The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been a horrific tragedy for tens of millions of people, but as we’ve seen, life still goes on between the bombings. And that includes making, and releasing, new video games.
The experiences of the team at Frogwares—a studio best known for their Sherlock Holmes games—have been one of many ways international readers have been able to learn about the war and its effects on Ukraine’s people. Over the past year we’ve seen members of the team join the armed forces, seen that others have been able to relocate to safer locations and that, through it all, Frogwares have somehow been able to keep developing the games that fans around the world know them for.
They were able to release one in March 2022, an incredible achievement, but that was also a game that had mostly been developed prior to the invasion. Last week they released a second, called Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, a modern remake of a game they first released in 2008.
It seems to be reviewing OK, no doubt helped by the fact that the original was a pretty good adventure game to begin with. Aside from the graphical upgrades, though, the 2023 version has one other difference with the original: it includes a splash screen at the beginning of the game providing some important context for The Awakened’s development and release:
On February 24th, 2022 our home, Ukraine, was brutally invaded and thrown into all-out war.
In April 2022, we began development of Sherlock Holmes The Awakened.
This game is dedicated to all the fighters, volunteers, supporters, and every single citizen who stood their ground and kept our country standing.
It is our own act of resilience against the chaos and horror the enemy tried to impose on our livelihood.
Slava Ukraini
The Awakened is out now on...pretty much everything (PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch).