Chinatown Detective Agency

Chinatown Detective Agency is a cyber noir point-and-click video game developed by Singaporean studio General Interactive Co. for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One. The game launched a successful Kickstarter campaign in March 2020, with a free demo released in September.[1] The game is set in a cyberpunk version of Singapore in 2032.

Chinatown Detective Agency
Developer(s)General Interactive Co.
Publisher(s)
  • General Interactive Co.
  • Humble Games (consoles)
Platform(s)
Release2021
Genre(s)
Mode(s)

Plot and gameplay

The game's main character is a former police officer named Amira Darma, who is beginning a new career as a private investigator based in Singapore's Chinatown district. Following a referral from her former boss, her first case is for a businessman trying to locate an accountant who has fled the country. Subsequently, she takes on a series of cases from a wealthy heir to return stamps from his philatelist father's collection to their originating countries. As she solves cases across the world, she begins to unravel a web of conspiracies back at home.[2]

The gameplay is heavily inspired by the Carmen Sandiego series. As in Carmen Sandiego games, players travel to various countries to accomplish various tasks and trail criminals. Similarly, the use of outside knowledge or reference resources is necessary to solve the game's puzzles, and factual trivia is occasionally presented by the characters. Gameplay also involves more traditional video game puzzles, such as code breaking.[3][4]

Development and release

General Interactive Co. was founded in 2016 in Singapore by Mark Fillon, though its team is now based around the world, including the United Kingdom and Brazil. The studio released its first game, Terroir, in 2017, and began development of Chinatown Detective Agency that year.[5]

A free alpha-level demo was released on itch.io in March 2020.[6] A Kickstarter campaign for the game was successfully funded the following month, on April 28, 2020.[7]

The game features voice acting, with Singaporean and Malaysian voice actors cast for all the Singaporean characters.[8]

The original demo was succeeded by an extended prologue, subtitled Day One, on Steam and itch.io in September 2020.[1][9]

References
  1. Chalk, Andy (2020-10-02). "Chinatown Detective Agency gets a free 'Prologue' chapter on Steam". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
  2. "Manage your own detective agency and unravel a global conspiracy in Chinatown Detective Agency, now on Kickstarter". Gamasutra. 2020-03-26. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
  3. McDonald, Tim (2020-03-26). "Chinatown Detective Agency preview – Carmen Cyberdiego". PC Invasion. Retrieved 2021-05-07.
  4. Hudson, Aza (2020-04-28). "Chinatown Detective Agency Is Carmen Sandiego In The Future". WellPlayed. Retrieved 2021-05-07.
  5. Tan, Trevor (2020-03-03). "Burning the midnight oil for Chinatown Detective Agency game". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
  6. Fraser, Calum (2020-03-31). "Chinatown Detective Agency – Alpha Demo". Alpha Beta Gamer. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  7. "Chinatown Detective Agency is funded on Kickstarter! Stretch goals revealed, including a Nintendo Switch release and more". Gamasutra. 2020-04-20. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
  8. @genintco (March 1, 2021). "'All of our voice actors, at least for the Singaporean characters, are all local actors, just so that it's more authentic, just so that they can get the nuances of local Singlish right.' Creative Director of Chinatown Detective Agency @mrkfillon" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. "Chinatown Detective Agency: Day One". itch.io. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
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