Sherlock Holmes: The Devils Daughter
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter is a fantastic adventure with unique gameplay that blends investigation, action and exploration for an extraordinary experience that will test the limits of your nerves and intelligence. Track down evil in the darkest corners of London and the human soul while playing as the great detective, as you untangle a web of intrigue leading to the final stunning revelation. Each of your deductions and actions affects the rest of the story, for better or for worse… Play as Sherlock Holmes and use his extraordinary abilities to progress through the adventure. Freely explore several of the city's neighbourhoods in search of clues and suspects. Interrogations, combat, chases, infiltration… discover a game that is unlike any other!
Steam User 80
---{Graphics}---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ Free Fire
---{Gameplay}---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It‘s just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{Audio}---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{Audience}---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ All
---{PC Requirements}---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{Difficulty}---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{Grind}---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You‘ll need a second live for grinding
---{Story}---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It‘ll replace your life
---{Game Time}---
☐ Really short ( 0 - 2 hours)
☐ Short ( 2 - 8 hours)
☑ Few hours ( 8 - 12 hours)
☐ Long ( 12+ hours)
☐ Endless
---{Price}---
☐ It’s free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{Bugs}---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ Cyberpunk 2077
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{76/100}---
Steam User 21
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter is a really fun detective game with 5 cases to solve. You get to play as Sherlock Holmes, solving interesting crimes and making conclusions. I like that there are many features that enhances this games, the character portraits, the conclusion tree, the choice to condemn or absolve criminals. There is really just so much depth to this game! Some of the puzzles can take quite awhile to solve, the challenge was just right. Also, I like that you can pretty much make your choices, getting to your own conclusion. Definitely one of the better detective games out there. Definitely recommended!
Steam User 14
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter is an adventure mystery game developed by Frogwares and published by Bigben Interactive. The game is the eighth installment in the Sherlock Holmes series and follows the famous detective as he solves five interconnected cases in Victorian London.
Gameplay:
The gameplay in The Devil's Daughter is a mix of exploration, puzzle-solving, and deduction. Players take control of Sherlock Holmes as he investigates crime scenes, interrogates witnesses and suspects, and unravels a web of conspiracies. The game also features action sequences, where players engage in fist fights and chases.
One of the highlights of the gameplay is the deduction board, where players can organize and connect clues to form conclusions about the case. The puzzles are challenging but not frustratingly difficult, and the action sequences are well-paced and add to the game's tension.
Graphics:
The game's graphics are impressive, with detailed character models, environments, and lighting effects. The game captures the atmosphere of Victorian London, with its murky alleys, gas lamps, and ominous skies. The animations and voice acting are also top-notch, adding to the game's immersive experience.
Story:
The Devil's Daughter features an intriguing story that keeps players engaged throughout the game's five cases. The narrative is well-written and features several plot twists and surprises that keep players on their toes. The game also features interesting characters, including Sherlock's daughter, who adds a new dimension to the famous detective's persona.
Conclusion:
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter is a well-crafted adventure mystery game that fans of the genre will enjoy. The game's mix of exploration, puzzle-solving, and deduction, along with its impressive graphics and engaging story, make it a standout title in the series. While the action sequences may not appeal to all players, the game's overall quality and attention to detail make it a must-play for fans of Sherlock Holmes and mystery games.
Steam User 10
Frogwares has made many Sherlock Holmes games, but this is the first one by them that I've tried and I enjoyed it. The game consists of 5 main cases for us to solve, following one after another. The 5 cases aren't related to one another, but there are personal problems in Sherlock's life that keep coming up while we're solving them, which eventually culminate as the 5th case that we undertake.
There are different things that we do whilst solving the cases. There are dialogues with characters, where we need to listen to them and at times point out if something they say contradicts found evidence. There is exploration of course, a major aspect of the gameplay. When exploring, the plot takes us to different locations, both indoors and outdoors, where we need to interact with key pieces of the environment and gather clues.
On many occasions we need to solve puzzles and engage in mini-games (such as lockpicking). The game gives us a choice to skip the puzzles if we wish, though they're all worth giving a go and majority aren't frustrating. During action sequences, there are QTEs. I am not normally a fan of these, though most of them in this game aren't too hard, and if we fail one, it just takes us to the start of the scene, so we don't really lose any major progress. There is also one stealth section in the game too, which too can be skipped if necessary. However, I found it to be quite fun and atmospheric, and it doesn't overstay its welcome.
