Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments

 PC
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 32 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 32
  3. Negative: 0 out of 32
Buy Now
Buy on
  1. Hooked Gamers
    Sep 29, 2014
    95
    Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments is hands down the best detective game I've ever played and one of the most enjoyable experiences of the 2014 gaming year so far.
  2. ZTGD
    Oct 1, 2014
    90
    It’s a must play for series fans, and a great choice for anyone looking for a deeper take on the genre.
  3. GameWatcher
    Sep 30, 2014
    90
    Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments is more than just an excellent detective adventure, it also absolutely nails the essence of being the pride of Baker Street and in doing so provides an exciting roadmap for where Ukrainian developer Frogwares will take the series next.
  5. Ragequit.gr
    Oct 13, 2014
    86
    Crimes and Punishments is a nearly excellent game, one of those anybody enjoys playing calmly every afternoon / night, until he reaches its end. It brings many innovations to the franchise, such as moral choices, conclusions about various characters' possible guilt and heavy use of deduction boards. The only thing I just can't stop wondering about is if Holmes himself would like his cases to be as simplified and easy to solve.
  6. Softpedia
    Feb 8, 2015
    85
    Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishment isn't anything groundbreaking, but it's probably one of the best narrative-focused mystery games on the market. It's definitely a polished experience and may very well be the best Sherlock Holmes video game ever created, with a tense atmosphere, satisfying cases, and varied mini-games and puzzles.
  7. GameCritics
    Oct 26, 2014
    85
    By focusing on Sherlock's palette of intellectual powers and limiting the amount of typical adventure game tedium, the game captures the essence of Holmes's process better than ever, and the result is the most satisfying entry to date.
  8. GameStar
    Sep 30, 2014
    85
    One of the bast adventures of the last few years with a great story and a lot of freedom.
  9. PC Gamer
    Nov 6, 2014
    84
    This is the detective game L.A. Noire claimed to be. It doesn’t have the inflated budget of Rockstar’s game, but it makes up for its rough edges with quality detecting, compelling cases, beautiful world-building, and and endearing gusto.
  10. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Nov 12, 2014
    80
    Wonderful detective story that takes its cues from the Sherlock movies as well as the TV series. Looks great, plays great. [Issue#246]
    All this publication's reviews
  11. PC PowerPlay
    Nov 1, 2014
    80
    A surprisingly good mix of adventure and puzzle wrapped in a pretty shell. [Nov 2014, p.62]
    All this publication's reviews
  12. Gameblog.fr
    Oct 15, 2014
    80
    A nice addictive game, which offers great freedom in solving investigations. Despite the mini games are not always convincing and a relative ease, this is a great reflection game.
  13. Adventure Gamers
    Oct 8, 2014
    80
    Sherlock has never looked better, and Crimes & Punishments is an enjoyable anthology that should bring in new fans, but there’s little challenge for a seasoned adventurer.
  14. GameSpot
    Oct 7, 2014
    80
    You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce that this is one of the best adventures of the year, or that the game is continuing to make a good case that this series needs to be recognized as one of the best adventure franchises of all time.
  15. Games.cz
    Oct 4, 2014
    80
    Crimes & Punishments is blessed with the very pretty graphics but also with the new gameplay – it is centered around your freedom to investigate, which is quite possibly for the first time in the series that you may experience the weight of your own decisions.
  16. Gaming Nexus
    Sep 30, 2014
    80
    Smartly written dialogue, strong voice acting, and terrific graphics help make up for some technical flaws as well as a couple cases of that would offer little challenge to Sherlock Holmes. A must play for Holmes buffs, but it’s somewhat slow of pace so action seekers would be wise to look elsewhere.
  17. Everyeye.it
    Oct 14, 2014
    75
    A charming investigative adventure, with some issues on the technical standpoint but a solid plot and few good cases.
  18. GRYOnline.pl
    Oct 3, 2014
    75
