PC Gamer - UK (2022-06)

75

Chinatown Detective
Agencyis a pretty solid
detectiveadventurewith
a unique DIY approach to
clue-solving.

VERDICT

a week before divulging a critical
piece of information to a client.
The writing is a little uneven – the
main cast is fairly well-characterised,
but a few segments of heavy-handed
exposition veer into overly theatrical
territory. Most NPCs had one or two
canned lines of dialogue that
occasionally included mildly jarring
non-sequiturs, but is consistent with
the idiosyncratic nature of point-and-
click adventures as extensions of the
developers’ personalities.
Even with these flaws, CDA is
bound to be meaningful to a player
like me, and reviewing it for a general
audience is rather overwhelming.
Because of the lack of my cultural
representation in games – Southeast
Asian indies are on the rise, though

• CDA inadvertently takes on an
  unfair talismanic weight for
  Singaporeans who deserve better
  mainstream representations of their
  identity. Perhaps CDA was always
  going to be a loaded experience for
  me, though I could leave the generic
  main plot in favour of its depictions
  of local problems and culture. As far
  as point-and-click adventures go, it’s
  a pretty good debut. As a cultural
  artefact, it’s pretty great.

TOP: (^) The game taps
into ongoing
discourse around
labour rights.
RIGHT: No, you can’t
pet the dog in the
Great Abode.

SINGAPORE TOUR

Experience pixelated recreations of the city’s landmarks

THE BENJAMIN

SHEARES BRIDGE

It’s named after

Singapore’s second

president, who died

just before it opened.

BEDOK

Bedok oncehoused

one of Singapore’s

most iconiccinemas,

the Princess Theatre

(now closed).

BUGIS

This area was once

the heart of

Singapore sex work

and the drag

community.

KALLANG

This area is home to

Singapore’s first civil

airport, as well as

multiple sports

stadiums.

ARMENIAN

CHURCH

This historical

building was the first

in the country to get

electricity.

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