Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is a new adventure in open world personality

Each superhero needs a history of origin, and this is true even if the character in question is an eccentric English to the steep lip with a strange talent to solve crimes and mysteries. The next Sherlock Holmes Chapter One of Frogware tries to enlighten us on the years of training of the famous detective, while considerably modifying a beloved franchise that produced eight previous games. The team behind Chapter One was kind enough to answer some questions about their game, which will be released in a few weeks.

When I played a little at the game a few months ago, it was clear that the developers intended to give players a new experience, while keeping Holmes in the center of history. The first and certainly the biggest difference is that for the first time in Sherlock Holmes, Chapter One, the game takes place in an open world. This gives the player the freedom to play in his own style. They will decide where to go to find clues, with whom talk, and especially what mystery to solve first and what can be left for later. In addition to the new disguise system that allows Holmes to change its appearance for others, Chapter One includes fighting, a first for the series. However, we know that Sherlock is not a superhero, a gunshot maniac. It is rather a glass barrel. Although Sherlock is armed, his intelligence and his sense of observation are his greatest weapon, even in combat.

Speaking of Spirit, Acerb language and verbal virtuosity of Holmes are one of the pleasures of Chapter One. Sherlock Holmes is a genre and he has definitely his own quirks. So we started with tons of research on the personality of engineering people and their characteristics. We analyzed Albert Einstein s famous behavior, Alan Turing, Coco Chanel, Salvador Dali and many more. This helped to better define and understand the behavior and functionality of Sherlock. It also affected his speech style.

Arthur Conan Doyle s books were another obvious source of information and inspiration. We also re-lound many Arthur Conan Doyle novels, paying more attention to the behavioral details of Sherlock Holmes. We have set up a list of features and divided it into two parts: a) the ones we wanted to see at our young sherlock and b) the ones we want to explain - how they will appear in the personality of the older Sherlock. It s a short way to explain how our Sherlock is born . This kind of conscious character construction appears in chapter one.

Although the friend and assistant John Watson does not appear in the new game, Holmes has a partner in the resolution of crimes in the form of Jonathan, who is in a way a prototype of original history for Watson. Sherlock s character brings even more when the great detective has a canlyte, a partner. The contrast between the two personalities makes the history alive and more dynamic. This is another reason for Jon s presence in history. And the last reason - Jon gave us the opportunity to show the hidden and not obvious parts of the Sherlock character. Thanks to Jon, we were able to extract a sherlock side that would otherwise be closed. Jon s personality formed later - she had to be complementary to that of Sherlock, while remaining contrasting. Finally, Jon became a reflection of Sherlock s personality, his emotional and empathic part, with a brilliant imagination and a desire for adventures. A bit like a mirror image, could we say.

The open world of Sherlock Holmes Chapter One takes place on the fictitious island of Cordona, and the environment is a magnificent rendering of the Mediterranean at its peak. By creating Cordona, we are inspired by existing real and historical places. The word inspiration is the key here because we did not go in the sense of the reproduction of cities or buildings one by one. We only inspired them to create a unique and unique atmosphere on the island. You will not find any replicas of buildings or cities in Cordona. Our architectural models were Greece under Ottoman domination, Gibraltar, Malta with its beautiful capital Vallette and some of the places of colonial influence in India. These places and many others with unique atmospheres, they all played a role and influenced the cordona we have created.

Part of the exotic atmosphere and melting-pot of Cordona - and the game itself - comes from the music of the Composer Viacheslav Pakaline. Musically, a lot of thought was conducted for the partition to be both suitable for the hero and emphasizes the location. The music had always been Sherlockian , so players certainly understand what kind of character they control right now. However, we added a touch of Mediterranean flavor to the original band, because our protagonist is in this unusual playground, for him, detective. We had to consider what part of the city had the most influence of British or Turkish, rich or poor, so that the music gives a correct tone while we wander in the streets of Cordona. And because we say in Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One a very personal tragic story, the music must definitely be on the same emotional tone, no matter where we live it, a gameplay event or a dramatic kinematics.

The mystery and puzzle games tend not to be replaimable because once players have solved the crimes, there are few incentives to come back to the scene. Sherlock Holmes Chapter One seeks to change that. As the game rests on the player s deduction and moral choices, we think it s the cornerstone of replayability. Maybe the person you accused during your first race is not the real author. In addition, in addition to the main story, there are dozens of secondary cases to solve, as well as collectibles to find, and more.

Explore new aspects of beloved fiction characters, especially those so represented in films, television, novels and games, is a delicate proposal that may alienate the fans who insist to see their heroes of a certain way. The first chapter seems conscious of this and ready to take risks with Holmes to make it even more interesting, nuanced intellectually and emotionally and multiple facets. We really wanted to show Sherlock in a new day and explore his character a little more deeply than usual. We did not want to seriously change the canonical character for the sake of freshness, the choice was not very wide. One of them had to tell the story of a young Sherlock. It gave us some freedom, but we still tried to stick to the canonical chronology. We had to match the end of our new story with the beginning of the one known worldwide.

Sherlock Holmes Chapter One goes out on November 16, 2021 and I can not wait to plunge into history and characters.

Referencements to developers for their answers.

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