You may remember we raved about it a few months back - or at least the concept - and now it appears that PC 'Holmes vs. Cthulhu' adventure Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened has debuted, and Rampant Coyote has added some first impressions of the Frogwares-developed title.

As the Coyote explains: "The game opens with Watson in his bed (without covers - no wonder he's got a sleep disorder) having nightmares about cults and monstrous horrors. Obviously, the dude has been through some rough stuff and has lost a few sanity points dealing with Cthulhu Mythos. Those of us who have played the Call of Cthulhu RPG know what's going on here. Anyway, he wakes up, and then you hear his mental dialog about how this all began."

There's actually a handy Adventure Gamers review which also expounds upon the game, and is a little disappointed by the lack of hardcore mythos: "Unfortunately, it seems that most game designers have only heard of one of Lovecraft's stories, The Call of Cthulhu, which tells of a group of demented people trying to raise Cthulhu, a squid-like being of tremendous power currently dreaming at the bottom of the sea — again, The Awakened is no different. As matter of fact, the mock-Lovecraft elements are so weak that the group Holmes is trailing could have been worshipping Ogoun Badagris or the Flying Spaghetti Monster without requiring much change to the plot."

Still, apart from the fact that it apparently uses StarForce (UCK!), it seems like a not completely horrible title, with Coyote noting: "It's not a high-budget, "AAA" game by any stretch. Fortunately, I'm not a AAA snob. Assuming I can figure out what Sherlock's hang-up is, I'm liking the game so far. There's detail where it's important, particularly in the clues, reports, and documents that Holmes acquires during the course of the game."