Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis - Remastered

Nemesis is one of the more interesting games in the series, but also one of the more clunky it has to offer. On paper it's a fairly interesting concept - Holmes has to battle a foe of equal wit, rather than a run-of-the-mill investigation, and due to the foe being a master thief with a penchant for theatrics, you get a lot of riddles and puzzles to solve throughout. Sadly, the puzzles are either incredibly obscure, or so easy that the wording to the puzzles has to compensate, and makes them sometimes more obscure than a tough but solvable riddle. Frankly, a lot of the riddles point to an item or location where you get another riddle, rinse and repeat. There are some interactable puzzles thrown in between, but their difficulty varies greatly, and they usually require a lot of trial and error. There is an attempt to break the monotonous puzzle solving and riddle hunting by having Watson perform unimportant tasks in between, but it comes off as cheap - such as a segment where you need to search your Baker street apartment for loose change. Which diverts attention from riddles that ask you to measure a stack of books, measure another stack of books, subtract one number from the other, and insert the result into the library's catalog system. Frankly, if you couldn't highlight hotspots by using the space key, this game would be intolerable. Levels are large, empty and full of invisible walls. I found the best way to move around the levels is in first person, where you're a floating camera that can get into almost every nook and cranny, and move really fast. In fact, many puzzles require you to use that perspective, otherwise you'll miss a lot of the level. Watson is still the imbecile he is in the series, but weirdly enough, Holmes seems to be sleep walking throughout the entire game. The one bright spot about this game is that we finally get to escape Baker street and its vicinity. Makes it feel like a proper game, and not a recycling of assets, like previous games.

RECOMMENDED: Flawed design that confuses time spent with fun, but the in-game strategy guide and interesting plot save it. GAMEPLAY: In a given environment, outdoor or indoor, you have to look around for clues (a little) and solve puzzles (a lot) to try and stop Lupin's theft spree. While I think Sherlock is a detective, not a puzzle solver, in this game (unlike others in the series) the puzzles make sense -Lupin is rubbing Holmes' nose in them for fun. And it's fun -for him. For you it can be really frustrating because some are needlessly complicated. TOO LINEAR: early in the game, you come across a very interesting room and a very suspicious box. Being a detective, you try to investigate but you can't do anything with the room (until very later, when you have already investigated everything else) nor with the box (until later, when Surprise! it's too late). I complain because you feel robbed of your agency as a detective -noticing things, being suspicious, is not an asset but a source of frustration -you won't notice something's wrong until the game decides you will. At other times you have to notice something you normally wouldn't, because the designers need you come back to it later. Since there's no reason to notice it they won't allow you to proceed until you do. Hopefully it won't take you too long to realize it. HARDER THAN IT NEEDS TO BE: At some point you need a source of information to proceed. Instead of letting Holmes realize it with his superior intellect and ask for it to the helpful people around him, you have to roam the environment several times, realize you need X at Y, go for it, come back, then repeat. Or more likely, roam around, find X, roam some more, then realize it might be useful at Y. While it fits with the plot (Lupin playing games with you) it feels more like the designers think solving a 15 minute puzzle in two hours is good design. Still, this game is way better than the abominable The Awakened and the disappointing Jack the Ripper.

Once again you don the deerstalker of the most famous of all consulting detectives. Set some time after the awakening, Sherlock Holmes receives a letter from the worlds most famous thief...no not raffles, but Arsene Lupin. This man has a real bee in his bonnet about England, and decides to take it down a notch or three. To this end, he will commit a number of crimes. Its up to Sherlock and his dependable companion Dr. Watson to stop him. Thats the premise at least. The reality is a series of linked silly hard puzzles, forming a really tedious obstacle course/scavenger hunt and of course everyones favourite "hunt the pixel" game. Arsene is of course taking the absolute micheal out of Sherlock and poor old sherlock is always one step behind. Which in itself is incredibly frustrating. For example, with the opening scene at a museum, the player is pretty much aware of who the villain is, and where he is hiding. But the game forces you to play Mr Lupins little clue hunt. Even when you are quite aware of his 2nd target, the game still forces you to play one of the most absurd clue hunts involving, taking down the dates of certain paintings and doing a little math to solve the riddle of where Lupin had been hiding, even though you already knew that. And then running around the museum and finding clues to point out what he was going for next, although the game had already hinted quite strongly at what that would be. No real sense of accomplishment or indeed any real sense of being a detective. Just a sense that you are a chump for playing Lupins game and annoyed that the game wouldn't let you short circuit this nonsense because you had figured this all out before you even began the clue hunt. You'd think this was the end, but sadly no. what you get as a reward is another riddle to another location. rinse & repeat. this is one to avoid frankly

I think that some may be missing the "?" hint icon when stuck... I did for a while. I did find some issues with the puzzle mechanics and progression. For example there are multiple correct results for the Roman numeral puzzle, but it seems only one is recognized. One important object near the endgame when found can't be picked up until later when it is needed... no reason it could not be earlier forcing more wandering around the grounds because fast travel wasn't working. But I still give it 4/5 because it kept me going for a month of occasional evenings which is an excellent value for a couple of bucks on sale. The atmospherics, interiors and artwork are very good, and the music, while not original, is well-chosen for the era and adds well to the ambiance.