This adventure mystery video game might seem to be a good starting point for those new to the Sherlock series. Placing you into the shoes of our beloved and suave British detective, Holmes, you're off to a sinister tale with a title like that. Do note the content isn't suitable for kids though.

There aren’t many controls to make the game complicated. You get the gist of them real quick in the first case. Just like a consulting detective would, you move about and poke around a series of environments for clues. The game also experiments on your perceptions and reflexes through its mini-games present in the cases. One minute you are going on stealth mode stalking a suspect as an errand boy, and the next you are exorcising demons in the name of investigation . Aside from those fun bits, once you have gathered substantial evidence, you can leap inside Holmes’s mind and piece what you know to form a possible deduction .

Massive effort has gone into its environment capturing London’s beauty. The view of the realistic crime scenes and a touch of “someone’s been there” at homes gives off an immersive feeling in-game. Though while most characters were detailed, I found Alice and Kate’s design a little insufferable for how rigid they looked during cutscenes and dialogue exchanges. Thankfully, they weren’t that bad to put me off a good story. But on a whole? Gorgeous landscapes .

A fantastic work by Sergey Sedliar and Vitalii Stepchenko. From the sound of light electric guitars, bass guitar, keyboard for synths and other sampled instruments, it rekindled a poignant memory and forebode of playing This War Of Mine and Silent Hill . It’s certainly not the classical music one would expect from Sherlock Holmes games, but composed hauntingly beautiful nonetheless.

Most of the standalone cases were enjoyable, if not all. While it's not going to blow your mind with anything revolutionary, I would say take the game and play it for its story . Despite minor flaws in some of the writing where the truth felt abrupt and a couple of red herrings thrown about, it's still a well crafted game that keeps you on your toes as you make decisions in moments of life and death.

The end deal? I'd say if you like shooting and explosions in your games, then this might not be your cup of tea. But if you find yourself drawn to being challenged intellectually and wanting some action at the same time, this one's for you. With such a varied gameplay experience in one setting, good characters, and astounding visuals, it's one of those few games that manages to accomplish them decently—and that is no small feat.