“The Beekeeper’s Picnic – A Sherlockian Adventure” is a love letter to the Sherlock Holmes stories that have delighted readers for well over a century.

With a cozy pixel art-style and fun mysteries, this point-and-click adventure game was programmed, written and visually designed by one person, Helen Greetham. The game has been in development since 2022 and was released March 26 on PC.

“The Beekeeper’s Picnic” is very impressive for such a small production team.

The game controls are sometimes awkward and some of the dialogue boxes are incorrect, but otherwise, the game is very polished. The ability to make deductions in Holmes’ mind attic based on information he had gleaned from items or people is unique and fun to play.

While the mysteries of the game aren’t overly complex as a typical Holmes case, they still are fun to navigate and solve.

There are also quests that players wouldn’t notice unless they are thorough in their investigation of the village. There’s a completely optional quest in the game about reuniting a family that is heartwarming and is an example of the game’s dedication to detail.

If players are stuck, though, they can also call Holmes’ brother Mycroft at the Diogenes Club in London for help, which makes the game accessible to almost everybody, even if they aren’t good at puzzles.

The strongest aspect of “The Beekeeper’s Picnic” is its obvious love for the source material and the characters of Holmes and Watson.

The game is packed with references to the Arthur Conan Doyle short stories. As a longtime fan of Sherlock Holmes, I spent half of my playtime looking out for these little details and got excited whenever my favorite cases were mentioned.

The voice acting in the game embodies the diverse cast of characters and meshes well with the character designs.

The character portraits are especially charming in their design, and the art of the game in general perfectly shows what players should expect: a gentle, wholesome adventure that sucks you into the world of an English village.

Holmes and Watson’s relationship is perhaps where the game truly shines.

The premise itself is centered around the fact that Holmes and Watson are partners who have been with each other for decades. It’s constant in every adaptation that Holmes and Watson are each other’s important person, regardless of whether that relationship is romantic or platonic.

“The Beekeeper’s Picnic” lets players decide for themselves what Holmes and Watson feel for each other, and it’s incredibly sweet to see.