Sherlock Holmes Chapter One

The plot follows a 21-year-old Sherlock Holmes at the beginning of his career as a "consulting detective". Following the death of his mother, Violet, the young detective returns to his childhood home on the Mediterranean island of Cordona. There, Holmes uncovers a sinister conspiracy lurking beneath the surface of a seemingly idyllic town where corruption and crime are rampant, and the locals shun outsiders. While investigating, Holmes must also reacquaint himself with his old friend, the enigmatic Jon.

According to review aggregator Metacritic, the PC and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game received generally favourable reviews, while the PlayStation 5 version received mixed or average reviews. Reviewers praised it for its intriguing, engaging detective gameplay while criticizing its lack of polish, dull open world and inability to tackle social issues with grace.

Tristan Ogilvie of IGN called Sherlock Holmes Chapter One as a decent detective game set in an open-world that is elementary. GameSpot praised its detective gameplay while criticizing its elementary nature. GamesRadar+ praised it, writing about how it "does detective puzzling like no other series" while calling it flawed, but fascinating. Fraser Brown of PC Gamer lauded the game for its smart writing. Push Square awarded the game six stars out of ten, praising the Sherlock Holmes mechanics while criticizing the open world as dull and frame rate with other technical problems.