Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened trailer shows first gameplay from the Lovecraft mash-up

It’s been a minute since we last saw anything from Frogwares’ kitbashed remake of their 2007 mystery horror game Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. Now though, a new trailer gives a proper glimpse of what Holmes and Watson will be getting up to when they take on H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, once again for the very first time. Have a watch below, and try not to get lost in an ethereal netherworld inhabited by malevolent, sleeping gods.

It’s a lot of wandering around very dark, dodgy swamps with a lantern. There’s some physics-defying, twisty passageways that could give Ocarina Of Time a run for its money, too. Holmes’ reliable mental connections system from Crimes And Punishments is back, as you might expect, but the creepy blinking eye glyphs and Vecna from Stranger Things vibe is different from the recent games. It’s good to see Watson return to tell Holmes off, though.

Frogwares said when the project was announced back in summer that they’d always intended to remake The Awakened at some point, but the war in Ukraine forced their hand. Having an existing game with the story already mapped out, and the assets and engine used in last year’s Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One to utilise, has given the developers a structured project to focus on in a period of extreme uncertainty. A Kickstarter for The Awakened remake went live in August, which has exceeded the €70,000 (£61,000) goal by nearly €183,000 (£160,000).

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened crawls out of the swamp and onto PC in early 2023. It’ll be available on Steam, with the game also coming to Xbox consoles, PlayStations, and Nintendo Switch.