Photo above is property of HiSv Studio
Company: HiSv Studio
Game: Baker Street Breakouts: A Sherlockian Escape Adventure
Country: Germany 🇩🇪
Language: English
Type of Game: Video Escape Game 📱
Genre: Detective
Date Played: December 13, 2023
Difficulty (based on 4 players): 7.5/10
Time: Unlimited (Approx. 8+ Hrs.)
Price: $12.99 CAD/ $8.99 USD
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The game is afoot, in this Sherlockian parody mystery game. The story finds Sherlock wallowing in terminal boredom. Nothing but generic uninteresting case after uninteresting case, that is until none other than his arch rival Moriarty decides to test our hero once again, this time devising his most insidious, challenging, series of puzzles yet. Of course, once roused by a genuine mystery Sherlock cannot resist the temptation to play, and so unadvisedly dives in head first. What's at stake is not only his own life, but that of his potential paramour, Irene Adler. Become Sherlock and race against the clock while you try and solve a series of ingeniously designed escape rooms, but be careful, for what you might uncover more than you bargained for.
Video above is property of HiSv Studio
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It's a charming game, with a significant amount of depth despite its simple trappings. The first thing that stood out for me was the playful look of the game, its RPG maker quality, anime inspiration, and especially the funny funny dialogue. The gameplay is straightforward, you run around in these two dimensional, retro style, escape rooms, finding clues and items, which you then slowly piece together using a combine/action/solve and number/word entry mechanics, all the while racing against the clock. What it lacks in style it makes up for the ingenuity of its core puzzling. My only gripe is with the slightly janky puzzling interface, it's not as easy to use nor as creative as say the murder mad lib mechanic of “The Case of the Golden Idol”; but neither is it impossible, it's just kind of annoying, though luckily most work that goes on you will be transpiring in your head.
Photos above are property of HiSv Studio
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I'll give them this, they've come up with some damn inventive puzzling. It veers between realistic and abstract - remember your playing a game designed by Moriarty. This is both its blessing and its curse, a pleasure and a pain, for they can be quite ingenious, and just as too much wit out wits itself, they can often also be undone by this very ingenuity, and fall into abstraction and frustration. Generally there are a lot of micro puzzles forming the steps in the process of finding the solution, as well as more overarching free floating riddles types, and they all involve some creative use or interpretation of what's at hand. The bones of good puzzling are there, you just may have to think outside the box sometimes, or deal with something that on the face of it appears dauntingly cryptic. Luckily there is a hint system to keep things rolling.
Photo above is property of HiSv Studio
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It's a fun, well done, puzzle game, don't let the graphics or straightforwardness of the mechanics deter you. It has a smile-warming charm and playfulness throughout, alongside its inventive puzzling. The interface leaves something to be desired, but it gets the job done. For beginners it may be a challenge, though a good introduction to the genre, but for puzzlers who revel in the more abstract it will be right up your alley.
Photo above is property of HiSv Studio
(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)
Disclosure: We thank HiSv Studio for providing us with a sample of the game. Although a complimentary experience was generously provided, it does not impact our opinion on the review whatsoever.