The Next Sherlock Holmes – Detective Y room is quite unique in some ways. First off, it’s an reincarnation of an affiliated local drama named Persona – Detective Y, sponsored by NTV7. Hence when you browse the website, it’ll show details about Persona, but you can only see The Next Sherlock Holmes in the booking screen. (I do hope the operator would update this soon to avoid confusion.)
It’s actually nice to see collaboration like these, because it’s a win-win situation for both the drama and escape game operators. Both get marketing exposure as well as it’s cool thing to chat about. We here at Escman League do not mind product placements as long as it does not spoil the game. In fact, it adds to the attachment that we’re part of the drama, which is similar to the reason a lot of escape game operators tie it to movies/ movie theme.
Hence, although it’s already rebranded into Sherlock Holmes, expect the puzzles to have lots of references to Persona and NTV7.
Getting the story from the official site:
A serial killer is in loose killing lives in the city. Neither anyone is able to identify him nor the authorities. You are hired to investigate what are the clues left behind, however, the more you investigate the more mysteries and questions found…
To top it off, we’re told that one of us in the investigation team is the killer we’re looking for. We are to write our names onto a bunch of lockers and the killer will be revealed in the end.
Although the theme isn’t new, but I like how Break The Code+ splits the room into different scenes, from an investigation room, the crime scene, the victim’s house and finally the lab. And in these scenes, you get to play which different stuffs, in which most uses our different senses. There’re also different gadgets to play with, so it’s nice to have different varieties in the same room.
However, it comes with some complaints as well. Of all the rooms we played at Break The Code+, we always have the same issue whereby there’s no feedback on whether we’ve succeeded in solving a puzzle. It’s those times where you’re so certain that you’ve got it right, but after we enter the answer…nothing happens.. and then we try re-think or re-search on all the clues, just to finally realize, the box or door has already been unlocked. Another issue is with one of the puzzles that involves PH paper to derive a number based on the color shown, and whilst the game master says that it’s the color next to it, it’s obvious that the PH color we get is not accurate. We did solve the puzzle, but it was just luck.
And maybe because the room was sponsored, we get a certificate saying that we’re officially detectives after successfully solving the case (Even though in the end, it is found out that I’m the killer, I still graduate :D)
In overall, with the different variety of mechanism that we got to play with makes The Next Sherlock Holmes – Detective Y room a worthwhile one, albeit the product placements and that one non-responsive mechanism. I’m giving this a 4 out of 5.
The Next Sherlock Holmes
Pros
- Variety of puzzles
- Use of different senses
- Different scenes that ties to theme
- Role-playing
Cons
- Obvious product placement
- No feedback when answered correctly
- One clue was inaccurate