues, I do find some charm in this game, mostly for its setting and ambience. It does still feel, maybe not quite Holmes-ian, but still of the period. The follow-up game, "Secret of the Silver Earring," is much more classic Holmes in my mind and actually begins the series to actually feel like piecing together and solving mysteries rather than just escape room puzzles.
So I will recommend this game but only to die-hard adventure game fans, especially vintage ones, or those who really like the setting and are interested in playing all of the Frogwares Holmes games.

THAT ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ LAST PUZZLE
Nonetheless, great game, wouldn't mind playing again, but figuring everything out is part of the fun, so a second playthrough is not possible at all.
I think I've managed to make it run using DxWnd, which worked great.

I really enjoyed my time with this short little adventure but it is a bit dated and isn't really a great puzzle point and click.
You do have to fix the game to make it playable and you will not enjoy this game if you aren't willing to use a guide for some 'puzzles' (mostly the clicking around in between the actual puzzles). However, some of the puzzles aren't always solvable with the clues they give you and the point and click portions give no real indication of what is interactable so trial and error means clicking every inch of every room with every item which isn't fun. I get this is often par for the course for point-and-clicks but its particularly bad here.
Overall, it's free (which is absolutely the right price), and if you are willing to cheat slightly its amusing if you have a soft spot for old games like this and have an interest in the story/sherlock holmes.

Старая, но увлекательная детективная головоломка. Геймплей сосредоточен на сборе улик и дедукции. Сложные загадки и атмосфера викторианского Лондона погружают с головой. Голосовая озвучка и сюжет достойны похвалы. Однако управление и графика безнадежно устарели. Для терпеливых поклонников жанра и Шерлока Холмса.

A fun game, although it is dated and at times difficult to know where to go or what to do. If you are playing on steam deck handheld you may need to adjust the mouse sensitivity, and it does occasionally crash.