Sherlock Holmes, also known as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, is a video games series developed and later published by Ukrainian based video game studio Frogwares. The series is an adaptation of the book series of the same name by Arthur Conan Doyle, though each game has an original plot and storyline.

The series lets the player control Sherlock Holmes, and occasionally his close friend Dr John Watson, to investigate and uncover clues to a mystery through point-and-click gameplay. Common gameplay elements involve having Holmes travelling across multiple locations to acquire information that will uncover more of the mystery, and making connections between different clues that are discovered. Noticeably, it’s entirely possible to fail the case by accusing the wrong person and later games also give the player the option to either bring the criminal to justice or decide that they were victims themselves and deserve a second chance.

Beginning in 2002 with The Mystery of the Mummy, the series was specifically modelled after the 1984 Granada series in regards to the portrayal of the main characters and the overall tone. An example of an Anachronic Order, the series jumps back and forth in the 1890s with the first game chronologically being the last in the series being set in 1899. The last game in this continuity is The Devil’s Daughter, which is set in 1896 and despite featuring a new actor as Sherlock Holmes is considered to be canon in Broad Strokes.

In 2021 the series was given a Continuity Reboot with Chapter One, which was set in 1880 and followed Sherlock Holmes when he was 21, though initially it was treated as a prequel to the original games. However the 2023 remake of The Awakened, reimagined to be a sequel to Chapter One, made this a separate continuity.

The series got a Creator-Driven Successor with The Sinking City in 2019, which was also developed by Frogwares and much like The Awakened was based on the Cthulhu Mythos. While not part of the Sherlock Holmes series, the games in the reboot continuity have had some easter eggs to the game, suggesting a loosely connected continuity.

Tropes in the series:

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
  • Sherlock's adventures put him through many traumatic and difficult events, especially when it comes to his adopted daughter. Watson also gets this, with Versus Arsène Lupin revealing that he still suffers nightmares from the events of the The Awakened.
  • The reboot does this to Sherlock, giving him a significantly more tragic backstory concerning his mother’s death and family’s mental illness while in The Awakened more focus is placed on Watson’s trauma as a soldier.
• Age Lift: The reboot continuity does this to Sherlock, who is 21 in Chapter One which is set in 1880, placing his date of birth in 1859. In the original books it was stated that Holmes was born in 1854, making him five years younger. In The Awakened, which is set in 1882, this makes him a couple of years younger than Watson, who’s age is left unconfirmed in the books but is usually assumed to be roughly the same and is seemingly left unchanged here. This also applies to Mycroft, who was 7 years older in Sherlock in the books which placed his date of birth in 1847, while the game made the age gap 10 years which means he was born in 1849, making him two years younger than his book counterpart.
• Alternate Continuity: The series is divided into two continuities: the original, which covers all the games released between 2002 and 2016 and follows a more experienced Holmes after the events of the The Final Problem; and the reboot, which began in 2021 and follows a much younger Holmes during the early years of his career and partnership with Watson. The remake of The Awakened seems to suggest that both continuities are canon and valid, but the reboot takes place in an Alternate Universe to the original.
• Anachronic Order: The original continuity with this, with the first game being set in 1899 and all later games being set earlier in the timeline. This results in Continuity Snarl often due to continuity not given much focus for most of the series. The chronological order of the original series appears to be: Versus Jack the Ripper, The Awakened, Crimes & Punishment, Versus Arsène Lupin, Secret of the Silver Earring, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, The Devil's Daughter and The Mystery of the Mummy.
• Big Bad:
  • Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Mummy: A Big Bad Duumvirate between Lord Montcalfe and his daughter Elisabeth. Lord Montcalfe is responsible for the "mummy" attacks inside his mansion, as well as burning all priceless artefacts inside the family mansion, while Elisabeth, by proxy, murders Jonathan Parkey and frames him as his father's "murderer".
  • Sherlock Holmes: Secret of the Silver Earring: Lt. Herrington, who is the murderer of Lavinia's father Sir Melvyn, conspires with Jeffries and Wyatt Collins to steal all of Lavinia's inheritance. He is also responsible for stealing the titular Silver Earring.
  • Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened: Lord Rochester, who is the leader of a Cult worshipping "The One" (Cthulhu) to awaken the Great Old One and bring apocalypse to the world. He does so by performing brutal murders and put them on a sacrificial ritual to awaken him.
  • Sherlock Holmes Versus Arsène Lupin: The titular Arsène Lupin, who arrives in England and is responsible for a string of high-profile theft cases across the country.
  • Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper: The titular Jack the Ripper/Jacob Levy, who is behind a string of grisly murders in Whitechapel.
  • The Testament of Sherlock Holmes: Watson, who becomes antagonistic towards his partner Holmes, creating a source of tension between the two. Subverted as James Moriarty, Sherlock's arch-nemesis, is later revealed to be the main antagonist and is the one driving the game's whole conflict. He orchestrates a plan by spreading a Hate Plague to drive London into chaos to Take Over the World. He is also responsible for framing Watson, as he himself is innocent. He's also in a Big Bad Ensemble with Hans Schielman, who is responsible for the creation of the said poison to further Moriarty's diabolical plans of taking over London, but both of them are not allies to each other.
  • Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments: The Merry Men, a group of anarchists, who orchestrate a plan to bomb London to start a violent uprising against the ruling class. Despite having little to no connection within the main cases of the game, they are mentioned in a few cases, before they make an appearance in the Grand Finale; their plans also overshadow the goals of the culprits that Sherlock solves.
  • Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter: Has no main antagonist at first despite (loosely) taking place after Testament, until Alice De'Bouvier, Moriarty's disciple who serves as his Dragon Ascendant and also the Dragon Their Feet, is responsible for kidnapping Sherlock's adopted daughter Katelyn Holmes. Alice plans to brainwash her into villainy in an Avenging the Villain crusade to avenge her father's and Moriarty's death and defeat Sherlock for good. That and due to the fact that Katelyn is Moriarty's own daughter is what caused Alice to go into a Big Bad Slippage.
  • Sherlock Holmes Chapter One has Otto Richter. Richter was behind the death of Sherlock's mother, but he was long gone before the start of this game. However, he's also The Heavy as Sherlock spends most of the game uncovering the real truth behind her death, with his actions driving most of the game's plot to the end.
• Broad Strokes: Despite featuring a reimagined depiction of the title character, portrayed by a new actor and inspired by more modern depictions, The Devil’s Daughter is still canon to the original continuity as it picks up the storyline left by The Testament of Sherlock Holmes.
• Central Theme: So far the reboot games has had a theme of objective truths and Sherlock's belief that regardless of how horrible these truths are, it's far better to know them than live in denial. This belief however is firmly challenged: first in Chapter One where he discovers just how horrific these truths are when he learns that his mother tried to kill him which transforms him into a slightly colder character and regardless of how he chooses to interpret events loses his only friend Jon; and in The Awakening, his insistence to stick with objective and scientific facts proves useless when dealing with the supernatural and eldritch horrors of this latest mysteries, with him being forced into a situation where he must either assume that he's going mad or that everything he's believed in is now worthless in the face of the greater truth that cosmic horrors do exist.
• Continuity Reboot: Chapter One, while initially treated as being a prequel, became this with the release of the 2023 remake of The Awakened, which acted as a sequel. The Devil’s Daughter is also apparently this, but it uses enough lore from the previous games to be considered canon to the original continuity in Broad Strokes.
• Continuity Snarl: The original continuity suffered from this, due to its Anachronic Order not being firmly defined and resulting in games set earlier in timeline referencing events that haven't happened yet. The biggest example is Testament being explicitly set in 1898 by Watson's narration only for The Devil's Daughter, which is set after, introducing a child character whose date of birth is confirmed to be 1887 and for Holmes' deduction to state that he's now eight year old, placing the events of the game in 1895 or 1896.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Each of the game's antagonists that Sherlock has faced have differed to each other:
