Chinatown Detective Agency

COGConnected / Canadian Online Gamers Network (85 out of 100)

Where it counts, Chinatown Detective Agency is a fantastic adventure game, with good writing and memorable characters. The genre is traditionally plagued by opaque puzzles, but here you are given a good set of tools to keep track of your motives. As a detective simulator, Chinatown Detective Agency knows no betters. As a mystery story, it's pretty compelling! But it's that homework element that will make or break the game for you. If you have a truly open mind, and you want to look up the source of some weird quote, you will learn a lot, experience a well-realized world, and put away some fictional bad guys.

PC Gamer (75 out of 100)

Chinatown Detective Agency is a pretty solid detective adventure with a unique DIY approach to clue-solving.

Jump Dash Roll (7 out of 10)

Chinatown Detective Agency has unique and interesting gameplay which is hampered by bizarre design choices and numerous bugs. Updates are coming though, which should hopefully realise the game's potential.

Edge (6 out of 10)

It is at least worth a partial replay, thanks to a narrative structure that branches out, asking you to work for one of three different clients in its second act, before funneling you back into a single questline. That's not enough to resolve the sense of incompleteness, but it's a good enough excuse to spend more time in the company of Amira and friends. There's hoping we have bigger and deeper globe-trotting adventures with them in the future (provided we live to see it).

NME (New Musical Express) (3 out of 5)

An engaging plot, likeable cast, and funny and insightful writing save an otherwise uneven and frequently flat series of puzzles that over rely on search engines and not enough on the game's strongest elements – its world and storytelling.

VentureBeat / Gamesbeat ( )

Chinatown Detective Agency is made in the image of classic adventure games and never aspires beyond that. Meeting it on its own terms, it's an adequate cybernoir mystery with a compelling lead and colorful scenery. If you're not into that already, this game probably won't tickle your fancy very much. But if you are, you'll find this to be a decently written and designed adventure. It'll take a bit of research on your part, but I have the feeling that a lot of gamers out there will find that as fun as I do.

Noisy Pixel (3.5 out of 10)

Chinatown Detective Agency is clearly a game that is aiming high, and I can appreciate its attempt to revive a genre closely tied to my childhood. But a game that creates this many roadblocks in the way of progress, some that make it nearly impossible without a guide, and some that are likely unintended, needs to be critiqued. This title feels unpolished and unfinished, and while I could see it eventually getting heavily patched to resolve its many issues, it will cost $25. With that price point, I expect far more quality control.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun N/A

Chinatown Detective Agency is a stylish cyberpunk detective game with a wonderful cast, and it has a cool real-world aspect to puzzle solving. But it does feel a bit like doing homework sometimes.