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Detective Dotson is Bringing a Little Bit of India to Japan with a Switch Release
posted on by Adriana Hazra
It's not often that an indie game from India gets a Nintendo Switch release. So Japanese publisher Rainy Frog's upcoming Switch release of Masala Games' Detective Dotson is a rare occasion for the two nations' audiences to connect outside of the movie theater. The game got its initial launch on Steam on April 24, but without Japanese subtitles. Now that Dotson is gearing up to hit Japan, the game's demo with Japanese subtitles and interface, was even available to try at the Tokyo Game Show from September 25-28.

Indie darling Raji is set against a fantasy backdrop that draws from Indian mythology, while upcoming AAA title The Age of Bhaarat appears to have a mix of historical figures and mythological figures as bosses. Dotson, on the other hand, focuses on a detective with a love for Bollywood and stardom dreams living in small town India.
With a remote team of developers spread across Tier 2 and smaller cities in India, Detective Dotson draws on imagery from Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Kota as well as several rural areas and small towns across India. The game's director and developer Shalin Shodhan stated that "Hints of Varanasi are also quite evident in the game's visual design." The animated movie version of the game also uses real life photographs from these locations as background images. Shodhan likened the game to India itself, saying that both are a combination of "unlikely mixtures that somehow works."
Shodhan also gave ANN a glimpse into his life growing up as a gamer in India:
Growing up in India, I was lucky to get exposure to all the old school games. We would rent an SNES over the weekend and play Mario and Excite Bike till our thumbs went numb. I was inspired by many different franchises but OG racing games like Test Drive or the first Need for Speed games come to mind. We would race to upgrade our PCs with saved up Diwali or birthday money to play better racing games!
Aside from games, Indian detective TV was an influence for Shodhan growing up. While he was initially a fan of Karamchand, he also mentioned the long-running cop show CID, noting how "the audience loves its (overly) dramatic flavor."
The Masala team is still hard at work on the title, with its second chapter "Mission Amma" in the works. "Mission Amma" will launch as a free update on all available platforms at a future date.
Detective Dotson will launch for Nintendo Switch on October 30. It also available on Xbox since September 9.
Source: Email correspondence