Sherlock Holmes Chapter One

Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is an open-world detective adventure developed and self-published by Frogwares, the Kyiv-based studio long associated with interactive adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective. Released digitally in November 2021 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S (with last-gen console and physical editions following in 2022), it serves as an origin story that re-imagines Holmes in his early twenties, several years before he meets Dr. Watson. Setting and premise The entire game takes place on Cordona, a fictional Mediterranean island under British protectorate in the 1880s. Cordona’s lush villas, Ottoman-inspired old town, colonial slums and seaside promenades provide an exotic departure from the soot-stained Victorian London featured in earlier series entries. Holmes returns to the island to investigate the long-opaque death of his mother, Violet Holmes, who passed away when he was a boy at their family manor. Accompanying him is Jon—an imaginary childhood friend visible only to Sherlock—whose banter replaces the traditional Watson partnership and acts as both moral sounding board and narrative device foreshadowing Holmes’s psychological baggage. Gameplay structure Chapter One keeps the studio’s trademark “find clues, connect deductions, accuse a culprit” loop but expands it into a semi-non-linear open world roughly five districts large. Players can tackle the core investigation of Violet’s death alongside more than two dozen side cases. Each case is self-contained, featuring its own crime scene, suspects and optional endings; Frogwares emphasizes “no hand-holding,” so the user interface only gives a broad search radius. Progress hinges on careful observation: blood spatters, perfume trails, bullet trajectories, footprints, newspaper archives and police files must be correlated manually in the “Mind Palace,” a logic grid where selecting two or three related clues creates a deduction. Those deductions in turn can be combined to form theories. Depending on which evidence the player accepts, multiple suspects can be accused, allowing moral ambiguity that affects newspaper headlines and Jon’s opinion of Sherlock but doesn’t lock the story. Tools and mechanics • Disguises: Holmes can change clothes, wigs and facial hair to gain entry to restricted areas or coax testimony. • Chemical analysis: a minigame where reagents are balanced to match molecular formulas. • Eavesdropping: requires tuning focus to pick relevant phrases out of overlapping dialogue. • Combat: optional third-person cover gunplay mixed with environmental takedowns. Holmes can blow up powder kegs, shoot masks off bandits or melee for non-lethal arrests. Combat sections may be skipped via accessibility settings; critics often considered them the weakest component. • Manor renovation: solving specific quests yields heirlooms that let players refurbish the Holmes estate, unlocking flashback cutscenes and culminating in the revelation of Violet’s fate. Technology Built on Unreal Engine 4, Chapter One features full motion-captured cinematics, photogrammetry-based assets and a light crowd system that gives Cordona a semblance of life. The Ukrainian studio completed development amid pandemic lockdowns and, later, the looming Russian invasion; some post-launch patches and DLCs were delayed as a result. Downloadable content Paid add-ons include “Mycroft,” “M for Mystery” and “Beyond a Joke,” each adding a side case plus unique outfits. A larger story expansion, “The Mind Palace” (also referred to as “Saints and Sinners” in early roadmaps), focuses on myth-tinged murders across the island. A free cosmetic pack honoring previous Frogwares games was also released. Reception Critics praised the investigative freedom, detailed environment and nuanced portrait of a less polished Sherlock wrestling with guilt and arrogance. The open-ended deduction system, where wrong answers are not auto-failed, was cited as a refreshing design choice that trusts player agency. On the downside, facial animations, repetitive enemy barks and clunky combat drew mixed to negative feedback. Performance on base PS4 and Xbox One suffered frame-rate drops, prompting Frogwares to postpone and eventually cancel the Xbox One version due to wartime resource shortages, while the PS4 edition shipped after five extra months of optimization. Legacy and significance Sherlock Holmes Chapter One acts as both soft reboot and narrative foundation for the series. Its focus on character psychology, colonial politics and player-driven mystery aligns it with modern immersive investigations like Disco Elysium or The Outer Wilds more than traditional point-and-click adventures. For Frogwares, the project demonstrated the studio’s ability to self-publish a mid-sized open world on a modest budget, setting the stage for future entries—even as the war in Ukraine complicated ongoing support.