The Dream Theatre presents 'Dracula vs Sherlock Holmes: The Game'

You know how, most of the time, your dreams are just a pile of disconnected nonsense? Well, occasionally, mine aren't, and when I find myself awake in the cold light of day, I think back to them and think, "You know, that's actually a cool idea."
So, anyway, last night, I dreamed an entire video game.  

This game is the second in a series, with the first being 'Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula', reasonably enough. For those who haven't played the first game, there is a flashback sequence which shows that it was a 'Castlevania'-style 2D platformer. 
We see a bunch of cut-scene dialogue, and the conclusion of the final conflict, where Dracula is driven away from England once and for all, and returns to Transylvania to await his foe's arrival. 

Cut To The Title Screen: 

DRACULA vs SHERLOCK HOLMES

There's a dramatic sting of music, a crash of thunder and the scene of an external view of Castle Dracula is suddenly lit by a flash of lightning. It then cuts to an interior image of Dracula, deep in contemplation, gazing out the window at the storm before transferring to the Castlevania-style cut scene dialogue again.

At this point...

The game changes entirely, transforming into a cozy game all about helping Dracula make sure each room of his castle is neat and tidy and in good order when Sherlock Holmes gets there.

(art by Milica Mitic)

Basically, you start with each room, and it's in disarray. Furniture, books, knick-knacks and decorations are broken, scattered, tossed into corners or covered in dusty, moth-eaten sheets. Candles are burned down to waxy nubs, papers are scattered everywhere. Mice and rats and armadillos have gotten into things, chewed the curtains and left tell-take stains everywhere. 

Fortunately, centuries of being a horrid despotic monster have left you with store-rooms full of replacements, but once they're done, you won't have any more, so you won't want to waste all your best stuff on the first room. Also, you only have until sunrise to get the room done and Holmes arrives.

(art by Milica Mitic)

During the day, Holmes and Watson will scour the newly cleaned and redecorated room. Holmes has a keen deductive eye and a quirky sense of interior design and will make critiques aloud for Watson's benefit (this is fortunate, as Dracula will have one of his servants listening in e.g. peering through the cut-out eyeholes of a painting, etc...). These will give the player clues as to Holmes' tastes and preferences when it comes time to decorate the next room. At the end of the scene, Holmes will judge the room in terms of cleanliness (that keen eye for detail!) and good taste, awarding it a final score.

During the following Night Phase, the player, playing Dracula, moves to a new room in an equally appalling state of disrepair and repeats the process. The Final Score from Holmes can then be converted into cash to replenish the furniture storeroom in the basement, or buy useful supplies like better cleaning products and equipment, or additional servants. As the sun rises, Dracula returns to his coffin, the servant hides themself and prepares to take notes, and Holmes and Watson enter the next room.

Over successive phases (and rooms), the player will get a better and better idea of what Holmes' tastes are, and be better equipped to make even more elaborate jobs of decoration, until...

THE FINAL CONFRONTATION!!!

Holmes and Watson finally arrive in Dracula's resplendant Throne Room! At this point, we get a dialogue scene with several options (all of which add to or subtract from the accumulated score so far). 

At the conclusion of this scene, we get one of a number of different endings based on the final score.

• The worst ending has Holmes and Watson burn the castle down with Dracula in it. Dracula's crimes against humanity are nothing compared to his crimes against good taste, and the whole thing must be burned to the ground lest other, more sensitive eyes should be subjected to it.
• A bad ending (but not the worst) transforms the scene back into a Castlevania-alike, with Dracula battling Holmes in a duel of sword vs walking stick (what with Holmes being a master of Bartitsu), while Watson lurks at the back of the room, firing off the occasional shot with his service revolver just to make things annoying.
  If Holmes wins, they leave Castle Dracula unburned, but Dracula is dead (staked through the heart by Holmes' splintered walking stick) and reverts to dust. 
  If Dracula wins, he stands atop the tower in the thunder and rain, master of all he surveys.
  Though in both cases, the dialogue reflects a tinge of regret that it was necessary to end the existence of such a worthy foe.
• The best ending of course, has Dracula and Holmes smooch and retire to Dracula's quarters, while Dracula's three brides promise to entertain Watson while their respective masters are  'otherwise detained'.
  

THE END