{"id":564253,"date":"2026-03-13T16:34:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/chinatown-detective-agency-review-a-striking-neon-drenched-setting-but-mechanics-come-up-short"},"modified":"2026-03-13T16:34:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:34:29","slug":"chinatown-detective-agency-review-a-striking-neon-drenched-setting-but-mechanics-come-up-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/chinatown-detective-agency-review-a-striking-neon-drenched-setting-but-mechanics-come-up-short\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinatown Detective Agency review – a striking, neon-drenched setting, but mechanics come up short"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\nI’ve always thought I’d be a fabulous<\/em> detective. I suspect it’s a side effect of the endless true crime stuff I watch – but I reckon I’ve an eye for the details, you know. A good sixth sense. The ability to spot that small, inconsequential something that turns out to be oh-so consequential after all.\n<\/p>\n

\nIt is, of course, complete bollocks. Much like playing Back 4 Blood won’t prep you for a real-world zombie apocalypse, bingeing true crime documentaries hasn’t taught me much that I can apply to real-life bar one exception (shout “Fire!” and not “Help!” if you’re at risk as that’s more likely to attract assistance; you’re welcome), and that became abundantly clear when I stepped into Singapore’s shadowy underbelly and into the shoes of Amira Darma, a freshly-minted private investigator who, as it so often goes, ends up embroiled in something she hadn’t quite been expecting.\n<\/p>\n

\nPerhaps unsurprisingly, the titular Chinatown Detective Agency does exactly what it says on the tin, with a peri-futuristic glimpse of a neon-soaked Singapore serving as the striking backdrop to a sea of crooked business people and shady politicians. An ex-cop, Amira’s funnelled some early cases from collegial ex-colleague, but from there she builds her own client roster of the damned and the desperate and everything in-between.\n<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve always thought I’d be a fabulous detective. I suspect it’s a side effect of the endless true crime stuff I watch – but I reckon I’ve an eye for the details, you know. A good sixth sense. The ability to spot that small, inconsequential something that turns out to be oh-so consequential after all. It is, of course, complete bollocks. Much like playing Back 4 Blood won’t prep you for a real-world zombie apocalypse, bingeing true crime documentaries hasn’t taught me much that I can apply to real-life bar one exception (shout “Fire!” and not “Help!” if you’re at risk as that’s more likely to attract assistance; you’re welcome), and that became abundantly clear when I stepped into Singapore’s shadowy underbelly and into the…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":564254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[75,410,21,59,7158,1928,6810,4616],"class_list":["post-564253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer","tag-indie","tag-mac","tag-nintendo-switch","tag-pc","tag-point-and-click","tag-puzzle","tag-story-rich","tag-xbox-series-x-s"],"yoast_head":"\nChinatown Detective Agency review - a striking, neon-drenched setting, but mechanics come up short | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I've always thought I'd be a fabulous detective. 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