Solve crimes as a Victorian urchin in Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective - The Baker Street Irregulars

Players will finally be able to experience life as a Victorian street urchin from next month with the release of Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective - The Baker Street Irregulars.

The latest upcoming instalment of the Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective series casts players as the titular Baker Street Irregulars, a group of plucky urchins who gather information and otherwise aid the famous detective in his work. In this standalone co-operative game however, the Irregulars aren’t working with Holmes but competing with him to see how their skills match up.

As in previous editions of Consulting Detective, the players tackle a series of cases. Each case is outlined, offering several possible avenues of inquiry. Players chase down leads by checking the newspaper for clues, questioning people related to the case and, as one might expect, doing a lot of thinking (having a Persian slipper full of tobacco is optional). Each of these actions is recorded for the purposes of scoring at the end of the game.

Once players are confident they have cracked the case, they are free to look at the solution and see not just whether or not they were correct, but how they did compared to Sherlock Holmes. If they managed to reach a successful conclusion in fewer actions than Conan Doyle’s eccentric sleuth, they can consider it a job thoroughly well done. If they fail to best him, however, Holmes gives the players a short, scathing speech, reminding them who really rules the roost at 221b Baker Street.

Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective - The Baker Street Irregulars contains ten new cases for players to solve, each with an accompanying newspaper to peruse and / or scowl over the top of.

Interestingly, The Baker Street Irregulars also introduces a new mechanic, described by publisher Space Cowboys as ‘a clever system that calculates their progress throughout each investigation and places the Baker Street Irregulars at the heart of all cases.’ Exactly how this works remains to be seen, but it will be nice to have a sense of progress while playing, rather than endlessly worrying whether the case is close to being cracked or whether one is miles off the mark.

The Baker Street Irregulars was designed by Dave Neale. While this is his first title in the Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective series, it is not his first foray into bringing Sherlock Holmes to the tabletop - Neale was the designer of the scenario ‘Sherlock Holmes: The Scarlet Thread of Murder’ in Unlock! Heroic Adventures, an escape room game.

Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective - The Baker Street Irregulars will be available from July 1st.