Sherlock Holmes The Awakened PS5 PS4 1

Update: Sherlock Holmes The Awakened, the detective remake from Ukrainian developer FrogWares, achieved its funding goal within six hours. While our original article mentioned no Stretch Goals for the game, these have since been announced. The first of which is what the developer is describing as a “metagame”, and effectively amounts to earning points during your detections which can then be used to unlock artwork, models, and other bits and pieces of lore.

The second Stretch Goal, which is aiming for $160,000, is playable Watson. “You will have full VO and will be able to talk to other characters as well as help Sherlock investigate crimes,” the studio said. “We are already prototyping this feature, but we might not have enough resources to fully implement it in the game. If you want this to happen, let's reach $160K!”

Based on our rudimentary currency conversions, at the time of typing, that target doesn’t seem too far away. Expect it to be achieved within the next few days.


Original Story: Ukrainian developer FrogWares has launched the crowd funding campaign for its PS5 and PS4 remake of Sherlock Holmes The Awakened. Announced last month, the release is a complete ground-up rebuild of its 2007 detective adventure, which was praised for blending Cthulhu mythos with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic crime fighting character.

Due to the ongoing situation in the studio’s home country, the team has turned to Kickstarter to help get the project over the line. It’s requesting €70,000, and has already raised around €25,000 at the time of writing. Full disclosure: as a fan of these games, this author has already contributed a small sum to the project.

The developer is keeping this campaign fairly simple: there are no Stretch Goals and the target is modest. Furthermore, it’s not offering any physical rewards, and is instead focusing on the digital product it’s creating. Some of the higher tiers will give you the opportunity to appear in the game, assuming you’re willing to cough up the cash.

But if you just want a copy of the game, it’ll cost you around €35, and you’ll get some wallpapers and other in-game goodies as a reward for your support. You can check out the announcement trailer above, which sees Sherlock rowing through a Louisiana bayou chased by the local cops – and entering into a cannibalistic cult’s den. Golly!

If you want to support the project, then you can do so through here. Looking at the start the campaign’s already off to, we imagine it’ll be fully funded by the end of the day, with FrogWares anticipating a 2023 launch. If you’re interested in learning more about the studio’s current situation, then you can read our interview with the team through here.

[source kickstarter.com]