Is there an order I should follow for these games?

[JavaJack]

I bought the collection on the store page with a handful of SH titles. Not sure if order matters, or if I should just go down the list.

[Cursed Life]

2002 The Mystery of the Mummy
2003
2004 The Case of the Silver Earring
2005
2006
2007 The Awakened
Versus Arsène Lupin
2008
2009 Versus Jack the Ripper
2010
2011
2012 The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
2013
2014 Crimes & Punishments
2015
2016 The Devil's Daughter
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021 Chapter One

[GaZoZ]

I think you can play them in any order, i havent noticed anything from the previous games dialogue wise or hint wise up to jack The Ripper which is the furthest i have personally played from all the old ones. I havent played any of em past that games release though so i cant say for the newer games but they seem to jump drastically from what i can see from that game to Testament with modernized graphics/controls/mechanics etc.

With that said i started with "The Awakened" and completed it and honestly didnt like it too much it has some outrageous puzzles at some point that will make you question why you installed it in the first place even though the atmosphere in general is good those puzzles are a buzzkill. A example is some puzzle you have to guess something you read earlier or something or type in the word in a correct way in a dialogue box, the only way i managed to pass this area i think it happens twice in the game was using a playthrough.

After Awakened i tried "Silver Earring" and honestly i couldnt get into it at all it felt like a way more outdated version of the Awakened with even more of the same ridiculous guessing puzzles so i dropped it completely.

3rd game i played was "Jack the Ripper" is the game that made me decide to eventually give all these games a try i loved it it has a great atmosphere and the puzzles and progression is more fluid than the previous 2 i played and the crime scene deductions where pretty fun. It overall has some hard puzzles still but it definitely feels more fair in that regard than the other 2.

Imo Silver Earring and the 1st person Mystery of the Mummy game are bad starting points and should probably be avoided if you dont want to lose interest in the franchise and to some degree the Awakened too but they can prob be too hard to get back to if you play more of the modern ones.

Id say Jack the Ripper or one of the very modern ones after that are probably the best starting point, i cant really say how the new ones are though but personally i have the desire to play the "Arsene Lupin" game right now/up next in my list since i think i might not go back to it if i play one of the more modern ones. I have heard that one is a bit outdated too though so im hoping a bit its on par or very close to Jack The Ripper personally.

[JavaJack]

Originally posted by GaZoZ:

I think you can play them in any order, i havent noticed anything from the previous games dialogue wise or hint wise up to jack The Ripper which is the furthest i have personally played from all the old ones. I havent played any of em past that games release though so i cant say for the newer games but they seem to jump drastically from what i can see from that game to Testament with modernized graphics/controls/mechanics etc.

With that said i started with "The Awakened" and completed it and honestly didnt like it too much it has some outrageous puzzles at some point that will make you question why you installed it in the first place even though the atmosphere in general is good those puzzles are a buzzkill. A example is some puzzle you have to guess something you read earlier or something or type in the word in a correct way in a dialogue box, the only way i managed to pass this area i think it happens twice in the game was using a playthrough.

After Awakened i tried "Silver Earring" and honestly i couldnt get into it at all it felt like a way more outdated version of the Awakened with even more of the same ridiculous guessing puzzles so i dropped it.

I ended up starting with Nemesis. I kinda figured that each game would likely have a self-contained story, at least for the older ones.

So far I feel that this one also has a few of those dumb puzzles/intricacies that occasionally require a guide to not drive me mad, like being required to examine all 4 identical footprints in one screen to actually count it as examined, or making you think you can progress a puzzle, but you actually don't have any of the required pieces.

Either way, I appreciate the response, have a good day.

[Cursed Life]

Guess im the guy who responed exactlty at the question and get ignored.
Fine

[Dun Gryndon]

Originally posted by Charmed Life:

Guess im the guy who responed exactlty at the question and get ignored.
Fine

Look closer, Watson. You didn't answer the question at all.

[Godofhellfire]

Like Gazos, I haven't played the newer ones. If I remember correctly, there are some references to the older titles in form of trophies in Holmes' flat. But nothing more...

[JavaJack]

Originally posted by Godofhellfire:

Like Gazos, I haven't played the newer ones. If I remember correctly, there are some references to the older titles in form of trophies in Holmes' flat. But nothing more...

Yeah, since making this post a while back I've played Awakened, Nemesis, Jack the Ripper, Testament, and Crimes and Punishments.

The only thing that could be considered at all spoiler-y is, I believe, a moment in Testament where Watson comments on a location you visit being where Jack the Ripper lived. Since finding his location is a legitimate part of JtR, I guess it could count.

[Thomas Baxter]

Originally posted by JavaJack:

Originally posted by GaZoZ:

I think you can play them in any order, i havent noticed anything from the previous games dialogue wise or hint wise up to jack The Ripper which is the furthest i have personally played from all the old ones. I havent played any of em past that games release though so i cant say for the newer games but they seem to jump drastically from what i can see from that game to Testament with modernized graphics/controls/mechanics etc.

