Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter has players controlling Holmes (and sometimes a few of his companions) as he works through four major cases. While each case is independent, how you choose to treat your suspects could influence how some aspects play out in the game's overall story.
You see, Holmes' adopted daughter, Kate, has come to visit, and while this causes some commotion, it isn't until Sherlock's new neighbor makes an appearance that things start to get odd. It quickly becomes apparent to players that Kate isn't just any adopted child, but based on veiled discussions between Sherlock and Watson, there are things about Kate's past that even she doesn't know. When Alice, the new neighbor, appears and starts hinting that she also knows Kate's history, Sherlock quickly becomes protective of his ward. Unfortunately the manipulative neighbor seems to be several steps ahead of Holmes, and that's hard to do with Sherlock.
Sherlock's cases include tracking down a boy's missing father, solving a murder that appears to have been committed by a living statues, finding out who threw a bomb into Holmes' home and even determining the cause for a complex and devastating street accident that seems to be aimed at taking out very particular people, though the scope of the accident might be far greater than the perpetrator intended.
As Sherlock explores the various scenes, he will pick up tidbits of knowledge, and from those tidbits you will be able to draw conclusions to determine who you think the person behind the crime is. Interestingly enough, you can easily draw false conclusions, and only once you've confronted the potentially guilty party, can you verify if that was the right choice. The game does give you a chance to undo that choice before ending the mystery and advancing the story though. So, if you haven't quite got it right, you can either continue your investigations or, if you know you've got all the clues, change your deductions and avoid the red herrings that led you to the wrong person.
In general, I found the detecting and deduction aspects of The Devil's Daughter to be very satisfying. I will admit that there was an occasion or two where I found myself accusing the wrong person, but in one case, I hadn't actually finished my investigations and in another, I felt like it was more of a toss up between two suspects, I just happened to choose the wrong one first in that case.
Where Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter has problems is when it tries to do just a little too much. There are parts of the game where it strays away from the adventure genre, and those times get very frustrating very fast. At the end of one case, you are being chased by a sniper and you have to run through woods and a swamp to get away. You have to occasionally take cover to catch your breath and avoid the random shots that will slow you down, oh and at some points, if you make a wrong step, it's instant death. A later part of the game (though not much later) has you playing a lengthy three-round game of lawn bowling. While skippable, it just feels like a frustrating waste of time, especially since it comes on the heels of not only trying to survive the aforementioned shooting, but also trying to determine exactly what outfit Sherlock feels is appropriate for the game.
Seriously, there are times when the game forces you to change your outfit to fit the occasion. While some of these make sense and fit into the story, like acting like a doctor or preacher, this particular instance was frustrating because it took me quite a while before I realized that it also wanted me to choose a specific hat.
