14 DAY TRIAL // The first thing that comes to mind after seeing the Chicken Police – Paint It Red announcement is that it looks very similar to the recently released Blacksad: Under the Skin, an adaptation of the Eisner-winning Spanish comic series with the same name. After reading through the tidbits unveiled by developer The Wild Gentlemen, it looks like Chicken Police is quite different, although the visual style and some gameplay elements may be similar.
Chicken Police – Paint It Red is a film-noir inspired buddy-cop adventure that features animals as protagonists. Sonny Featherland and Marty MacChicken, aka the “Chicken Police,” were once a legendary detective-duo, but they're now a washed-up wreck and a wannabe star-detective.
As it happens in these film-noir detective stories, things are about to change when a mysterious case drops into their hands, getting weirder by the hour and more dangerous than anything the two have faced before. The two detectives will have to face the demons of their dark past on this journey through the crooked city of Clawville.
Obvious from the announcement trailer, Chicken Police features a peculiar visual style with artistic photo-manipulation and lifelike 3D backgrounds. The game wants to recreate the mood and atmosphere found in the classic film-noir movies of the '40s. Despite its name, Chicken Police's story is supposed to be gritty and desperate, but that doesn't mean the game will lack cynical humor.
Developers promise a carefully crafted world, a grim, sinister story, and absurd humor. All mixed up with elements of story-rich adventures and a visual novel style dialogue system, complete with a complex interrogation mechanic, detective gameplay and an ever-changing city.
To sum it up, Chicken Police is a story- and dialogue-heavy game, which combines elements of the visual novel and classic adventure genres. Publisher HandyGames announced Chicken Police – Paint It Red will be available in 2020 on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.