Sherlock Holmes: The Silver Earring

About

In "Sherlock Holmes: The Silver Earring," the iconic detective and Dr. Watson attend a party that turns deadly with a murder occurring in their presence. As Holmes investigates, the list of suspects grows and other crimes are committed, challenging players to solve the case before more innocent people are harmed. This immersive game features a complex plot written by a devoted Sherlock Holmes fan, providing a unique and engaging experience for players.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Sherlock Holmes: The Silver Earring screenshot

55%

Audience ScoreBased on 323 reviews

story72 positive mentions

gameplay22 negative mentions

The story is engaging and complex, capturing the essence of a classic Sherlock Holmes mystery.
The game features a variety of characters and locations, enhancing the investigative experience.
The end-of-day quizzes encourage players to pay attention to details and connect clues.

The controls are clunky and unresponsive, making navigation frustrating.
There are several game-breaking bugs, including a crucial item that can be missed early on.
Some puzzles are illogical or overly difficult, requiring a walkthrough to progress.

story
193 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
55%
7%
The story of "Sherlock Holmes: The Silver Earring" is described as complex and engaging, capturing the essence of classic Holmes narratives with intriguing murder mysteries and a variety of characters. However, many players found the plot convoluted and difficult to follow, particularly due to an overload of information and characters, which detracted from the overall experience. While some appreciated the well-written dialogue and the immersive detective work, others criticized the gameplay mechanics and pacing, suggesting that the story's potential was often overshadowed by frustrating gameplay elements.
- “The story is interesting, you have to be connected to the case, try to understand what happens.”
- “As a big fan of the Sherlock Holmes series, I must say that this game is a real gem, especially taking into consideration its age. The game has a massive amount of charm to it, with a case that really takes you to many different places and has a really captivating story.”
- “The story was interesting, but some of the quizzes were too hard and annoying to pass.”
- “The silver earring in the game's title only shows up towards the end of the game and never has any real significance, and the entire murder plot Holmes and Watson have been investigating is so convoluted that Holmes spends 20 minutes to explain who killed whom for what in an endless monologue that eventually lost me, so I closed the game confused, not quite understanding why the murderer did it.”
- “The story is complicated, with many developments and revelations, but it makes sense, although some connections only Sherlock could have seen.”
- “The story didn't flow right, the mechanics were clunky, and the puzzles were either unintuitive or too easy.”
gameplay
79 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
59%
28%
The gameplay has been widely criticized for its clunky mechanics, frustrating navigation, and inconsistent hitboxes, making clue collection and movement tedious. While the game retains classic point-and-click elements and offers an engaging story, many players found the outdated mechanics and poorly designed puzzles detracted significantly from the overall experience. Despite some appreciation for the narrative and deduction elements, the overwhelming sentiment is that the gameplay is a major drawback, often leading to player frustration and disengagement.
- “The gameplay focuses on investigation, clue collection, and puzzle-solving, staying true to the detective genre.”
- “Gameplay-wise, it's a point-and-click adventure game where we go through different locations in search of evidence and clues to our case.”
- “The story, gameplay, controls, and voice acting are all vastly improved.”
- “The controls and overall mechanics of the game are so bad it wasn't even worth restarting the game and trying again.”
- “The gameplay is just clunky; navigating across the map sometimes requires multiple clicks.”
- “Extremely poorly done, very clunky gameplay.”
graphics
68 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
62%
12%
The graphics of the game are generally considered dated, reflecting its 2004 release, with many reviewers noting that while the visuals were acceptable for their time, they now appear blurry and are plagued by numerous graphical bugs and glitches. Some players appreciated the detailed environments and pre-rendered cutscenes, but overall, the consensus is that the graphics do not hold up well against modern standards, making it a challenging experience for those unfamiliar with older titles. Despite these shortcomings, the game's art style and atmosphere were occasionally praised, particularly for fans of the genre.
- “Nice looking and detailed graphics which aged quite well.”
- “The graphics are very correct for 2004 and work well with this London murder story.”
- “The visuals are actually pretty good for the time the game was made, and are acceptable even in 2021 (considering what else there is in the point and click genre).”
- “The graphics have not aged well, and the one thing that is exceptionally terrible in this game are the controls.”
- “There are frequent graphic glitches, as characters walk on walls and turn door handles while looking at walls, etc.”
- “The graphics were so dated, but I understood since it was released back in 2004. It looks a bit too dated, like N64 graphics, and the shadows were bad. Sometimes the shadows get stuck into objects, and the lighting was really bad; it's either too dark or too bright.”
music
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
57%
7%
The music in the game is primarily composed of classical pieces, which many players find elegant and atmospheric, enhancing the overall experience. However, the soundtrack is often criticized for being repetitive and occasionally overpowering the dialogue, leading to a recommendation to use subtitles. While the music contributes positively to the game's charm, its limited variety and volume issues detract from the immersion at times.
- “The soundtrack consists of some classical music masterpieces.”
- “With the excellent score of classical music pieces, and overall atmosphere, the game is actually kind of cozy.”
- “The game has some beautiful music - though not enough of it, and you'll hear the same pieces many times.”
- “The music by default is quite loud and drowns out dialogue, but other than that I didn't need to change any settings, which was nice for a 20-year-old game.”
- “The music sometimes was louder than the dialogue and was annoying at times.”
- “Having said that, the game is riddled with faults - a lot of the time you have to hunt for microscopic items to progress in the investigation, the placement of 'cursor spots' (for pathing and interactive points in the environment) is incredibly poor, the music is repetitive and dull.”