  • Sherlock Holmes: Secret of the Silver Earring has Lt. Herrington contrasting the Big Bad Duumvirate of the previous game. While they are both affluent, big-name families in London who have been secretly conspiring to murder someone for their benefit, Lt. Herrington is contrasted to both Lord Montcalfe and his daughter Elisabeth Montcalfe. Unlike the previous antagonists who basically plan their schemes elaborately in their own mansion by themselves, Lt. Herrington hired other criminals including Jeffries and Wyatt Collins to do his dirty work, while he does so to steal Lavinia's inheritance for his own, as well as the titular Silver Earring.
  • Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened has Lord Rochester, who is the polar opposite to Lt. Herrington and the Montcalfes. Unlike them who are simply rogue nobles working as upper-class criminals with a simple, local-level criminal plot, Lord Rochester is a full-on cult leader who is actively planning Cthulhu's awakening and has an army of lobotomised people serving as his cult's own members, as well as a grand scheme in play, like sacrificial rituals in his goal to awaken the Great Old One and bring him on Earth for his apocalyptic plan.
  • Sherlock Holmes Versus Arsène Lupin has the titular Arsène Lupin in common with Lt. Herrington, being charismatic criminals who are thieves in their own right. The difference is that Lt. Herrington's schemes are way more obvious and are easily detectable by Sherlock, while Lupin's methods of crimes are riddled with Red Herrings, of which required immense skill for Holmes and Watson to even deduce Lupin's real heist scheme at the end. And unlike Lt. Herrington who schemed the murder of Lavinia's father to steal her family inheritance, Lupin is a Gentleman Thief who does not prefer violent methods, and instead relies heavily on charisma and manipulation. He's also French, unlike the British Lt. Herrington.
• Deuteragonist: As usual, Dr. Watson takes on this role in the series and is even playable on occasion.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: The original continuity ends on this. Despite the many tragedies and horrors he experienced in the 1890s, especially between 1894-1896, along with the difficulties of his original literary adventures, Sherlock’s life is a relatively happy one where he lives with a close friend, has a loving relationship with his adopted daughter Katelyn, and still has time to solve cases here and there. Testament also confirms with the ending that Katelyn grows into a very happy woman with a great education and has a family of her own, making Holmes a grandfather, and Holmes and Watson remain good friends for the rest of their lives.
• Experienced Protagonist: Except for Versus Jack the Ripper, all the games are set after Holmes' final confrontation with Professor Moriarty in The Final Problem and subsequent return after faking his death. This means that this version is a very accomplished and experienced crime solver who has solved all of the famous mysteries from the books and is highly respected for his many accomplishments. This is subverted in the reboot, as while Sherlock has prior history with crime solving he's still learning and is in the early years of his career.
• The Gay '90s: Except for Versus Jack the Ripper, which starts in 1888 and covers the next four years, all the games in the original continuity are set in this decade.
• Intercontinuity Crossover: Through Public Domain Canon Welding, Holmes and Watson encountered a cult seemingly worshipping the Cthulhu Mythos which may or may not exist and come into conflict with Arsène Lupin.
• Master of Disguise: Holmes is treated as this, having a wide range of clothing, fake facial hair and make up to appear as a completely different person and blend in with any other social class.
• Multiple Endings: Starting with Crimes & Punishment, at the end of each case Holmes must make a conclusion about how the crime was committed and accuse one of the suspects, with only one option being correct. Not only that, but Holmes also must decide whether to bring them to justice by arresting them, or let them get away with the crime for whatever reason is given, usually because they can be viewed as victims themselves who deserve a second chance.
• Non-Linear Sequel: All the sequels in the original continuity are set before the first game, complicated further by The Devil's Daughter being a Broad Strokes sequel to Testament but set two years before it.
• Prequel: The first game in the series is chronologically the last, making the next seven games this. Chapter One was intended to be this but eventually became the start of a new continuity.
• Public Domain Canon Welding: The original continuity had Holmes encounter both the Cthulhu Mythos and Arsène Lupin. The Awakened also has Holmes and Watson briefly interact with a young boy named Hercule who they advise to use his brain to solve puzzles after the child gave Holmes a puzzle box. The reboot continuity would also have that version of Sherlock investigate crimes that are revealed to have been committed by a young Lupin and later encounter the Cthulhu Mythos.
• Sherlock Scan: As usual Holmes can do this, with Crimes & Punishments introducing "Sherlock Vision" as a mechanic to help reveal clues the player might otherwise have missed, an idea that was inspired by Sherlock. The games also have the player observe and click on highlighted areas on a person that reveal details about them, with later games requiring the player to deduce from the available clues what this reveals about a person.
• String Theory: Sort of. Many of the game have a page where you can make connections between the different clues that are uncovered during a game, allowing you to create a conclusion.
• Thematic Series: Sort of, but The Awakened, Versus Arsène Lupin and Versus Jack the Ripper all involve Holmes going up against a specific kind of threat and were released consecutively, making them a trilogy of sorts. The other games in the series, while having an overreaching plot, tend to have Holmes dealing with several different cases.
• Took a Level in Badass: Initially Watson was portrayed as being more of a buffoon who always states the obvious, but later games will treat him as a more equal partner to Holmes that he can bounce ideas off of and who's military background often comes into use. Of course given the Anachronic Order of the series, this is more likely a case of Took a Level in Dumbass In-Universe.
• Ultimate Universe: The reboot continuity seems to be this. It's a Darker and Edgier continuity that streamlines storylines from the original games to have certain characters appear earlier than in the original continuity, features a slightly younger Holmes who has a much more angst, and other characters like Watson and Mycroft have slightly different personalities compared to the original versions.
• Versus Title: Versus Arsène Lupin and Versus Jack the Ripper are examples of this.
• Video Game Long-Runners: As of 2023 the series has lasted 21 years with ten main games and four spin-off games.
• The Watson: Dr. Watson appears in all the games in the series, though he's just a cameo in Chapter One. In that game he's replaced by Sherlock's imaginary friend Jon.
• Younger and Hipper: Downplayed with The Devil’s Daughter, as both Holmes and Watson were still grown men, but they seemed to be a little younger than in previous games and visually Holmes seemed inspired by more modern portrayals which made him seem younger. Chapter One does this more successfully, featuring a far younger version of the character who has yet to become a famous detective. Somewhat downplayed in the sequel since it’s set when Holmes and Watson are now living together, but still noticeably present as it’s set in 1882 which is 12 years earlier than when The Awakened occurred in the original continuity.