I installed the Chinatown Detective Agency point-and-click adventure from Humble Games hoping for something like Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. After weeks of dragging my feet, I played the first mission (“A Picnic at Midnight”) on Tuesday.
I quickly discovered the game was not really my cup of tea. Closely examining number sequences / memorizing image patterns isn’t what I want to do after a long day of staring at code. The lack of saving options (aka what lowered its score down to 1.8 / 5 on Xbox Game Pass) is also annoying, since my gaming sessions often get interrupted.
One thing I found really strange is how as part of the first mission, I was told to research an answer on my own for one of their puzzle questions (aka find the author of this quote: “Of all men’s miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing”). At first I thought there would be a way to get the answer inside the game itself, but no. The developers truly expected you to take out your smartphone and Google around.
Even with all my complaints, I’d admit the game is decent. I have yet to uninstall it from my library, but for after work gaming sessions, I’m probably going to stick with heart pounding action thrillers like Halo.