One of the most important aspects of gameplay is gathering clues, putting them together, and finally making logical deductions. When making deductions, some of them can be mutually exclusive, so we can fiddle with different "what if" possibilities to see what new deductions can be made. Eventually these lead us to who is guilty. However, beware, because the game allows incorrect deductions to lead us to incorrect conclusions and actually end up accusing an innocent character. Pretty much each case has one guilty party and at least 2-3 innocent ones that can be accused. Once we have decided on who to convict, we can either choose a harsh punishment and send them to jail or absolve them by just getting them psychiatric help or something similar. The game allows us to continue onto the next case even if we convicted an innocent person. Cruel but realistic. That's what choice and consequence should be about. Although would've been nice to have more repercussions for these choices in future cases.
The game is pretty linear, and although some outdoor locations are a bit sizeable, there isn't much to do in them, so there's no reason to explore any areas unless the case requires us to do it. And I personally prefer that, because vast open worlds slow down the pacing and take our attention away from the story. The visuals are pretty decent for a game that came out in 2016. All characters and scenes are fully voice-acted and the voice acting is really good in my opinion.
Generally I really enjoyed the game and solving the cases. Particularly the second case (A study in green) was my favourite of the lot as the plot in it hooked me. Although I personally think the game should've done away with a few sections, such as the imagined Mayan temple full of deadly puzzles which really did not need to be that long and tedious, or the section where we need to explore the sewers and fiddle about with water levels in it to get further.
Other than a few tedious parts, I had fun and was hooked on the story. Going to check out another Sherlock Holmes game by these developers.
Steam User 10
Parenting troubles.
Story:
Set after the events of Crimes and Punishments, but more closely following The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, you again play as the greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes. Just like the previous game in the franchise Crimes and Punishments, Devil's Daughter is an anthology game where each case is it's own contained storyline which an overarching plot.
After a mysterious stranger moves next door to your apartment you find yourself not only solving multiple murders in the city, but also digging on what the stranger wants out of you and out of your daughter Kate. I genuinely loved the cases, they felt a lot bigger in scale than the previous game and I loved how wild the plots got, however the overarching plot feels very bare bones.
You get a reminder throughout the main cases that the plot is going on, but it just sort of abruptly ends and it feels very bland and anti-climatic. There's a big reveal that happens sometime midway through the game, but it doesn't feel impactful towards the plot which is rather disappointing considering how good the standalone cases are.
Graphics:
Visually this is best looking version of London we have seen in these games by far, however it's not without issues. Visually I think it looks pretty good although there are some design choices are a bit weird. Even though the games take place one after another, Sherlock and Watson have both turned much younger, which was weird although I get why it was done, also Sherlock looks like Jon Hamm.
The biggest problem is that there's a few environments that are filled with a bunch of useless clutter. For example at one point in the game you visit a foundry and there's a lot of stuff to look at, but most of it you can't even examine and it feels like a bunch of pointless visual noise. It does look good though so there is some positive here.
Audio:
The series iffy voice acting feels like a constant rollercoaster where certain games have some great voice acting and some really bad voice acting. The Devil's Daughter has by far the series best acting to date although it still has characters that deliver some really hammy accents which really kill the tone of the game.
One thing I can't excuse and something I noticed in Sinking City that's also here is that there's a bunch of stock free music used throughout the game. It feels very cheesy when you explore crime scenes and you hear music that a youtuber uses when reading his creepy stories. I have no idea why they decided on this, but it definitely hurts the experience.
Gameplay:
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter from a gameplay perspective follows the shift that was first introduced in Crimes and Punishments. Just like the previous game, it's much more focused on detective work instead of solving puzzles and while there's still puzzles to solve, it's not the main focus anymore.
Each case follows a basic formula. You hear about a crime, go to a crime scene to comb through evidence and follow a trail to different locations and suspects until you find the guilty party and just like it's prequel you can decide how the case ends, but there's a definitive answer to who did it, so you'll have to deduce who the killer is just like Sherlock.
I'm personally mixed on the gameplay in the game. I really liked how different Crimes and Punishments felt and Frogwares decided to fix a few things that weren't broken in the first place. For example, something you could do is paint character portraits by looking at their body and it gives you a few options to choose from to fill that profile in, however you can make out the right choice if you look at what's missing and the wrong answer will lock you out of repeating.
Also the mini games return and they're a mixed bag too. There's some fun ones like that lawn bowling one, but others like the balance across are just boring and really just kill all the pacing of the game which is already absurdly slow at times. But now onto the actual main thing which is the detective work.
