Frogwares and Focus Home Interactive have announced their latest Sherlock Holmes adventure, Crimes and Punishments. Something of a shakeup for the series is promised with the game being developed with the Unreal 3 engine instead of Frogwares in-house engine. Not that the last game was a graphical slouch by any means.

More freedom during investigations is one of the more intriguing claims made in the press release. Moral choices and decisions will influence the game and affect Holmes’ reputation. Whether this will lead to multiple endings is yet to be seen. Holmes himself has had a redesign, apparently to be more modern, but the time setting remains the same. Don’t worry it’s less inspired by Robert Downey Jr.’s version, it’s more of a let’s make him look less like a psychopath kinda look.

Previous game, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, had an intriguing story that kept me hooked during the game’s 13 hours, but the game suffered from a few glitches and an abundance of irritating mathematical puzzles, so hopefully more variety will be on offer this time. After successful console launches for Testament, we can expect to see this one on the three main formats once again. Until then, why not have a look at our review of the last game.