Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective can be described as a hybrid of adventure game and simulation. Gameplay process involves traveling to various locations in London, interrogating suspects, gathering clues, checking out the newspapers, and eventually presenting all the evidence to the judge; if the latter finds the circumstances incriminating, he will accept the results of the investigation, and the case will be considered solved. Though the basic gameplay is rather typical for adventure games, the amount of real detective work and the focus of the game on purely case-related actions rather than exploration and manipulation of items makes it comparable to a simulation of a criminal investigation.

The game is notable for being one of the earliest "multimedia" titles, having been released on a CD ROM and featuring rather long (though windowed) video sequences with live actors as introductions and cutscenes, which frequently occur when the heroes investigate suspects.