Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments
A Sherlock Holmes game where moral choices determine the fate of each culprit.
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments is an adventure mystery title in the Sherlock Holmes series. Frogwares developed it in 2014, with Focus Home Interactive handling distribution from 2014 to 2019 across Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Frogwares regained the Steam publishing rights, and the game reappeared on other platforms in early 2020. A Nintendo Switch version launched on February 3, 2022.
The story is set in London and its suburbs during 1894 and 1895. Gameplay centers on identifying the correct perpetrator and then making a moral decision to either absolve or condemn them. This is the first series entry built with Unreal Engine 3, and it draws inspiration from Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories. The game contains six cases involving murders, disappearances, and thefts, written in the tradition of Doyle's novels. Its title references Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel *Crime and Punishment*, which Sherlock is often seen reading during the game.
**Gameplay** Players primarily control Sherlock Holmes, with brief sections featuring Dr. Watson, Toby the Basset Hound, and Constable Marrow. Most gameplay involves exploring crime scenes and examining clues. Discovered clues go onto a "deduction board," a mechanic where players link pieces of information. These connections form a tree of deductions, leading to different possible conclusions. How players interpret the clues determines whether they find the right culprit or fail. They also choose to absolve or condemn the criminal, and this moral choice affects later gameplay. Each case has three to five possible solutions, resulting in six to ten different endings per case. The game includes fourteen investigation mechanics, such as Sherlock's ability to deduce details about a person's life from a glance, or to reconstruct events by carefully observing key crime scene details.
Two camera views are available: a first-person perspective and a static third-person camera, switchable at any time. Sherlock can gather evidence from autopsies and by scanning people he meets. For scanning, the player enters a first-person view for close inspection of a character's face, emotions, clothing, and belongings, revealing details like scars, bruises, or outfit quality. Frogwares used the new engine to fully detail Victorian-era London, which players can explore.
- Developer
- Frogwares
- Publisher
- Focus Home Interactive (2014–2019); Frogwares (2020 onward)
- Release year
- 2014
- Platforms
- Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One; Nintendo Switch (February 3, 2022)
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 3
- Setting
- London and its suburbs, 1894–1895
- Number of cases
- 6
Lore & Background
The game takes place in London and its suburbs in 1894 and 1895, with gameplay focused on finding the right culprit and making the moral choice of absolving or condemning them. It is the first in the series to use Unreal Engine 3, and was inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories. The game is split into six cases of murders, disappearances and thefts written in the tradition of Doyle novels. Its title is a play on the title of the Russian novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, which Sherlock is frequently seen reading during the game.
Sherlock Holmes is the main playable character, with Dr. Watson, Toby (a Basset Hound) and Constable Marrow playable briefly. The majority of the game involves exploring crime scenes and examining clues. Once discovered, clues are added to a 'deduction board', a gameplay mechanic which involves linking pieces of information together. Depending on how players interpret the clues, they will have different conclusions, and players also decide whether to absolve or condemn the criminal. Each case has 3–5 possible solutions, and in total there are 6–10 different endings for each case.
The game features two camera views – first person and static third person – and a mechanic called 'Sherlock Vision' that highlights evidence that would otherwise be missed. Frogwares fully detailed Victorian-era London using the new engine. The overarching plot involves a group of terrorists called the Merry Men attempting to overthrow the government. The six cases are: The Fate of Black Peter, Riddle on the Rails, Blood Bath, The Abbey Grange Affair, The Kew Gardens Drama, and A Half Moon Walk.
Reader's Guide
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments was developed on Unreal Engine 3, allowing the series to jump far ahead of previous installments in graphical quality with dynamic lighting and shadows, real-time shaders, and advanced post-processing effects. Frogwares scrapped its old method of employing one huge texture, instead opting to use Tiled Textures. The 'Sherlock Vision' mechanic was inspired by the BBC television series Sherlock, which uses on-screen text to show what Sherlock is thinking. According to Frogwares' business developer Olga Ryzhko, Sherlock Vision takes the series to the 'next level', and she called the game the 'most challenging, most sophisticated' Sherlock game yet.
The game was previewed by several major gaming news sources. Jessica Conditt of Joystiq pointed to 'the setting, tone, mechanics and graphics in Crimes and Punishments each appear to be updated vastly and in a wonderfully gritty direction compared with previous Sherlock games'. VentureBeat's Jasmine Maleficent Rea wrote that the game shows 'the very manipulative side of Sherlock that modern audiences expect'. Michael Cromwell of PCGMedia wrote that the game is 'a self confessed departure from the prosaic and amoral, with Frogwares pushing for a more hands-on, ethically involved experience'. Sherlock Holmes was voiced by Kerry Shale, and Dr. Watson was voiced by Nick Brimble.
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