[Game Review] A Study in Red: The Official Sherlock Experience - This Sherlock Holmes mystery turns Bugis into one giant crime scene

What happens when you take Sherlock Holmes out of Baker Street and drop him into Bugis?

That is the idea behind A Study in Red: The Official Sherlock Experience, a new immersive mystery game by Singapore’s home-grown gaming studio HIDDEN that turns Bugis into the setting for a Sherlock Holmes investigation.

[Game Review] A Study in Red: The Official Sherlock Experience - This Sherlock Holmes mystery turns Bugis into one giant crime scene - Alvinology

Billed as the world’s first officially licensed Sherlock Holmes experience designed to be played in the real world, the experience launched in Singapore ahead of London, with the Conan Doyle Estate tapping on HIDDEN as their preferred partner for global expansion.

We went to try it out, and the first thing to know is that this is not an escape room.

Instead, you are part of a team investigating a fictional case while moving around Bugis. The experience takes place across Bugis Junction, Bugis+ and Bugis Street, with players following a trail of information and clues using your own phones.

The game is designed for teams of up to five people and takes around 90 minutes officially, although I would recommend setting aside more time if you prefer not to rush.

There is quite a bit of walking involved.

The route is largely sheltered and air-conditioned, which helps considerably in Singapore’s weather, but you will still be moving between different parts of the Bugis precinct. It is therefore worth wearing comfortable shoes and treating this as an activity rather than something you simply sit down and play.

That physical element is actually what makes A Study in Red different from a conventional escape room.

Instead of being confined to one location, the surroundings become part of the experience. Familiar parts of Bugis suddenly take on a different context as you move around looking for information and trying to make sense of what you have been given. Be prepared to interact with people in real-life and enter seemingly unrelated venues to intereact with them.

The game uses a mixture of physical and digital elements. Players use their phones to examine evidence, interact with the game and access different parts of the investigation. Augmented reality and virtual environments are incorporated into the experience, although the technology generally supports the mystery rather than overwhelming it.

This approach works particularly well because you are not simply walking around looking for QR codes. There is an actual narrative driving the experience, and the objective is to piece together the mystery as a team.

The puzzles are not impossibly difficult, but neither are they something you can breeze through without paying attention. Observation and communication between team members are important, and there were moments when we found ourselves going back over information we had already seen because something did not quite add up.

That said, I would not recommend approaching this as a competition to see who can finish first.

It is more enjoyable when everyone in the group gets involved, discusses the clues and takes the time to look around. If one person ends up doing all the thinking while everyone else follows along, you are probably missing part of what makes the experience interesting.

Also, factor in time to take a pitstop in between for a tea break or even a meal to bond. The gameplay allows for this and it will be more enjoyable this way.

Overall, we found that the Sherlock Holmes connection is handled well with enough restraint that you do not need to be a hardcore fan to enjoy it.

The story is inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes works, but has been localised for Singapore. Fans of the original stories will spot references and familiar touches along the way, but these are mostly extras rather than requirements for solving the mystery. This means newcomers can enjoy the game without needing to read the Sherlock Holmes books beforehand.

And that is probably the right approach.

A Study in Red works better when you do not know too much before starting. There are twists, discoveries and details that are more enjoyable when encountered naturally, so we will not reveal the actual case, suspects, clues or sequence of events here.

What we can say is that the Singapore setting is more than just a backdrop.

Bugis is already one of the more distinctive parts of Singapore, with its mix of shopping malls, heritage buildings and busy streets. Having to navigate the area while investigating a mystery gives familiar surroundings a slightly different character.

We have experienced HIDDEN’s work before, including its WhatsApp-text-based Monopoly-themed experience during a staycation at The Westin Singapore, and A Study in Red is a much more ambitious extension of their usual approach, marking HIDDEN’s first release on its own purpose-built web application.

The Sherlock Holmes licence provides a strong narrative framework, while the use of real-world locations makes the experience feel less like a conventional mobile game.

There are, however, some things to consider before booking.

The biggest is the walking. If you are expecting an escape room where you spend most of the session in one place, this is very different. It can also feel tiring if you are trying to solve everything quickly while constantly moving around.

The experience is also more enjoyable with the right group. While you can play alone, the game is designed for teams, and having people with different approaches to solving problems makes the investigation more engaging.

For couples, friends and families with older children, it can make for a fairly unusual afternoon activity. The recommended age is 13 and above.

Tickets are priced at S$29 per adult on weekdays and S$39 on weekends and public holidays, while students pay S$19. Teams can have between one and five players.

All in all, we had fun with A Study in Red.

It is not an escape room, nor is it simply a walking tour with a Sherlock Holmes theme. It sits somewhere between a murder mystery, scavenger hunt, mobile game and immersive theatre experience.

The experience does require some patience and quite a bit of walking, and it is best enjoyed without trying to rush through it. If you enjoy mysteries, solving puzzles with friends or simply want to try something different in Singapore, there is enough here to make the experience worthwhile.

At the end of the experience, you can also pick up some official merch, licensed by the Conan Doyle Estate: