The game follows an original plotline as Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. John H. Watson investigate a series of strange disappearances related to the Cthulhu Mythos.

Further investigation leads them to an abandoned subterranean temple, where they discover a bloody and tortured corpse upon a sacrificial altar.

They also find opium with morphine which leads Holmes to deduce that it is being used as a kind of soporific to subdue victims, so that they can be abducted and trafficked out of the country.

Upon arrival it is discovered that the Black Edelweiss Institute is a Swiss mental asylum headed by a gentleman named Dr. Gygax.

Holmes and Watson then rescue Arneson, who was about to be sacrificed by a crazed cult member deep in the swamp, and retrieve an ancient book.

Back in London, Holmes and Watson learn from the book about a mythical sea god who could be awakened by the sacrificing of persons representing the different nations.

Once at the lighthouse, Holmes and Watson have a final confrontation with the cultists and their leader Lord Rochester, whose fortune finances the sect.

The Awakened is the first Frogwares title to allow gameplay to take place in an entirely real-time 3D landscape and from a first-person perspective, losing the pre-rendered backgrounds of its predecessor.

Like other Sherlock Holmes games by Frogwares it gives an open world environment in every location that can hide clues and interact with NPC.

The game can be viewed from a first- or third-person perspective and it provides with an icon to indicate what actions Holmes can take within his world like pick up or talk.

[7] The remastered version allows for gameplay in a third-person perspective, similar to other Frogwares titles, such as Sherlock Holmes: Secret of the Silver Earring and Dracula: Origin.

[13] The first four Sherlock Holmes titles from Frogwares—Mummy, Silver Earring, The Awakened and Nemesis—totaled roughly 1.5 million global sales by February 2009.