    Fans of previous Sherlock Holmes games could feel a bit disappointed with some simplifications and dividing the new game info 6 separate cases. Fortunately it doesn't affect the gameplay that much, although it seems as if the developers tried to do too many things at once. All in all the most important conclusion is this: Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments has a lot to offer to wannabe detectives and they definitely should give it a chance.
  19. 3DJuegos
    Oct 2, 2014
    75
    Inspiring and solid adventure starred by the best known detective. Entertaining in its own way.
  20. IGN
    Sep 30, 2014
    75
    Crimes and Punishments offers a huge advance in graphics and gameplay for the Sherlock Holmes adventure series, and is well worth playing for longtime fans -- especially if they’re playing on a new-gen console or PC.
  21. JeuxActu
    Sep 30, 2014
    75
    Without changing deeply, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishment has reached a new level thanks to the Unreal Engine 3. 19th century London's atmosphere is perfectly rendered. Frogwares tries to push its concept further by giving more freedom to the player. He can now call someone guilty, without even any proof, which makes him more responsible. The mini-games are still very fun, even though some of them are quite imprecise, but overall this new Sherlock should satisfy the fans and maybe newcomers.
  22. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Nov 25, 2014
    74
    A playthrough of Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments leaves little negative emotions. There could be much more positive ones of course, but perhaps that’s a goal that’ll be reached in the next episode. After all, we really are talking about the most rapidly progressing modern quest series. [Dec 2014, p.70]
    All this publication's reviews
  23. Riot Pixels
    Nov 11, 2014
    73
    A rare thing happened to Frogwares: the studio had suddenly realized that it was moving in the wrong direction and made a 180. Crimes and Punishments still has some old sores, but overall, this adventure game is entertaining and it does not rely on tired conventions.
  24. PC Games
    Sep 30, 2014
    73
    The new Holmes adventure looks better than ever and plays well, too. However, while the six self-contained stories are smartly written, they also lack suspense, drama and an overall feeling of progression. The modest difficulty is making it easy for newcomers to settle in - which is fine, as long as you are not expecting a deep detective experience.
  25. CD-Action
    Dec 13, 2014
    70
    A solid game that lacks distinctiveness. I’m not sure I’m going to remember it in a couple months’ time. [Dec 2014, p.78]
    All this publication's reviews
  26. GameOver.gr
    Oct 30, 2014
    70
    While a lot of the modernizes Frogwares implements are not for the betterment of the franchise (simplification and implementation of unnecessary mechanisms), they have produced a technically impressive title with some fresh ideas and great scenarios that can provide an interesting weekend.
  27. Hyper Magazine
    Oct 17, 2014
    70
    A pleasant enough romp. [Issue#254, p.71]
    All this publication's reviews
  28. Gamer.nl
    Oct 16, 2014
    70
    This game offers traditional point-and-click gameplay with a fast pace and strong storytelling. It lacks excitement and action, but the Sherlock Holmes feeling is definitely there.
  29. Destructoid
    Oct 13, 2014
    70
    Your enjoyment of Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments will depend on whether you want to be guided on a series of baffling murders or have the great detective be fallible.
  30. CalmDownTom
    Oct 3, 2014
    70
    This game has a lot more to it than most point-and-click style adventures and it really does give off an amazing atmosphere while you play it.
  31. Eurogamer Germany
    Oct 3, 2014
    70
    Crimes and Punishment is not the sort of adventure where you jam-pack your inventory with random items and boredly click away window after window of borderline meaningless dialog. It's a real detective game – the video game equivalent of a crime novel, suspenseful, but ultimately undemanding.
  32. Hardcore Gamer
    Oct 3, 2014
    70
    While an excellent step in the right direction and a guaranteed hit among fans, the layperson may find too many faults to enjoy the experience extensively.
  33. Eurogamer
    Sep 30, 2014
    70
    The lack of character development and some lacklustre supporting players result in a feeling of detachment from a game that only excels if you are invested in it. That's a shame, because there was potential for Crimes and Punishments to be a great truly great detective game, instead of just a mechanically sound one.

