A resounding yes.

I very much enjoyed this. It's a delight to see that Frogwares' move to self-publishing has enabled them to focus on making a good story and constructing interesting cases, and to almost entirely eliminate cheap, low-denominator minigames (cough Devil's Daughter cough).

The main story is gripping, suspenseful, emotional.

I was ready to immediately hate the sidekick character Jon - he turned out to be a pleasure to work with, and the two characters have a fascinating relationship.

I was also ready to be let down by a young, hip Sherlock (cough Devil's Daughter cough). But this time the developers took pains to make the hero distinctly uncool, problematic, and arrogant, as he should be portrayed, particularly cast against their other titles. This version matches up beautifully as a younger version of the man we get to know in Testament, Crimes and Punishments, vs Jack the Ripper, et al.

There is combat in the game. No, it's not the next Gears of War. This system does exactly what it's supposed to - provide a light, actiony break from the constant conversations. Combat will take up less than 5% of your gameplay time, unless you choose to pursue the optional bandit lair challenges (which I found diverting).

I should say something about the proper cases, the meat of the game. Some are quick and dirty, some are involved and span a good deal of time and travel, and all require you pay attention, but are solvable without a walkthrough for the persistent personality. I was stumped a few times and didn't know how to proceed once or twice, but after sleeping on it always found a new way forward.* The best approach for me was to explore and find another, minor case to take my mind off the major ones when I felt like I couldn't progress. The content of all the cases is thoughtful and the means of solving them are varied enough that investigation never felt stale to me.

*Note the only time I used a walkthrough was to finish the "collect 'em all" treasure hunt mission (which could have been done better), after I had completed all the proper cases in the game on my own.

Maybe I'm biased - after the very (very) disappointing Devil's Daughter, I really wanted this game to be good. So maybe I'm looking at it through too forgiving a lens? Maybe; but honestly, aside from a few nitpicks not worth mentioning, I can find nothing bad to say about this game.

Including all the DLC cases, Chapter One gave me nearly 50 hours of gracious entertainment and I wouldn't ask for a minute of that time back. I was happy to pay full price for the Deluxe Edition, though I admit that was in part my willingness to support the developers' move to self-publishing, because I simply like Frogwares and want them to do more good work. For a normal person who just wants a good game at a good price, I would say this is easily a $30+ title even for the stingiest of investigation enthusiasts, and worth the asking price if you can afford it.

I'm so excited that Frogwares has full creative control over their work now, and hotly anticipate the announcement of their next project.

A resounding yes. I very much enjoyed this. It's a delight to see that Frogwares' move to self-publishing has enabled them to focus on making a good story and constructing interesting cases, and to almost entirely eliminate cheap, low-denominator minigames (cough [i]Devil's Daughter[/i] cough). The main story is gripping, suspenseful, emotional. I was ready to immediately hate the sidekick character Jon - he turned out to be a pleasure to work with, and the two characters have a fascinating relationship. I was also ready to be let down by a young, hip Sherlock (cough [i]Devil's Daughter[/i] cough). But this time the developers took pains to make the hero distinctly uncool, problematic, and arrogant, as he should be portrayed, particularly cast against their other titles. This version matches up beautifully as a younger version of the man we get to know in [i]Testament[/i], [i]Crimes and Punishments[/i], [i]vs Jack the Ripper[/i], et al. There is combat in the game. No, it's not the next Gears of War. This system does exactly what it's supposed to - provide a light, actiony break from the constant conversations. Combat will take up less than 5% of your gameplay time, unless you choose to pursue the optional bandit lair challenges (which I found diverting). I should say something about the proper cases, the meat of the game. Some are quick and dirty, some are involved and span a good deal of time and travel, and all require you pay attention, but are solvable without a walkthrough for the persistent personality. I was stumped a few times and didn't know how to proceed once or twice, but after sleeping on it always found a new way forward.* The best approach for me was to explore and find another, minor case to take my mind off the major ones when I felt like I couldn't progress. The content of all the cases is thoughtful and the means of solving them are varied enough that investigation never felt stale to me. *Note the only time I used a walkthrough was to finish the "collect 'em all" treasure hunt mission (which could have been done better), after I had completed all the proper cases in the game on my own. Maybe I'm biased - after the very (very) disappointing [i]Devil's Daughter[/i], I really wanted this game to be good. So maybe I'm looking at it through too forgiving a lens? Maybe; but honestly, aside from a few nitpicks not worth mentioning, I can find nothing bad to say about this game. Including all the DLC cases, [i]Chapter One[/i] gave me nearly 50 hours of gracious entertainment and I wouldn't ask for a minute of that time back. I was happy to pay full price for the Deluxe Edition, though I admit that was in part my willingness to support the developers' move to self-publishing, because I simply like Frogwares and want them to do more good work. For a normal person who just wants a good game at a good price, I would say this is easily a $30+ title even for the stingiest of investigation enthusiasts, and worth the asking price if you can afford it. I'm so excited that Frogwares has full creative control over their work now, and hotly anticipate the announcement of their next project.