Chinatown Detective Agency

Has a stylish cybernoir look and an interesting concept, but I did not really connect with it. The retro presentation is eye catching, and the idea of using real world research to solve cases sounds clever on paper, but in practice it felt more tedious than immersive. Some investigations slowed the pace down, and I found myself losing interest instead of feeling challenged. It just was not for me.

Absolutely love a detective game that demands the player actually put in the legwork to make sense of the clues rather than rub two items together until they fit. Couple that with some great moody pixel art and you've got yourself a success.

I really enjoyed this game, and honestly, I don’t get all the hate. I found it to be an intelligent game, and I loved that the puzzles actually require you to do real-life research. Some of them were surprisingly difficult (like the Sumerian numbers puzzle) even when you’ve got Google. I also enjoyed the dialogue, and thought the voice acting was great. I’m glad they kept the Singlish and the different accents for the characters. It gives the game a lot more personality and makes it feel more authentic. I enjoyed the plot quite a bit too. I was genuinely invested in finding out what was going to happen. My only real complaints are the lack of a save game feature and a few small bugs. Sergey walking backwards was particularly amusing. 😂 Overall, though, I had a really good time with this game. Maybe it’s not for everyone, but if you enjoy detective games and puzzles that make you actually go out and research things, I’d definitely recommend giving it a try.

I liked the speculative science fiction story and the soap opera-like dialogue. Most of all, I like how well Singapore (my home) is represented - from the beautiful art and the accents to the way the puzzles involve time/money management and deep research (though for a cosy gaming experience you can choose to forego the latter). I did not enjoy the punishing save points. A game over forces me to spamclick through repeated dialogue and scenes that should otherwise have been striking.

Chinatown Detective Agency is a point-and-click adventure set in a flooded, failing Singapore in 2032, following private investigator Amira Darma. The noir-cyberpunk atmosphere, with the old web dying and AI assistants everywhere, frames the whole investigation. The real-world research puzzles are the hook, from decoding a cipher with an Enigma machine emulator to Googling coordinates and recognising paintings. The library book-switch heist, the Egyptian-god relief blocks and the Fibonacci decode all land as cool, distinct brain-teasers. Every client's case line is distinct, from the triad chase to the museum artifact returns and the art-thief infiltration. The world map and flight-waiting system tie travel into the time-of-day mechanics, sending the player across Singapore, Boston, Cairo and Hong Kong. The Prospero storyline is the narrative anchor, a tragic AI whose story underpins the investigation. The supporting cast, from the retired SPF contact to the temple keeper who joins the agency, fills out the found-family theme. The audio constantly cuts out, an irritation that persisted across the playthrough even on different hardware. The tiny cursor never resizes, and the sub…

I would tentatively recommend it to someone. Fun game, cool premise, and interesting mechanics. Some of it was slightly tired by the end but overall a good experience.