Game Pass enrolls you in the Chinatown Detective Agency, while three EA titles hit the cloud

After an uncharacteristic gap in releases, Game Pass kicks back up today. The standout is Chinatown Detective Agency (Cloud, Console and PC), a deductive puzzle-solver that should give you some Carmen Sandiego flashbacks. EA are also busy today, bringing three of their older titles to Cloud play: Dragon Age 2, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare and STAR WARS: Squadrons. 

Here’s your early warning: if you are planning to play Chinatown Detective Agency, we’d advise you to do it now. There’s a reason for that: it’s a game where you play a private investigator, and you are confronted with puzzles that cannot be solved ingame. Instead, you have to search for terms in real-world search engines, completing the conundrums with a laptop or mobile phone by your side. The problem is, the internet is soon going to be awash with walkthroughs for Chinatown Detective Agency, meaning those searches are going to be spoiled. 

We’d also recommend you play it now because it’s rather good. We handed it a 4/5, saying “the sheer act of solving puzzles with a laptop and notebook on the table, sifting through the detritus of the internet, just feels so unusual and enjoyably deductive”. It’s also got a definite mood, veering close to film-noir and cyberpunk, with hugely immersive environments. Well worth a play, particularly if you were a fan of Carmen Sandiego back in the day. 

In other notes, EA are clearly eyeing their EA Play catalog and tightening up each game’s presence on the Cloud. This week’s additions are either extremely old (Dragon Age 2, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare) or getting that way (STAR WARS: Squadrons), but we’ll take them regardless. The idea of hopping into the dense but repetitious Dragon Age 2 over multiple evenings sounds fabulous, actually, and Cloud may be a good home for it. And there are likely plenty of people who can’t afford or who are waiting for LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, so STAR WARS: Squadrons might be well timed. Get your Star Wars fix now. 

Microsoft have also casually announced the Game Pass releases for the first-half of April. On April 12th you can enjoy the likes of Life Is Strange True Colors (Cloud, Console, PC), Panzer Corps 2 (PC) and The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk The Amulet Of Chaos (Cloud). Meanwhile, on April 14th, the critically acclaimed Lost In Random (Cloud, Console, PC) is arriving. 

In terms of those leaving, quickly shuttle through the following before they leave the service: Destiny 2 Beyond Light, Shadowkeep and Forsaken (PC) are leaving stage-left on Apr 11th, Rain On Your Parade, MLB The Show 21, Pathway and The Long Dark are departing off the front of the stage on April 15th, and F1 2019 is leaving stage-right on April 18th. 

We would like to take this moment to offer a public service announcement: these games, including the mighty Rain On Your Parade, are 20% off for Game Pass subscribers until the day they leave the service. Go git! You’ll find them all over on the Xbox Store. 

Are you planning to play Chinatown Detective Agency? How stuck are you going to get? Let us know in the comments below, or on our social channels.