In a video update shared yesterday on YouTube, Ukrainian game development studio Frogwares relayed the decision to delay Sherlock Holmes The Awakened from the previous late February/early March window to late March/April because of the continued Russian missile strikes in Kyiv.

　　Sergiy Oganesyan, Head of Publishing at Frogwares, stated:

　　We had been trying so hard to make our planned release window, but the continual interruptions to power on top of the frequent missile attacks since October meant we had to replan and reschedule almost every month. We’re now at the spot where the game is content complete, so we need to move into doing final QA, polishing, and launch setup. To say we are tired of how much all this has derailed our day-to-day work since the start of winter is an understatement. But we’re doing our best to push on. Once we feel we are maybe a month away from release, we’ll be able to announce our full release date with an exact day.

　　Frogwares is just one of several Ukrainian developers having difficulties due to the ongoing Russian invasion. 4A Games (Metro) and GSC Game World (STALKER) are other prominent examples.

　　Sherlock Holmes The Awakened is a remake of the 2007 title featuring heavy Lovecraftian elements. It was crowdfunded on Kickstarter and will be released on PC, PS4, PS5, XB1, Xbox Series S/X, and Nintendo Switch. Francesco recently checked out a preview build and summarized his experience with the following statement:

　　At the end of the day, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened will probably not be as huge a step forward for the series as Chapter one, but no one should have expected any different. Considering what Frogwares has been going through with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it's almost a miracle that they have managed to work on yet another title in such difficult times. There may be some surprises and twists in the final release, but even if they won't be there, the game is set out to be another solid entry in a franchise that has grown a lot over the years and certainly won't be damaged by a safer new entry.