It's mostly pretty decent, however it's not without it's faults. Certain cases have tons of hoops you need to jump through to actually get to the correct deduction and this is most noticeable during the second case. It has tons of locations which annoying puzzles and just the absurd amount of backtracking which gets on your nerves really fast. The only reason it's worth putting up with is the great story.
This is by far the biggest issue with The Devil's Daughter, there's too many annoying gameplay mechanics that drag on for too long and you can fail in them too so you have to constantly repeat them to actually know what you're supposed to do, it's just trial and error and it's not fun. While the game allows you to skip anything you find tedious, I didn't use the skip button on anything cause I wanted to finish up everything by myself.
Verdict:
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter is one of the weaker entries in the franchise. It's not bad by any means, but considering that they almost perfected the formula in the previous game, they shouldn't have meddled with what worked so well. I still recommend checking this out for the fun cases, but only on a hefty discount.
Final Rating:
6.5/10
Pros:
+ Each cases has an interesting story, with plenty of twists and turns
+ Best looking London to date
+ Some cool gameplay mechanics
Cons:
- Overarching story is incredibly mediocre
- Stock music cheapens the experience
- Tons of annoying hoops to jump through to advance cases
- A few of the mini games are just not fun
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Steam User 7
I'm not really familiar with the Sherlock books, movies, and shows, but I enjoyed the game. You mainly play as Holmes, but occasionally you can play other characters, like Toby (the best nose in the British Kingdom). The locations look nice and fit the theme, and even if there is no open-world exploration, you can still wander around in some of the locations (and play the dart game). The mechanics (like the balancing one) were interesting, and the puzzles were, though challenging, not impossible. The game having an overall story and individual parts worked well, and a system of collecting evidence and clues to end with a conclusion was nice too. The game even made me want to read the books.
Steam User 6
Not the Guy Ritchie-fication of Frogwares!Holmes ;__;
Mechanically, it's really good with very few exceptions (like the bowling minigame and a couple of balancing sequences too many), and especially the early cases are really fun to pry apart. But I honestly dislike the overarching story because it doesn't feel like it fits Sherlock Holmes. Holmes as a parent fundamentally doesn't work for me. It's just wrong.
I don't mind the more mystical/occult aspects, which have kind of always been a thing with Frogware canon iirc.
I also don't totally mind the slight drift to a more action-oriented game. It's okay, the action sequences can be fun (escaping and taking cover) to excellent (deciding how to react to dangers).
But Holmes and Watson lose a lot of the authenticity they have in previous games, mostly due to design decisions. They always felt like they fit in the Victorian era. Not to be too much of a Granada!Holmes stan, but their iterations looked so well-fitting for the world (especially in the two previous iterations of Testament of Sherlock Holmes and my personal favourite of the series, Crimes & Punishment). The world design's always been very tight, very organic. And most of that design did not change. 221B is still as cozy. The streets of London are still as destitute in the poorer areas. Lestrade looks the same, Toby looks the same, everything still looks the same in the sense of a really grounded, realistic Victorian era Sherlock Holmes story approach. And then there's Holmes and especially Watson (*insert The Godfather's look how they massacred my boy gif here*) who both look like they were designed to be roguish quippy not-your-typical-interpretation versions. You know, like the versions from the Guy Ritchie movies. And it clashes so badly with the rest. Because this is not a Guy Ritchie movie, and what makes these movies fun does not translate to this kind of game. At least not, when you think the most important thing to imitate is the anachronistic "cool Victorian inspired" look. They suddenly look roughly 10-20 years younger than in the previous game, which is...a bit weird. Especially since there's a clearly established timeline. But whatever.
This is a good game that's a lot of fun, but it's very difficult to get along with if you've got (like me) specific ideas, what this Sherlock Holmes is or isn't. (Oh boy I'm filled with slight dread at the thought of what Chapter One will offer me in that regard...) But I'm hoping that the Awakened remake will maybe bring us back to a "better" status quo. We'll see. Anyways, I've drifted off again and I've been rambling A LOT. But yes, if you enjoy investigation games and solving cases, it's likely you will enjoy this game. I did it enjoy it, even if I didn't like everything. I recommend getting this when it's on a discount or, better yet, if you haven't played it already just get Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishment instead.
Also, since the game never mentions where Watson sleeps while Kate stays his room, I decided that he moved into Holmes' room. Because I can.