First details pop up today for Crushed in Time 

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Sherlock Holmes-themed spin-off of There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension coming in 2026

In 2020, indie developer Draw Me A Pixel entertained players while simultaneously blowing their minds with the wonderfully wacky There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension. (Or they would have, if it was really a game.) Now two very familiar characters from that earlier non-game are due to make a starring appearance in their own spin-off adventure, Crushed in Time.

A brand new Sherlock Holmes game has just been released, but something has gone disastrously wrong: one of the characters from the game has mysteriously gone missing! If only there were a world-famous detective around to help solve the case. Oh wait, there is! For Sherblock, the game is afoot, along with his trusty sidekick Dr. Watson, but this will be a case unlike any other these two "extravagant investigators" have ever faced. This time, "armed with their iconic ineptitude, they must solve a mystery that transcends the space-time boundaries of their world." To succeed they'll need to "travel to the very heart of the game's creation and explore the various stages of its development to unravel the threads of this strange case."

If your mind is already reeling a bit, you're getting right into the swing of things. Like its predecessor, Crushed in Time once again promises to "defy conventional game design" in a brand new "wildly elastic and infinitely meta experience" inspired by Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass. Here Sherlock and Watson will visit a variety of "trippy" cartoon-styled "stages of game production and go behind the scenes of development," where they'll meet an eclectic cast of fully voiced characters and encounter a wide range of gameplay opportunities. You will need to "think like a detective" at times, but there will also be many "unconventional problems that require even more unconventional solutions." To solve the various unique puzzles, you must make use all of the "unusual" tools available only in a game like this, with which you can "interact with objects and characters by pushing, pulling, stretching and yoinking rather than simply clicking." Experimentation is not only encouraged but necessary in a world "begging to be toyed with in new and inventive ways."

Assuming none of the characters get out, Crushed in Time is due to arrive sometime in 2026 on Steam for Windows and Mac, along with Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android versions. In the meantime, while it's not necessary to play the superb There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension to enjoy this one, there's every reason you should WANT to if you haven't already, with enough time left to catch up while you wait.