General Interactive Co. - "Chinatown Detective Agency"

Photo above is property of General Interactive Co.

Company: General Interactive Co.

Game: Chinatown Detective Agency

Country: Singapore 🇸🇬

Language: English

Type of Game: Video Escape Game 📱

Genre: Detective, Visual Novel

Date Played: April 28, 2022

Difficulty (based on 4 players): 4/10

Size of Team: 1 Player

Time: Unlimited

Price: 22.00 SDG (Steam), $24.99 USD (Switch)

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It’s the Year 2037, the world has changed and the island nation of Singapore has all the more changed - significantly reduced public funding, conglomerates running public services, family-run mega-corporations controlling the masses, the works. Amira Varma, a former officer from the Singapore Police Force, is now a Private Investigator (PI) running the "Chinatown Detective Agency". Receiving her first jobs from different necks of the woods, she soon has to decide which side of the underbelly to assist, and the overarching issue tying all these shadow activities together.

Video above is property of General Interactive Co.

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"Chinatown Detective Agency" is a point-n-click investigative video game inspired by the likes of games by "The Learning Company" and "Carmen Sandiego". Upon opening the files, the pixelated environments and characters just bring you back to the 1990's.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

With that said, you are far from the past. Going into the future of Singapore, it soon becomes clear that the country has become a cyberpunk shell of itself. Playing as Amira Darma, you will have everything a PI will need at the click of your mouse - your phone, your map of the train network in Singapore, "HORUS" - an application to book flights, and access to the web. Yes, your internet browser. After your tutorial cases, you can access hints on what to do or where to go next via Mei (a librarian you’ll meet early in the game). Later in the game, choose between three major clients - each with their own antics and share of action.

What I really appreciated was the game’s ability to paint a picture of Singapore that both suited the story, and in a way that an average Singaporean would be able to recognise - a train network to almost anywhere in the country, architectural landmarks, and most importantly for me, the unabashed Singaporean accent. The stories behind the cases, in addition, are also enough for the player to go, “I’ve seen this before and I want to dive deeper!”

NOTE: the game does have a tendency to lag if you’re playing on Steam. Movement is based on the direction and holding of mouse clicks, so do be aware of possible lag.

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Being a point-n-click game, the puzzles here fall into three main categories - point-n-click, self-contained and timed puzzles, timed puzzles that require quick aiming, or case leads you will need to Google or search the web for.

Most of the self-contained puzzles are straightforward to get through, with clear instructions established with tutorial cases. The challenges for each case often come with the need to search for answers on the web - which can happen more than once per case. Answers to these puzzles are often needed to progress the case. Therefore, do note that there will be instances where you bounce back and forth between your web browser and the game.

There is at least one puzzle that requires players to have some level of knowledge of ancient numerical formulas, which might have a bit of a stretch - so no harm checking out a walkthrough should you get incredibly stuck with calculations.

Photos above are property of ESCAPETHEROOMers

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Care for a dive into a dystopian cyberpunk Singapore? This point-n-click investigative adventure takes you to the streets through the eyes of the underbelly - the hidden networks that keep certain machines going - as your PI tries to clean things up. However, the game does have minor bugs and glitches during this early period of release, some of which may impede the experience or progress. So while General Interactive Co. is updating with patches and fixes constantly, your mileage may vary if you’re looking for a seamless game experience from start to finish. At least for this period of time after launch. If you’re a nostalgia hunter, this game will bring back memories.

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(If you do decide to try this game, give us a shoutout or tag us on social media so we know you heard it from "ESCAPETHEROOMers"!)

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