Awards & Rankings

97
#97 Best PC Game of 2014
88
#88 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
90
#90 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 294 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 199 out of 294
  2. Mixed: 62 out of 294
  3. Negative: 33 out of 294
  1. eelegendo
    Oct 8, 2014
    8
    I've been waiting for this since the last Sherlock came out. It was a great game, for me it would hav been enough to polish it a little, adI've been waiting for this since the last Sherlock came out. It was a great game, for me it would hav been enough to polish it a little, ad some new cases, more freedom and it's a 10 game. Sadly C&P took a new turn and a step back in many regards. I didn't finish the game yet, but I think my opinion would not change too much after have it done.

    The cons:
    - Sherlock gets to be more and more a console game, now we have checkpoints. Sh.tty checkpoints... Why can't I save my game as I used to? Is it really so hard to program it?
    - No translated voices - every game in the series was dubbed up to this point. This was almost a deal-breaker for me. (The only reason I still bought it is to support the devs, so maybe later they can make a perfect Sherlock game.) There was some "explanation" for the missing dub on their website, but it is pure BS. They say they didn't translate voices, because lip-syncing would be an enormous job... Who believes that? Every Sherlock game had been dubbed, besides hundreds of other games. This is no excuse. I think they lost many consumers there....
    - Besides and this is the funniest the eng dub out of sync! Many games come out with only english dub and unsynced lips for other languages. No problem: the fans who don't understand english still can understand the game without reading subs. The devs could have just put the dubbed voices over the english lip-sync, no one would have noticed - now we have the unsynced result, but without foreign dub... Smart.
    - The game eats up tons of resources. On a rig that runs Crysis3 on high around 20 fps, C&P delivers 15-17 and C3 looks 5 times better, with grass, big areas and monsters fighting with you.
    - Looong loading times, I didn' experience such long ones since The Witcher 1, and that was the worst.

    Pros:
    - Long loads, but at longer travels you can use your notes to prepare yourself during the wait. A really good idea.
    - Overall good/great ideas for detective work, this is a great game, or at least there was the potential to be one of the best games ever, if they could just somehow not scr.w up almost everything around it. The puzzles are great, playing the detective is also fun. I've never would have written so much on the subject if I'd thought C&P was an average.

    So this is not a bad game, but it could have been soo much better. The devs should go back to the oldschool pc save, polish the framerates and have dubs again. There are literally hundreds of bad console games, don't try to make one yourself too. Now Sherlock is one of a kind. If you go on the console path, it will be a featureless, unremarkable, one of a thousand game. I still give it an 8 and hope there would be a better one next.

    UPDATE: Measurement puzzles are still a chore... What is the point of it? You measure the same 100 times and then it just clicks and you've found a clue you knew from the beginning, it just didn't measure it. Anyone betatested this?
    There is alway around 10 m2 where you can move around, after that you just stop - I mean it was loading for 2 minutes! What was it loading. In ACIV they load a whole town in 2 mins. BTW I have 16 gb of RAM - the whole game could fit into the memory, TWICE! Still it loads for ages. What kind of abysmally bad coding is this?
    Watson is ridiculous, dumb and always blocking the way - Sherlock's scornfulness and disdain for him is not surprising... He is just a pain in the a.se.
    You can Alt+Tab out when loading to do anything else and the scene still loads - dissappointing solution for a game to be enjoyed, but works.    … Full Review »
  2. Spirit25
    Oct 5, 2014
    10
    This game is a 10. I can hardly find any fault with it. You are the detective and you make the decisions. You decide on the outcome and whatThis game is a 10. I can hardly find any fault with it. You are the detective and you make the decisions. You decide on the outcome and what your actions shall be. If you are a veteran when it comes to this genre then you might find it easy . . . . cause lets face it - you played them all, you read books, you watch CSI and to appease you is impossible (I actually consider myself a veteran in this genre). If you are a novice you will find this game "very hard" or perhaps you just went with every 1st conclusion that popped up instead of looking further.

    Now about the game: There isn't just 1 conslusion that ends the case, there are a few and it is up to you to choose one. So ignore all reviews and comments saying that this is a linear game as linear would indicate only 1 answer was availible. The graphics arn't tripple A, but they are still gorgeous and really draws you into the world. Another thing that I love is that it isn't just ONE story, but multiple stories, more than one case that needs solving. There were times where I had the conclusion, but still had to go back to my notes as to pick the "right person" who actually done the murder. Great acting, great animation. Laughed at certain points and frowned at others. This is the most accurate Sherlock Holmes I have ever come across outside the books

    Bad points: I really can't find any bad points to be honest. Loading times arn't bad except for when the maps where rather quite large and while the game is loading you are watching sherlock driving in a cab with whoever he brought along. Like the game knows if Sherlock is driving alone, when he brought the "best nose in the empire" or with Watson. Now the Map doesn't just appear right after the loading has finished, no you have to click, which is nice as it makes sure you don't miss anything but at first I was reading the hints, waiting for it to load just to find out it already loaded and was waiting for me to click it.

    This game helps you along the way, but it doesn't spoon feed you. If you hover over something it will notify you that you can examine it, but it will not highlight everything across the room with the click of a button. I can't say that the "mini games" like lock pick and such were very challenging, but still interesting. The "detective mode" isn't really well thought out and I think it should have been better if it was just removed entirely - more like a clone of X-ray mode from the latest batman games.

    I give this game a ten as I am wanting more. Perhaps drop the "detective mode" (you know where you press "T") and add more challenging "mini games" but keep everything else the same.
    The best review I could find that I agree absolutely with is: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/gaming/sherlock-holmes-crimes--punishments-review--no-cumberbatch--and-nothing-elementary-9762682.html    … Full Review »
  3. Clompy
    Oct 1, 2014
    5
    I found this game to be quite linear. The game leads you along and it's basically just a case of clicking on everything, and exhausting allI found this game to be quite linear. The game leads you along and it's basically just a case of clicking on everything, and exhausting all of the conversation options with everyone you meet. You are not allowed to make your own deductions, you have to wait until the game lets you. Here is a ficticious example (not in the game) that shows the kind of thing you will experience:

    1) Someone has been stealing cats
    2) A man says he hates cats and has no interest in them
    3) You find "I love cats" magazine in his house, he has cat food in his cupboard, and you find he is a member of the cat lover's club.
    4) There is no option to challenge him about any of this.
    5) You speak to his neighbour and she tells you "i've heard meowing from his house"
    6) Only now can accuse him of liking cats and deduce that he may have been the cat thief.

    Unfortunately I found myself sitting at a loading screen for a large proportion of my play time. As you are shuffled through the story of each case, you are sometimes required to travel to a location simply to pick up an item and bring it back. That is two loading screens worth of time just to do a chore that an NPC could have done instantly.

    On your "clue" screen, you are invited to connect pieces of evidence together to make deductions. This seemed nice at first and I began to think about the clues, being careful to only make links that I thought were valid. However, If you click on two items that are not related, it simply tells you they don't go together and marks them as such. So this aspect of the game can be reduced to simply clicking every clue on the list until you find a match. Where is the risk here and the chance to fail and affect the story?

    One of the most promising but poorly implemented features of the game occurs during conversations. Sometimes you are invited to challenge the person with some relevant piece of evidence that contradicts them or confirms what you are saying. You are presented with a selection of options, one of which is "right". If you dare to click the wrong piece of evidence, you are simply told "YOU PICKED THE WRONG ONE, TRY AGAIN" and the conversation resets so you can attempt to pick the right one. Again, you are not allowed to fail and must answer correctly before the guided tour continues.

    The game looks pretty anyway, and the audio is nice. Thats why it gets a 5 rather than a 3. I was going to say that this game would be good for someone who likes interactive stories. But I am not sure I would even say it is interactive. It is more like a story that is interrupted by loading screens and clicking on everything in sight.    … Full Review »
See all user reviews »