Chinatown Detective Agency is an upcoming point-and-click adventure game that draws heavy inspiration from the Carmen Sandiego series. Set in a near-future Singapore, you play as Amira Darma, an ex-Interpol agent who is now a private eye trying to make ends meet. You’ll be able to experience the first chapter of this game yourself starting on September 30th. General Interactive, the game’s developer is releasing a free-to-play demo on Steam.
The demo, called Chinatown Detective Agency: Day One allows you to play what is essentially the prologue of the game. In it you get to experience the daily, often non-glamorous tasks of running a private detective agency. This includes exploring the world, collecting evidence, and taking on new clients. You get to choose which cases and clients to take on, but you have to take on enough to make a living.
You’ll guide new PI Amira Darma through her first day in the detective business, managing your new agency, using real-world research to crack cases, and taking on one of three clients, each with their own story and secrets.
The world is in a state of flux as the global economy nears the nadir of its decade-long collapse. Singapore stands as a last refuge of order but even here the government struggles on the brink of chaos. Private detectives are now the first call for those citizens able to afford a semblance of justice…
-CDA’s Steam Page
Chinatown Detective Agency was launched as a Kickstarter project back in March, 2020. Asking for $57,000, the Kickstarter was a success and generated over $82,000 at the end of the campaign. A playable demo was previously posted in CDA‘s Itch.io page as well, but that was an early alpha build of the game. This is the prologue of the now nearly-completed game.
The mundane aspect of running a detective business in order to pay your bills is actually what makes the idea of this game appealing to me. Though I am sure there are plenty of thrills as you dive into the cases you’re investigating. The full game is due out sometime in early 2021.
