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So I just bought the game and mentioned it to a friend of mine who is (like me) a bit of a Sherlockian. Now he wants to play it as well. Now this friend he is a somewhat older gentleman and not really used to the level of violence and blood and gore you see in most forms of media these days. I think it’s really cool that he’s playing games at his age but I don’t really want to recommend something truly gory and disturbing to him. In the review on this site it said it was a rather bright and lighthearted affair with few gore but another review mentioned it’s macabre atmosphere and the trailers looked pretty dark and gory as well. So just how dark and distubring is this game? Is it SH vs Jack the Ripper dark (a game he didn’t have a problem with) or really more Still Life/Cognition territory? I’d love to know before I make any recommendations. Obviously the best way is if I just play it first myself but I don’t really have the time for that right now. (hoping to play it at the end of the month) So I’m kinda hoping you guys can help me out.

Thanks in advance.

If you’ve watched any modern TV crime drama, you know what it’s like. It isn’t so much the subject matter, which is much worse in SH vs JtR; but everyone brooding, the complete absence of light in the dialogue, the weightiness of everything that happens. Bright and lighthearted it is not. The mood is about on the same level as JtR and I probably wouldn’t argue against calling it ‘dark’. Same goes with Still Life and Cognition. The strangest thing is, on paper the ToSH ending is very happy, but I felt little joy.

That’s why I would say it might not suit an ‘older gentleman’. In my opinion somewhere in the visual arts (movies, tv, games) in the last decade or so a shift occurred where every event now has to have an apocalyptic significance, and it’s the end of the world if things don’t go right, otherwise viewers won’t be interested (which is untrue). That doesn’t suit me, at least at this point in time, and it’s why I don’t watch much tv. I may be completely wrong of course, and he may love it.

I see. Thanks for all the input. I think if it’s on the same level as any modern crime drama it probably wont be much of a problem. He regularly watches British crime dramas and sat through every episode of Wire in the Blood, which admittedly is not the most lighthearted crime drama out there. He also watched The Killing which can be quite hefty in terms of bleakness as well. I was more refering to the amount of violence you get in most cable dramas. Shows like Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad. Two terrific shows but very vioent at times imo.

Anyway so there are only two bloody crime scenes? That’s a relief. After watching several trailers and some screenshots I though the game was riddled with horribly mutilated corpses. I even recall seeing a brief glimpse of a whole pile of mutilated corpses. Did that scene get pulled from the final product? Also in the trailer I saw a guy (still living) with his eyes gouched out. How much of that kind of gore is in the game? Is that the only time you meet a maimed person or do you interact with more maimed characters? And for how long?

Thanks for all the input. I think I’ll recommend this title to him. He didn’t play The Awakened by the way but as I said Jack the Ripper was fine to him and as the story is reminiscent of Doyle’s work he’ll probably love it. (so will I btw let’s not forget little old me )