stability
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with numerous reports of bugs, glitches, and crashes that significantly hinder gameplay. Players have experienced issues ranging from unplayable conditions on certain systems to frustrating graphical errors that disrupt puzzle-solving. While some find the game enjoyable despite these problems, the overall consensus is that its stability issues make it a frustrating experience.
- “I've enjoyed playing it, sure, but I also had a hell of a time getting the game to run in the first place and have encountered glitches that have slowed my ability to progress through the puzzles.”
- “All that could be forgiven, I suppose, had it not been for the many glitches which made some clues all but impossible to detect and in some cases crashed the game.”
- “It ran alright on my first laptop, but since I have now changed to a Windows 10 computer, it constantly freezes and is basically unplayable.”
atmosphere
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
18%
27%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its cozy yet eerie ambiance, enhanced by a strong classical music score and well-developed characters. While some voice acting may detract slightly from the experience, the overall aesthetic, including Victorian art style and atmospheric settings, contributes to a compelling and immersive mystery. However, players are advised to use a walkthrough to navigate potential frustrations in gameplay.
- “This game has some great atmosphere, music, and an intriguing mystery.”
- “With the excellent score of classical music pieces, and overall atmosphere, the game is actually kinda cozy.”
- “Creepy, atmospheric, beautiful.”
- “With the excellent score of classical music pieces, and overall atmosphere, the game is actually kind of cozy.”
- “The characters are well fleshed out and the story has depth and atmosphere.”
- “I really liked the music and the atmosphere of the game.”
grinding
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, with slow character movement, clunky controls, and poorly designed loading screens contributing to a frustrating experience. The need for pixel hunting and repetitive tasks, such as solving convoluted puzzles and navigating disorienting camera angles, further exacerbates the grind. While some content is engaging, the overall experience is marred by the laborious nature of progression, making it a challenge to enjoy without a walkthrough.
- “It doesn't hint you in advance that they're coming, so you can lose, return to the main screen and then use a load file from a far point in which you saved last, and then repeat some tedious things you already found or did.”
- “Making characters move anywhere or do anything is slow and tedious, the stationary camera angles can be quite disorienting at times, the puzzles are sometimes complete nonsense, and you shall not advance to the next stage unless you've gathered all of the required clues, requiring aggravating pixel hunts and looking at all pictures everywhere.”
- “The content is fun and engaging, if a bit tedious (not using a walk-through is not an option unless you enjoy spending hours bumping through the same five rooms trying to find the one scrap of evidence you're missing...) even including the quiz structure.”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is likened to a so-bad-it's-good movie experience, providing unintentional laughs through graphical glitches and quirky NPC interactions. While some players found the humor entertaining at first, the novelty wore off after prolonged play, leading to a mix of amusement and boredom. Overall, the humor is characterized by its charm in imperfections, making for a lighthearted, albeit sometimes frustrating, experience.
- “It's kind of like a bad movie that you find in a bargain bin, and you think 'yo, this looks so dumb, this is gonna be so funny.' You start watching it, and you're like 'haha, hell yeah, this is so bad, this is such a great time.' Then it keeps going, and you realize you spent thirteen and a half hours this weekend watching a poorly aged dumpster fire of a movie that makes you regret starting it even as a bit.”
- “The overall graphics look fine, especially the rooms are very detailed, but there are a lot of graphical bugs that break the immersion and bring a lot of unintended laughing moments.”
- “The occasional typos and strange subtitles were more funny than annoying to me.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players report that the game effectively immerses them in the role of a detective, enhancing their emotional investment in the story and clues. The experience is described as feeling authentic and engaging, making players feel a strong connection to the investigative process.
- “But the last one - the most important - made me feel like I should solve crimes for a living.”
- “The exorbitant amounts of evidence made me feel like I was thrust into the role of a real detective instead of an adventure-game detective, if you know what I mean.”
- “These quizzes make you feel like a detective, and made me feel much more invested in the clues and story.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
100%
The game's optimization is severely lacking, with players experiencing slow and jerky character movement, poor pathfinding, and significant performance issues even on capable hardware. Additionally, the absence of an autosave feature and the challenging nature of puzzles contribute to a frustrating gameplay experience.
- “The puzzles are challenging, requiring you to find all the interactive objects using the mouse pointer without any help function. However, the lack of autosave and the occasional sluggish performance can be frustrating, even on a decent 2014 system with an Intel quad-core and a GTX 970.”
- “Slow walking combined with poor pathing results in frustrating movement and stuttering.”
- “The optimization is lacking, causing frequent frame drops and lag during gameplay.”
- “Character movement feels clunky and unresponsive due to inadequate optimization.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The monetization model is perceived as outdated, reflecting a lack of innovation that aligns with the game's overall presentation.
- “The monetization strategy feels outdated and overly aggressive, making it hard to enjoy the game without spending extra money.”
- “I feel like I'm constantly being pushed to spend more, which ruins the overall experience.”
- “The in-game purchases are so prevalent that it feels like the game was designed around them rather than the gameplay itself.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Users generally agree that the game lacks replayability, with many stating that once completed, there is little incentive to play through it again.
- “Replay value: no.”
- “Once you've completed the game, there's little incentive to go back and play it again.”
- “The lack of meaningful choices and consequences makes replaying feel pointless.”