Flash Review #8: "Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter" (2016)

In the latest game, Sherlock Holmes gains an incredibly annoying tweenage daughter who you’re forced to parent in a series of mini-games between solving six unconnected cases. But it’s not all bad news: Holmes and Watson’s character models have been drastically changed until they suspiciously resemble Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law, and there has been an overall graphic refresh to the environments, which combined makes this easily the most visually appealing game in the series. If the story falls flat in places, you can at least console yourself by deliberately being a bad dad to that little shit Katelyn.

Flash Review #7: "Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments" (2014)

The seventh game changes things up by dispensing with the single original story format, favouring instead half a dozen or so very loosely connected shorter cases more closely modelled on the Conan Doyle canon. The focus of the game play is now on letting the player connect the clues to solve the mystery, as opposed to just collecting them and then watching Holmes piece the solution together in a cut scene. But the departure of the long mystery style (even if there’s nominally some tenuous link stringing all the cases together) takes some of the series’ charm with it too.

Flash Review #6: "The Testament of Sherlock Holmes" (2012)

In some ways much more grounded in Sherlockian tradition than the “mash-up trilogy” that preceded it, in other ways this game tells the weirdest story in the series. When the great detective finds himself accused of committing a series of crimes, everyone – even Watson – finds that they can believe he’s guilty. After all, Holmes has shown himself to be rude, misanthropic, amoral, and far more interested in solving crimes for intellectual gratification than for ethical reasons. It’s a compelling story with a batshit insane final act in an abandoned circus (really!), but the bizarre final ‘twist’ comes out of nowhere.

Flash Review #5: "Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper" (2009)

By contrast to the previous game, this entry takes a sudden swerve into the harrowing, with the added knowledge that the crimes Holmes and Watson are investigating actually happened. There’s an unexpected emotional realism (only partially let down by the graphics) when Holmes is visibly disoriented by shock upon discovering the mutilated body of one of the victims. While you can question the good taste of rendering real crimes in such detail for a game, it reaches a surprisingly convincing and well-researched conclusion, avoiding the usual “a conveniently famous Victorian was the Ripper!” solution that you often find in fiction.

Flash Review #4: "Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis" (2007)

(a.k.a Sherlock Holmes versus Arsène Lupin)

Affectionately nicknamed Sherlock Holmes: Bad Date Simulator in my house, this game sees Holmes drag Watson around various famous London landmarks, then insult him at every opportunity while pursuing Maurice Leblanc’s titular thieving anti-hero with more admiration than enmity. Less perilous than other games in the series, no lives hang in the balance here: only England’s honour, my dear man! Well, that and poor Watson’s feelings. This game is incredibly guilty of trotting out the “Stupid Watson” trope that I usually hate (canonical Watson is a badass!), but it enjoys its own silliness so much I can forgive its sins.

Flash Review #3: "Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened" (2007)

The first of the informal “mash-up trilogy” and my favourite game in the series, uniting my twin loves for Sherlock Holmes and the Cthulhu Mythos. It’s a globetrotting adventure, taking Holmes and Watson from London to Switzerland, thence to New Orleans, and finally the Scottish Highlands – all beautifully realised locations. Along the way, Watson goes mad staring at a statue; Holmes has a chance encounter with an old enemy; and there’s an inexplicable cameo by Hercule Poirot. Much acerbic banter is had, both between the heroes and the characters they encounter, and the spirit of Lovecraft is perfectly captured throughout.

Flash Review #2: "Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Silver Earring" (2004)

(a.k.a. "Sherlock Holmes: The Secret of the Silver Earring" or "Sherlock Holmes: The Silver Earring") 

Uniquely, this game is based on an unpublished fanfic novel; as such, the story is ambitious – perhaps overly so. Across its various titles the emphasis remains on the “silver earring”, so players may be surprised to learn how little the titular piece of jewellery actually impacts the plot. While the story is unfocused and the solution far more difficult to arrive at than its designer seems to believe, the journey is still entertaining. Highlights include Holmes’s pursuit of the “mysterious white powder” that forms a central piece of evidence, and his voice actor’s joyful delivery of the one-word line: “Gin!”

Flash Review #1: "Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Mummy" (2002)

In the first game in Frogwares’ Adventures series, Sherlock Holmes dons an inexplicable American twang as he investigates his cousin’s home for clues about her father’s disappearance. As the title hints, the family members in question are keen Egyptologists, and despite the game’s limited graphical capabilities and the fact that it’s restricted to a single location, it’s great to explore this eerily beautiful, museum-like mansion. The Holmes in this game holds the Guinness World Record for “most chilled-out response to a reanimated mummy crashing through a door and roaring in your face”. Watson is sadly relegated to a brief cameo.