With that said i started with "The Awakened" and completed it and honestly didnt like it too much it has some outrageous puzzles at some point that will make you question why you installed it in the first place even though the atmosphere in general is good those puzzles are a buzzkill. A example is some puzzle you have to guess something you read earlier or something or type in the word in a correct way in a dialogue box, the only way i managed to pass this area i think it happens twice in the game was using a playthrough.

After Awakened i tried "Silver Earring" and honestly i couldnt get into it at all it felt like a way more outdated version of the Awakened with even more of the same ridiculous guessing puzzles so i dropped it.

I ended up starting with Nemesis. I kinda figured that each game would likely have a self-contained story, at least for the older ones.

So far I feel that this one also has a few of those dumb puzzles/intricacies that occasionally require a guide to not drive me mad, like being required to examine all 4 identical footprints in one screen to actually count it as examined, or making you think you can progress a puzzle, but you actually don't have any of the required pieces.

Either way, I appreciate the response, have a good day.

The only bad thing (or good thing, depending on ur play style) about Nemesis is its the one that really taxes your brains. I dunno if this is the remastered version or not but the original version had no hint system and I ended up rage quitting constant. The awakened is more straighforward and jack the ripper was more intuitive. I did love how beautiful nemesis was for the time tho.

[JavaJack]

Originally posted by Thomas Baxter:

Originally posted by JavaJack:

I ended up starting with Nemesis. I kinda figured that each game would likely have a self-contained story, at least for the older ones.

So far I feel that this one also has a few of those dumb puzzles/intricacies that occasionally require a guide to not drive me mad, like being required to examine all 4 identical footprints in one screen to actually count it as examined, or making you think you can progress a puzzle, but you actually don't have any of the required pieces.

Either way, I appreciate the response, have a good day.

The only bad thing (or good thing, depending on ur play style) about Nemesis is its the one that really taxes your brains. I dunno if this is the remastered version or not but the original version had no hint system and I ended up rage quitting constant. The awakened is more straighforward and jack the ripper was more intuitive. I did love how beautiful nemesis was for the time tho.

Yeah, you kinda hit the nail on the head there. I've played through a bunch of them now, but Nemesis was the only one I didn't play from start to finish. I encountered a few roadblocks that I thought were ridiculous, like needing to examine all three of an identical footprint to advance the story. Countless trips to a walkthrough just to find that the solution is something dumb like that started to get on my nerves.

These little things compounded into me just putting it away for a while, but that turned into me shelving it for now.

I then turned to Testament, which I really liked, followed by Awakened, jack the Ripper and Crimes and Punishments. I finished them all and really liked them in their own way.

[IDDQD]

Originally posted by Thomas Baxter:

Originally posted by JavaJack:

I ended up starting with Nemesis. I kinda figured that each game would likely have a self-contained story, at least for the older ones.

So far I feel that this one also has a few of those dumb puzzles/intricacies that occasionally require a guide to not drive me mad, like being required to examine all 4 identical footprints in one screen to actually count it as examined, or making you think you can progress a puzzle, but you actually don't have any of the required pieces.

Either way, I appreciate the response, have a good day.

The only bad thing (or good thing, depending on ur play style) about Nemesis is its the one that really taxes your brains. I dunno if this is the remastered version or not but the original version had no hint system and I ended up rage quitting constant. The awakened is more straighforward and jack the ripper was more intuitive. I did love how beautiful nemesis was for the time tho.

I don't know if I could've gotten through Nemesis without a guide - no way! Had to refer to the one built in-game quite a bit unfortunately. I'm not great at trying to decipher riddles, which there was a lot of. The puzzles could be quite obscure and nonsensical quite often.

Will jump into The Awakened next. The only one's I won't have played after that will be Chapter One, The Case of the Silver Earring, and The Mystery of the Mummy. Probably won't be bothering with the latter, the reviews aren't very complimentary. GaZoZ's advice about Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper being the best starting point might be spot on.

[cloister56]

Mystery of the Mummy is free now. It is the only one I had real difficulty getting running but there are very good guides on the steam forum.
It is the weakest so far so unless you want to be complete or the idea of exploring a mansion with loads of egyptian artifacts really appeals I can understand giving it a miss. The puzzles are a mixed bag, I did refer to a guide.
Silver Earring is more refined and I really enjoyed it ,so if you are at all tempted I would give that a go.

[BigB]

Imho a good order for the frogware holmes games is this.
1. Silver Earring
2. Nemesis
3. Ripper
4. Testament
5. Crimes & Punishment
6. Devils Daughter
( 6b. Chapter One, I'm missing this one as of now )
7. The Awakened

Everything I excluded isn't a must play in my opinion, but can be done if one needs something more Sherlock Holmes. And if you're done with all of that
There are two old, but classical and quite good ones you could also give at least a try:
1992s "The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel"
and 1996s "The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Rose Tattoo"
Both run great in ScummVM, and I enjoyed Scalpel very much.