Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
When the Famicom Detective Club remakes came out in 2021, I simply thought they were a fantastic spruce up of one of the grandfathers of visual novel games. I could have never guessed that Nintendo would use those games as a springboard to return to the series with something altogether new. Enter Emio - The Smiling Man. This all-new adventure in the Famicom Detective Club series brings us a strange and intriguing new mystery that blends the mystique of an urban legend with a bizarre string of murders, and while the progression is still mostly poking at choices until you get the right one, getting the answers in this investigation right based on your observations is still a treat.
Emio - The Smiling Man takes us back to the Utsugi Detective Agency where we once again take the role of a player-named assistant from previous games to private investigator Shunsuke Utsugi. When Utsugi is called out to a strange murder, the past, the present, reality, and fiction collide on a very peculiar case. A young boy was strangled in the woods, and one of the only clues left behind was a paper bag with a smiley face put over the boy’s head. Detective Utsugi and the chief investigator, Inspector Kimiharu Kamada, reveal that it bears a striking resemblance to a string of unsolved murders that occurred 18 years prior.
If that wasn’t enough, there’s also a certain urban legend going around that a strange man wearing a bag with a smiling face over his head will appear to girls that are sad, promising to give them a “smile that lasts forever,” before he kills them. With so many coincidences converging in this case, Emio - The Smiling Man gets off to a strong start as players seek out clues to the truth of the murders from 18 years ago, the urban legend of the Smiling Man, and the current murders in front of us. This story is damn good, the stakes escalate dramatically as the chapters go on, and it's filled with twists and turns I enjoyed throughout the game.
It helps that this is an even better spruce-up of visuals and music-wise than the 2021 Famicom Detective Club remakes. The character and environment art might be considered on par if not for the fact that all of the characters are now animated in 2.5D fashion to go along with their spoken dialogue, a solid plus over the previous remakes. The music also drives the narrative with beautiful aplomb, perfectly accentuating the moods, whether it’s inquisitive, intense, frightening, or heart wrenching. This game also knows how to handle levity and throw a little fun in. Characters like Detective Kamihara and fellow assistant Ayumi’s former mentor Fukuyama add some laughs to what might otherwise be a pretty dour experience. This game is a rollercoaster of emotions and it fits in just the right amount of good vibes, even if the prologue and first chapter take a little long to get the plot spinning.
As with the Famicom Detective Club remakes in 2021, gameplay and progress in Emio - The Smiling Man is a matter of being observant and making the right choices to move things along. In most cases, it’s very much simply choosing the right interaction, with only a few exceptions, to open up an avenue of dialogue or a new discovery you might not have found otherwise. It’s also easy to simply poke options until one of them works since there really isn’t a fail state in investigations in Emio.
You have a variety of interactive options to progress the game and investigate your surroundings in Emio. Call/Engage will allow you to get the attention of present company and bring them to you for questioning. Ask/Listen lets you converse and gather information on a variety of topics from a given subject. Look/Examine lets you have a look at a person, certain special objects, or the environment itself, where you can drag the cursor over relevant objects or people on the screen to scrutinize their details. Use Phone lets you call someone like Detective Utsugi to ask for advice or catch up with them. Think lets you gather your thoughts on the matter and sometimes open up new avenues of dialogue or investigation, although it also often serves as a hint system if you’re stuck. Finally, Open Notebook lets you open up a glossary of characters you’ve met so far so you can study the info you’ve collected on them.
This is almost one-to-one with the previous Famicom Detective Club games in terms of features and progression, but it’s a decent enough system, and I like that the Think function doubles as a hint system you can use at any given time. Some of the progress in Emio - The Smiling Man requires things such as asking a character about a topic repeatedly until they open up or looking at a certain part of an object or person. I never felt truly stumped as to what to do next, but if I needed some gentle guidance, Think was always a great option and well improved over the 2021 games’ somewhat sporadic hints.
This feels like a “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it situation,” though I was hoping for just a little more interaction as opposed to being able to just poke my available options until one of them works, which was a complaint I had about the 2021 remakes as well. There is some form of challenge where at certain points the game will test your knowledge of the case and give you choices to see if you’ve followed the clues correctly, but these segments are pretty far between. I’m thankful that the mystery of Emio - The Smiling Man is so intensely captivating as it helps to make up a little bit for what feels like a lack of consequences in the gameplay.
I can see why longtime Famicom Detective Club producer Yoshio Sakamoto was so excited to share the story of this game. Emio - The Smiling Man is an intriguing story that takes us on a deeply emotional journey. The characters, both old and new, are very fun and easy to follow as well, not to mention coming out great in their animations and dialogue. I wish Emio stretched its legs a bit in terms of gameplay, but I also can’t argue too much with a working system that’s mostly meant to be a vehicle for an engaging mystery. If this is the final Famicom Detective Club game, it’s a strong one to go out on, but I can't help but hope we get more Famicom Mystery Club with this game acting as a stepping stone to the series’ future.
This review is based on a digital Nintendo Switch copy supplied by the publisher. Emio - The Smiling Man releases on August 29, 2024, on the Nintendo Switch.