Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter announced for 2016

Frogwares, long-time developer of the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series, has announced the next entry in the series. Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter is set for a Spring 2016 release.

Just like the previous instalment, Crimes and Punishments, The Devil’s Daughter will see Holmes and Watson attempt to solve 5 different cases. “For the first time in his storied career, Sherlock Holmes’ ruthless logic is overwhelmed by family stories, irresistible emotions and an occult revenge,” the developer teased of this eighth instalment in the series based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous sleuth.

Game mechanics will be similar to that of previous games, with the moment-to-moment gameplay ranging from reflective puzzle-solving to reflex-based action sequences.

Publisher Bigben Interactive’s description noted that you can “freely roam an expansive landscape of playable terrain”, this quote coupled with the screenshots released suggest The Devil’s Daughter may be open-world – a first for the series. Crimes and Punishments allowed you to travel between case locations at any point, but the game was not open-world.

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments was a really enjoyable game that could have benefited from having the five individual cases tie together in some way, or at least have a bigger pay-off. Bigben aims to improve upon the shortcomings of the previous game:

“We analyzed the fans’ comments and needs. In order to meet their demands, we have the ambition to bring this new game to a much higher level than its predecessors. We wish to offer every adventure game fan a title of exceptional quality which will become a reference in this genre’s history”, says Benoît Clerc, head of software department of Bigben Group.

No specific release date was given, other than Spring 2016. Hopefully the game avoids February, seeing as that month will already have Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Battleborn, Street Fighter V, Far Cry: Primal, Firewatch, and XCOM 2, among many others to compete with.

Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter will release spring 2016 for PS4, Xbox One and PC. Expect more news of the game between now and the new year, until then stay tuned to GameSkinny!