Emio The Smiling Man Review

Emio The Smiling Man

Release: August 29, 2024
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: MAGES, Nintendo
Genre: Adventure, Genres, Horror, Nintendo Switch Categories, Switch Reviews, Video
PEGI: 18
Comments:

 

Comment

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is an adventure game/visual novel for Nintendo Switch where you must solve a mystery. Is this game worth checking out? Here’s our review!

Emio- The Smiling Man is a brand-new game in the Famicom Detective Club series. We previously reviewed the remakes of the original games. This new game has a completely new story with the detectives from the other game and a new case.

The story is the most important aspect of this game. Emio The Smiling Man is an urban myth or is he? When a young boy dies and a paper bag is left over his head, the Detective Club helps the police try to figure out how the myth and reality connect.

The gameplay in The Smiling Man is story focused, with the player looking at things or asking about different subjects. There’s a ton of dialogue in this game. In fact, like the previous games, that’s what this game is: conversations with other characters. There is some looking at objects too but overall, you’ll be talking to a lot of people.

There are, at least, a couple of conversations in this game that seemed to go nowhere and felt like they went on too long. Also the game wasn’t as clear about what you needed to do next. Sometimes you must answer questions too and that means paying attention to all the dialogue. Though even when you do that, sometimes the answers are not obvious. I had to look online for help a couple of times. The game isn’t too difficult overall, but there are some places where you must answer the right way or you can’t move on with the story. It can be a little frustrating.

The Smiling Man story is worth any frustration though. It’s a dark, twisty story (with occasional humor) that just when you think you know everything, there’s a bit more to know and a very special surprise near the finish that we won’t spoil.

Emio The Smiling Man is an excellent game and has good graphics too.

The animation of The Smiling Man is even better than the remakes. From the graphics to the music, this is an excellent game.

Emio The Smiling Man is the best Famicom Detective Club game yet. The story is very dark and intense, with occassional humor to lighten things. The twists and turns of this story can be shocking. There are some downsides to the game, but overall, this is a worthwhile mystery. Emio The Smiling Man is well worth checking out if you love Adventure games and visual novels.

Thanks to Nintendo Canada for providing a digital code for this review. Emio The Smiling Man Famicom Detective Club is available now for the Nintendo Switch.

Trailer