"Sherlock has his childhood pal alongside him. Their playground suddenly became all grown-up, but their demeanor is yet to catch up."

This is just one quote from a fascinating developer diary from Frogwares (The Sinking City), highlighting the cinematic flair and nuance the studio has packed into its forthcoming Sherlock Holmes Chapter One open-world detective opus. The studio also expresses its thanks for the community hype around the game, but implores patience via a candid note.

In addition to the dev diary we're also including the most recent Prologue video for the game from the team, which is a bit of a primer for those still keen to learn more before taking the investigative plunge. Interestingly, as part of these pre-release media drops from the studio, Frogwares has also seen fit to curb expectation on the game's 'hopeful' release quality, essentially accepting that Chapter One isn't a Triple-A release, while reiterating it is still its biggest game to-date.

As we near the release SHCO, we’re seeing a lot of comments excited for the game which is such an amazing feeling. But we also see a fair amount of comments comparing some of our stuff to much bigger and more expensive titles. We totally understand the demand for technically-flawless games. However when a team of our caliber creates a game, we need to prioritize what matters most - an emotional experience that is hopefully bigger than the sum of its technical parts.

It’s with this mindset and understanding that allowed us to make the game with no crunch. And why we’re able to publish it all on our own after 20 years of being forced to always sign away part of our creations. It’s also why we priced the game at 45 USD and not 70 USD.

This is still our biggest project yet in terms of size, gameplay time, new systems, open-world design and story. And we’re extremely proud of what we’ve made. We hope you'll enjoy it too.

- Wael Amr, CEO, Frogwares.

This sort of transparency is fantastic and we absolutely need more of it in our industry. Check out both videos embedded below. Sherlock Holmes Chapter One releases this November 16 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and later for PS4 and Xbox One.