Initial release date: August 19, 2024
Developers: Nintendo, MAGES, Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development
Series: Famicom Detective Club
Genre: Adventure game
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Publishers: Nintendo, Nintendo of America Inc.
Should you be the type of person who purchases every first-party Nintendo Switch game, Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club might come as a bit of a shock. This is a point-and-click adventure game with a variety of dark narrative tones instead of the bright, upbeat vibe present in most Nintendo titles. It’s also the first new game in the Famicom Detective Club in a very long time, and it tells a really interesting story with lots of surprises.
First, it’s worth noting what Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is not. It may look like a visual novel, but that is not the case. Instead of merely flipping through text for the entire runtime, you must interact with the environment, analyze evidence, and keep a watch on your notebook to avoid forgetting names or vital information. Emio is more fascinating for the player and resembles an old-fashioned point-and-click game. And, certainly, there will be some minor frustrations as you go.
I’ll avoid the plot for obvious reasons, but Emio – The Smiling Man opens with a young student discovered dead, and the only real clues to what occurred are the smiley-faced paper bag over his head and some similarities to an unsolved case from 18 years ago. You get to identify your protagonist, a member of the Utsugi Detective Agency, and you’re tasked with assisting the police in solving the riddles of this new case. Are things connected? This, and many other questions raised during the game, are satisfactorily answered, and it’s refreshing to have a tale handled so properly and comprehensively.
Given how crucial the story is to Emio – The Smiling Man, I was absolutely captivated throughout. If you’ve played a lot of adventure games, you’ll have working hypotheses as you play, sure that character A is a nasty guy or that there’s more to person B than meets the eye. Emio is incredibly brilliant in the way he tells the story, and no matter how many times I thought I had it all figured out, I was always wrong.
During your investigation of the case, you will naturally travel the surrounding locations and speak with a variety of people. The bulk of the time, you’ll be given the option of “call/engage”, “ask/listen”, “look/examine”, or simply “think”. At times, it becomes a minor war of attrition to advance the tale. You’ll have to keep going back to ask/listen and getting the same phrase until you click “think”, which will force your character to ruminate on events and may offer you a tip to ask or listen to someone again.
Sometimes it feels like you’ve reached a dead end, but the way it works is that this simply means you haven’t observed anything in the background while “looking” or you haven’t explored your alternatives. It may be as simple as “looking” at someone’s face and seeing a shift in their attitude or demeanour. Emio – The Smiling Man is visually appealing for a game with few moving pieces, with little animations here and there that draw your attention to important details.
Toward the end of each chapter, you will be asked to summarize with your partner at the Utsugi Detective Agency, Ayumi Tachibana. These portions are, once again, more intriguing than expected, as you will not only have to select items from your notebook to correctly summarize the case’s current facts, but you will also be required to use the controls to input text to answer questions. There doesn’t appear to be a genuine fail state in these instances, other than Ayumi informing you that your answer isn’t quite correct, but it’s a smart approach to keep people engaged and on their toes.
Speaking of Ayumi, she is playable in Emio – The Smiling Man, which allows the tale to be fleshed out further as she investigates regions and persons that the protagonist does not have access to. The voice acting and character development are also excellent throughout, which contributes to the story’s overall effectiveness.
If I had one criticism for Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club, it would be that I don’t think it’s as scary as it claims. There are creepy moments, for sure, but most of the darker ones occur late in the story. Despite the fact that Emio is not a visual novel, playing through it reminded me of reading a good book: the feeling of not being able to put it down is present in droves, and it has a genuine “one more chapter” feel to it. It may be 35 years since the last title in the series, but Emio demonstrates that the crew behind it hasn’t lost touch.
Review Overview
Gameplay – 82%
Controls – 80%
Aesthetics – 85%
Content – 78%
Accessibility – 83%
Value – 81%
Overall Rating – 82%
VERY GOOD!
Summary: Famicom Detective Club’s Emio: The Smiling Man successfully blends classic adventure gameplay with a haunting mystery narrative. The game stands out for its beautifully crafted visuals and compelling storyline, though it may feel a bit short for some players. Despite this, the game’s strengths in atmosphere, story, and accessibility make it a must-play for fans of mystery and adventure genres, offering a satisfying and chilling experience.