In one of my previous posts, I mentioned how the Sherlock Holmes escape book might be my favorite at-home escape room option. I read through the first book and very quickly picked up The Adventure of the British Museum. Then a long time passed. I don’t recall the exact manner in which I found out, but I discovered not one, but TWO new books in the series that were released without my knowledge!
The two newest books are The Adventure of the Analytical Engine, in which Sherlock investigates an early computer, and The Adventure of the Tower of London, in which Sherlock investigates the famous site known for its history as a prison and a jewel repository.
All four books are well-researched, and readers can pick up a few facts about the real historical places / things that inspired the books and puzzles. I really enjoyed this aspect- it adds an extra layer of enrichment on top of the puzzles.
As a refresher, the books work somewhat like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. Most sequences in the book require players to solve a puzzle to find the next page to turn to, but there are a few extra wrinkles thrown in that require good decision-making skills and observation. One of my favorite puzzles from the series tested players’ honesty in a novel way.
Each of the books has a satisfying final puzzle that’s built on making the right decisions throughout the book. A misstep early on doesn’t preclude victory, but it does make it much harder, potentially even requiring the player to guess with roughly a 1/3 chance at the best ending. It’s not horribly punishing, but enough to keep the stakes high and push players to document the clues they think might help at the very end.
The two newest books contain both my favorite and least favorite in the series. After four books, my order, from favorite to least, is:
- Adventure of the Analytical Engine
- Adventure of the London Waterworks
- Adventure of the British Museum
- Adventure of the Tower of London
I enjoyed all four, but what I really liked about Analytical Engine was how the final puzzle pieces were scattered through the game and how the final puzzle came together in an unexpected way. There’s probably at least a bit of “peak-end rule” going on here- the idea, proposed by psychologist Daniel Kahneman, that impressions are heavily formed based on the most intense moment of an experience and the end of the experience.
I felt the Tower of London was the most difficult in the series to date- that’s not a bad thing and could pose a good challenge to someone looking to savor the book, but it at least felt like a greater percentage of the puzzles were cipher-based, which I personally don’t find as fun to work through as some of the other types in these books.
All that being said, I’m going to set a reminder to check every three months to see if a new Sherlock escape book has been published. There’s only one big risk- once I pick one up, I can’t put it down, so I’ll need to make sure I’ve got time set aside to spend a few hours in the world of Sherlock Holmes!
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