Will Nintendo’s darkest game to date put a smile on your face? Find out in our Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club Review!
Following the remakes of the first two titles released in 2021, everyone was surprised to find that a sequel to the Famicom Detective Club franchise was being made. The hype was at an all-time high, with one question on everyone’s mind: Who is Emio? With the latest entry released over 30 years after the last, Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club strives to be a shockingly dark mystery — the last thing expected from a Nintendo property. So does this dark mystery live up to its promise? Or does it pull the paper bag over everyone’s eyes? Find out in our Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club Review!
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club Review – Story
Emio – The Smiling Man begins with the tragic death of a student and the mysterious circumstances surrounding it. Mainly, the similarities to a string of murders from 18 years ago and the connections to the local urban legend “The Smiling Man”. Playing as two members of the Detective Club trio, you tackle the mystery and try to discern what connects all these deaths and who is behind them.
Smile!
The game’s narrative is gripping from start to finish, albeit a little sluggish for the first third of the story. While the overarching mystery is what draws you in initially, it’s the fantastic character writing on display that really makes this game. Interwoven into this investigation are people with hidden motivations and scandalous secrets, effectively making every single player in this narrative a suspect.
A terrifying visage.
While I never got hard stuck on any chapter, there were many times it felt slow paced. Even with how linear the story is, it seemed like I was going in circles sometimes. This is when Emio – The Smiling Man would hit me with a tasty morsel of information, reigniting my interest in unfurling this murderous mess. These striking moments when a twist would flip everything on its head were the core of my enjoyment playing through this game.
Me? A Looky-loo?
The unfortunate side of this, without spoiling anything in this review, is that these big twists still hit at the very climax of the story. While everything is thankfully bookended following the epilogue of the game, it left the narrative feeling imbalanced due to such an abrupt ending. Still, I feel that it’s all worth experiencing. Emio – The Smiling Man is undeniably dark and tragic, something I had never expected from Nintendo. It also has some genuine unsettling horror and builds tension in the story extremely well.
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club Review – Gameplay
Famicom Detective Club works its interactions in a way unlike most detective games. Instead of having a list of questions you can ask an interviewee, Emio instead gives you the options of “Ask/Listen”, “Look/Examine”, “Think”, and more. Working your way through conversations you’ll need to follow closely and pick the correct response to continue gathering information. This effectively yet loosely mimics what a real conversation might look like if broken up into video game commands.
Kamada and Utsugi go way back.
The issue I most take with this mechanic is the jarring deviation from more modern sensibilities found in conversational games of today. Instead of a character laying out all their information in one go, you’re tasked with repeatedly tugging at the conversational thread by using the “Ask/Listen” command until dialogue has been exhausted. I felt like an ‘active listener’ the whole way through the game, rudely muttering “yep”, “mhm” and “oh right” while someone was trying to talk.
Emio – The Sneering Woman?
The game throws hints on how to continue each interrogation, with certain critical words being highlighted orange. These hints keep the game engaging by limiting the information you have access to immediately and opening new topics of conversation. To further assist you with your sleuthing is a handy notebook that you can access at almost any time, jotting down important pieces of information as you learn them. This tool is also used for investigation reviews that the protagonists talk through at the end of each chapter, acting as a test of your understanding of the events currently unfolding. Unfortunately, these reviews feel inconsequential when the game fails to punish you when incorrectly guessing, instead just giving you the answer and moving on.
Investigation reviews make sure you’ve been paying attention.
While I understand the decision behind this gameplay format, I found it too often detracted from the story Emio was trying to tell. It routinely felt like I was just blindly pressing buttons until something finally stuck. I became more focused on what inane combination of vague commands would let me receive the information I was seeking rather than the information itself. One of my most frustrating moments involved a psych-out that required me to perform the same nonsensical action twice in a row despite the game implying the answer was elsewhere.
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club Review – Audio/Visual
Being a visual novel and a detective game, it’s important that Emio is so visually polished. Whether it be the completely lit town filled with restaurants and bars or the more the darker, more intimidating sections like the forest, the game’s art direction is a highlight — especially when playing in handheld mode. This shine continues with the characters and their animations, something I was continually moved by as I spoke to people in game. The subtle animations that conveyed certain emotions or revealed little slips in behaviour felt essential when trying to dig further into questioning.
Beautifully hand drawn visuals set the scene.
Perhaps the best utilization of both the visual and audio mediums in Emio are the darker moments that involve the mystery and the surrounding urban legend. Reaching its peak during these tension-filled scenes, the game flourishes its combined audio-visual experience to immerse you in the horror that unfolds. Of everything I experience with Emio – The Smiling Man, these parts are what have stuck with me the most.
The rest of Emio features a soundtrack filled with character, playing dutifully in the background as characters are talking, only to completely drop as a key piece of information is being shared. With a wide range of tracks play throughout the town, the OST acts as the perfect companion to the story, adding a layer of depth that can’t outright be stated.
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club Review – Conclusion
If you can look past the often frustrating and confusing gameplay design, Emio – The Smiling Man will blow you away with a dark, gripping tale full of major twists and tragic turns. The game’s great character writing coupled with immersive audio-visual design combines to make a moreish mystery you’ll hesitate to put down.
Me too Eager Student. Me too.
Why you might enjoy Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club
- A tense, enthralling mystery that is sure to blow you away
- An immersive audio-visual experience
- Lively characters full of personality
Why you might not enjoy Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club
- Often frustrating ‘trial-and-error’ gameplay
- An imbalanced conclusion
A review code was kindly provided by Nintendo for the purpose of our Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club Review. You can check out our other reviews here and if you haven’t already, be sure to join the Qualbert Discord to find out about the latest game and review updates!
