Release Date: August 29, 2024
The third part of a series of dark adventure games from Nintendo, launched in 1988. Emio: The Smiling Man – Famicom Detective Club has us playing as a detective's assistant. We are trying to find a killer who places paper bags with smiling faces on the heads of their victims.
Emio: The Smiling Man - Famicom Detective Club is the third installment of the series of detective adventure games titled Famicom Detective Club, launched in 1988. The game was developed by the Nintendo company.
The story told in Emio: The Smiling Man – Famicom Detective Club was overseen by Yoshio Sakamoto, the author of the scripts for the two previous parts of the series - The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind. The titular Smiling Man is an anti-hero from a fictional urban legend who killed his victims and placed paper bags with a drawing of a smiling face on their heads.
When a body of a dead student is found, treated in the same way by an unknown killer, the Utsugi detective agency steps into action, specifically - the main character who is the assistant to the private detective, Shunsuke Utsugi. Our task is to investigate potential links between this murder and a series of unsolved murders from 18 years ago, and consequently - to discover the identity of the perpetrator.
Apart from the protagonist and their patron, during the game we meet other characters known from earlier parts of the series, led by Ayumi Tachibana (over whom we can also occasionally take direct control).
The gameplay in Emio: The Smiling Man - Famicom Detective Club is based on the pillars established by the two previous installments of the series. We must conduct a detailed investigation, which leads us through various locations. During the game we examine crime scenes and collect evidence, as well as conduct conversations with characters who are often a source of valuable clues.
The graphic design of Emio: The Smiling Man – Famicom Detective Club is maintained in a manga style.
Platforms:
Nintendo Switch
Game Ratings for Emio: The Smiling Man - Famicom Detective Club Video Game.
NintendoWorldReport: 3 / 10 by Xander Morningstar
Just because something has dark themes like mental illness and domestic abuse doesn't suddenly make it a great commentary on them. Games such as Mother 3 and Captain Rainbow being left unlocalized compared to the cavalcade of embarrassment in Emio is probably the biggest mystery this game has. Hopefully you're left with a bigger smile on your face than I was.
Nintendo Life: 7 / 10 by PJ O'Reilly
Emio - The Smiling Man has been hyped up a little too much in terms of how dark in tone the whole thing is. This is still silly, kooky stuff, just like its predecessors. The sometimes frustrating core mechanics also haven't seen any refinement this time around, which is a shame. And so it's left to some top-notch writing to save the day, which it just about does. Once this troubling and intriguing story has its hooks in you (remember there are three demos to try if you're unsure), it's hard to put down. And that, at the end of the day, is all Tantei Club fans will be looking for.
RPG Fan: 78 / 100 by Tim Rattray
Famicom Detective Club’s third entry will sate fans but isn’t compelling enough to bring in new players.
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