Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened remake announced, set to be a Lovecraft-themed Cthulhu crossover

Ukrainian developer Frogwares have announced a brand new remake of their 16-year-old title, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. The detective adventure game will utilize modern tech and is seemingly in the final stages of production. However, the Russia-Ukraine crisis has slowed down development.

As such, the studio has resorted to Kickstarter funding to tie up loose ends. Here are all the details on the upcoming remake.

---

What new features will Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened's remake have?

Feature Designers Team Lead at Frogwares, Jaroslav Martyniuk, elaborated on what's new:

“No assets or code are being repurposed from the original game. We are essentially rebuilding the entire game from scratch to run Unreal Engine 4, using all new assets or ones we can cleverly rework from Sherlock Holmes Chapter One which came out only a few months ago. We’re also adding entirely new gameplay mechanics while reworking the original ones to expand the ways players will be solving the cases."

Essentially, the title will not be a 1:1 recreation. This is further cemented by the following statement:

"The changes to the story and timeline mean entirely new voice acting will be recorded. We’re also reworking the camera to feel like modern third-person perspective games, remaking all of the UI, animations, cutscenes. The list goes on. It’s essentially an entirely new game with only the underlying story in the cases staying more or less intact."

In a nutshell, here is a rundown of all the confirmed changes for the remake:

• All new graphics and assets made in Unreal Engine 4
• New and redone animations
• Full cutscene overhauls
• Additional investigation gameplay mechanics
• Rewriting the story to connect with the case from The Awakened to a younger Sherlock
• Amplifying the story behind how Watson and Holmes came to be so close
• Minor story rewrites to the cases
• Additional side quests
• New English voice-over recordings and translations into multiple languages
• UI overhaul
• Change to contemporary 3rd person perspective camera
• Additional quality of life features

---

What is Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened about?

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened remake saw a young Sherlock take on his first major case alongside his newly acquainted sidekick, John Watson.

What seemed like a straightforward case of a missing person quickly spiralled into a web of conspiracies by a nefarious cult that worshipped the eldritch god Cthulhu and attempted to bring about an ancient prophecy. Players could explore areas, investigate crime scenes, find clues, and solve puzzles.

The game was originally released in 2006 exclusively for PC and saw a remaster in 2009. No release date has been provided yet, but this new remake will be released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC.

Other games from Frogwares include several entries under the Sherlock Holmes franchise, as well as another H.P. Lovecraft-inspired open-world game called The Sinking City.